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from Edward Bunting, The Ancient Music of Ireland (Dublin 1840), page 22: The strings of the harp.
Irish Crónán
spoken by Gráinne Yeats
Scottish Gaelic crònan
spoken by Tony Dilworth
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Cronan - Drone bass
Crónán essentially means "act of humming, murmuring", and is applied to such sounds as the purr of a cat, the drone of a bagpipe and the murmur of a stream. It is probably related to the English verb croon, but has a long history in Gaelic. On p.32 Cronán is explained as 'The bass in music', and on p.88 Bunting tells us how, in Cos Antrim and Down, cronan was sung by a group of people "in consonance" with a soloist singing the words of the text (see also p.55). Notation for such a Crónán, for It's pretty to be in Ballinderry, is given on p.2 of the insert following p.88.
Colm Ó Baoill 2002