Drones: The Piper’s Harmonic Barometer
By Eliot Grasso
Published in Iris na bPíobairí 26, no. 1 (Winter 2007): 12-13.
The theme of this article has to do with how the drones function by defining the degree of harmonic tension coming across in the music played on the pipes. This idea came about as a result of a causeway I recently experienced between the classical and traditional worlds. There is a mass for uilleann pipes in which I am collaborating with the composer to make the piper’s part playable on the instrument. Interacting with me was the composer’s first experience with the instrument, so I went meticulously through the anatomy and range of the instrument explaining what would be characteristic, doable, and what sorts of passages would allow the pipes to complement the piece of music.
A few months later, I was presented with three sections of the mass proper: Kyrie, Credo, and Sanctus. I think I can safely say that as pipers, if we are presented with a sheet of music, we will interpret the dots as fingerings and not as sounding pitches. If you are playing a set of pipes in B and look through O’Neill’s trying to pick out a few nice tunes to learn, you will read the bottom space as bottom D even though you are actually sounding a low B.
This composer’s firm understanding of harmony, but rudimentary grasp of the pipes and their nuances brought something new to light for me. As I looked through the score noting where the drones were to be turned on and off it was clear to me that composer was still learning how the drones function as part of the instrument’s overall harmonic presentation. As I read through the mass—scored in B minor—on my B set of pipes, the composer’s facial expressions revealed that what I was reading was not what had been envisioned.
Ds written to be played as what the composer thought would be a minor third above B, the lowest and foundational note of the piece, came out as unisons because I was reading the fingering. To play a true D major scale on a set of pipes pitched in B, you would have to use fingering for a scale in F major. F, G, A, B-flat, C, D, E, F. This requires use of the F-natural and B-flat keys and while that is not the worst scale to play on the pipes, it is a far cry from comfortable, limits the range of the scale to an octave (give or take a few tones above or below), basically precludes use of the regulators and, most importantly I think, prevents the real (and in my opinion necessary) feeling of stability and conclusion the listener gets when a piper finishes their tune(s) with a bottom or back D against the drones.
The point of this story is to illustrate that while we are playing the dance music of Ireland and perhaps even other types of traditional music on the pipes, it makes sense to take advantage of the tenets of classical music theory and appropriate these ideas into our playing. I do not mean that we should try to play Bach or Mozart on the pipes or practice E-flat scales on a D major instrument. I do mean, however that we should be cognizant that since Irish music is harmonically akin to Baroque music, we should pay attention to the aspects which make Baroque music function on a basic level especially since we are playing instruments that are capable of sustained harmonies.
How the Drones Effect Harmonic Tension in a Tune
The drones maintain three fixed pitches all spaced an octave apart. The bass drone is the lowest pitch the instrument can produce and therefore gives sonic context to all the other pitches sounded above it. Playing tunes in D generally “sound the best” or “most stable” on the pipes because tunes in D frequently access the note D which resonates in perfect consonance (at the octave or unison) with the drones. Playing in any other key with the drones turned on precludes complete harmonic stability between the chanter and drones and renders a heightened sense of tension in the tune played.
This is founded on musical theory. Most Irish tunes start and end in the same key. In some tunes, the A and B parts are in different keys. For example, the A part has a “D” tonality while the B part has an “A” tonality. The first part in the key of “D” sounds stable, but powerful. When switching to the second part in “A,” tension builds because the ear seeks to hear resolution in the tune, namely the return to the home tonality of “D.”
When you turn on the drones and begin to play a tune in D, the harmony is following a relatively predictable course of action, the end result being a firm and final cadence or finish on D. As musicians in the Irish tradition who have spent a great deal of time listening to regularly occurring harmonic patterns (which in many ways define what sounds Irish and what does not), we have certain expectations of where the tune will “go.” I believe these expectations to be based on harmony and patterns of harmony. Whatever key the tune is in, our ear wants to hear the tune transition through a particular arrangement of harmonies and then back to the start again so we can feel a sense of completion in a place of rest. That is what a cadence is.
The really interesting thing is that when you play a tune in any other key over a D drone—provided the last part of that tune ends on a note other than D—you may very well be left with a feeling of instability as if something did not quite finish. If you play a tune in G over a D drone, the tune probably ends on a G. The drones are playing at the interval of a fourth below the G (see diagram Scale of D).
Scale of G
pitch name G A B C D E F#
scale degree I II III IV V VI VII
Scale of D (drones)
pitch name D E F# G A B C#
scale degree I II III IV V VI VII
Scale of A
pitch name A B C# D E F# G#
scale degree I II III IV V VI VII
*letters & numerals in BOLD indicate scale degrees comprising the tonic triad*
The interval of a fourth, albeit less so than other intervals, is a dissonant one—dissonance here meaning unstable or unresolved. I have attempted to construct a diagram to show the relationships between these scale degrees and their harmonic implications (In the key of D, A is the V scale degree, E is the II scale degree and C-sharp is the VII scale degree). For example, play a tune in A and the leading tone of D major (scale degree VII or C-sharp) becomes foundational in the key being played because it is in the tonic (A) triad (I, III, V or A, C-sharp, E). You will hear a lot of As, Es, and C-sharps played against a D (the drone). These three pitches are spaced a second or seventh apart (depending on the octave in which they appear) from the foundational D produced by the drones. If you end on the note A, then you will the drones at a fifth below A. The fifth is a very stable sounding, consonant resting place in the scheme of harmony which is why we typically use the A to tune the drones, but where the tension builds is in the instance of performing. Your ear remembers all those C-sharps and Es that define the key of A, so when you hang onto that last A with the drone, your ear is still not satisfied with sound produced in that the tune does not sound like it has reached a resting place if the drones (in D) are on. Should you be playing with the drones off, all of this theory bears significantly less clout. This is not to say that ending a set with a tune in A is good or bad, but simply why it sounds different than ending with a tune in D. I have drawn a double line between the C# as it exists as the III scale degree in the key of A and as it exists as the VII scale degree in the key of D. The VII scale degree is a crucial pitch in any key because the ear hears it as pushing the harmony back to the tonic.
The same goes for playing a tune in G. You will hear a lot of Gs, Bs, and Ds, against the D drones because G-B-D comprise the tonic triad (our harmonic frame of reference for the tune and essentially how we know where we are in it). G against D, as mentioned previously, is the interval of a fourth and not the best interval to give a firm sense of stability. You may even wonder, “Well, there’s a D in the G major triad!” Yes, that is true, but your ear will still remember all the other notes of that triad played against the D drone, not to mention the triads of the other harmonies that go on in the tune.
As uilleann pipers, we are capable of playing sustained harmonies. Such possibilities are open to few other instruments in the Irish tradition. Since we afforded a unique approach to the music in this way, it is important to understand why our music sounds the way it does so that when we hear something we find aesthetically pleasing in our own or someone else’s, we can repeat it. The basic understanding of harmony is also important because it heightens our musicianship and musical literacy. You may have spent years finding “your place” in the music scene of your geographic area, but it is now time to become an insider in terms of the functioning of music. The point of all this is to make good music consistently and a sound point of departure for the start of that process is with a firm grasp of the rudiments of harmony.
