top of page

cells

  • Writer: Amanda Riddell
    Amanda Riddell
  • Nov 7, 2023
  • 1 min read

That's what I was taught to call the little fragments of music. Vamps is what most musicians use, but this is the avant-garde classical version of that. Here's how I see it: a lot of vamps are cells, but cells aren't just accompaniment material; it's anything that can be spun out into the main motivic structure.

 
 
 

Recent Posts

See All
Reclaiming the minor second

That's an interesting analysis of The Perfumed Garden. It's actually a slightly different minor second. k-Ni (Kumudvatī). It's a bit flatter than the equal tempered note, so it sounds loving. Think

 
 
 
To Sam Mendes

I'm not some non-binary wannabe. I'm diagnosed with gender dysphoria. The Kiwi harassers tried to reclassify me. That's part of my case. As I said, the anti-trans arguments aren't catching on in Te-R

 
 
 
wero

That's a type of challenge. No Disguises is a waiata wero.

 
 
 

1 Comment


Amanda Riddell
Amanda Riddell
Nov 06, 2023

So, a cell can be a rhythm - as in the case of These Words Are Meant For Someone and the insistent iamb pulse in the piano - or it can be a small fragment of a melody, ie the head or tail or something like that. Or it can be a timbral thing, ie hocketing or klangfarbenmelodie. I improvise around cells rather than around tunes when I do my things like Chamber of Colours V. This isn't all that uncommon: Henry Threadgill pioneered that approach.

Like
bottom of page