In music, the term tessitura (plural tessiture; Italian, meaning "texture", and from the same Latin word: textura) generally describes the most musically acceptable and comfortable range for a given singer or, less frequently, musical instrument; the range in which a given type of voice presents its best-sounding texture or timbre. This broad definition is often interpreted to refer specifically to the pitch range that most frequently occurs within a given piece, or part, of music. For example, throughout the entirety of Wagner's Ring, the music written for the role of Siegfried ranges from C3 to C5, but the tessitura is described as high because the tenor phrases are most often in the range of C4 to A4.

In musical notation, tessitura is used to refer to the compass in which a piece of music lies—whether high or low, etc.—for a particular vocal (or less often instrumental) part. The tessitura of a piece is not decided by the extremes of its range, but rather by which part of the range is most used. The tessitura of a part will often influence what clef a particular piece of music is written in. Melodic contour may also be considered to be an important aspect of vocal tessitura.

The "tessitura" concept addresses not merely a range of pitches but as well the arrangement of those pitches. Tessitura considerations include these factors: proportion of sudden or gradual rises and falls in pitch—speed of pitch changes; the relative number of very high or low notes; whether lines and phrases of music in the piece tend to rise or fall—the muscular abilities of a singer may be more suited to one or the other direction.

Although frequently ignored in discourses on tessitura, the volume (loudness) level which a singer is required to maintain for dramatic effect will often have an effect on which "fach" (voice type) or tessitura in which he or she may specialise. For example a lyric tenor may have the vocal range to sing Wagner or other dramatic roles, but to maintain the loudness required for dramatic intensity over the span of an opera performance could either inflict vocal damage or be simply beyond the innate ability. Verdi's Otello is a good example of the need for a voice capable of substantial power throughout the length of a performance of the opera.

See also

Register

Ambitus

Extension (music)

References

Category:Italian loanwords Category:Opera terminology Category:Pitch (music) Category:Singing Category:Voice registers

Name	Guthrie Govan
Landscape	Yes
Background	solo_singer
Birth name	Guthrie Govan
Born	December 27, 1971Chelmsford, Essex
Instrument	Guitar
Genre	Jazz fusion, rock, blues, progressive rock, funk, country, bluegrass
Years active	1991–present
Label	Cornford Records
Associated acts	Erotic Cakes, Young Punx, The Fellowship, GPS, Asia, Dizzee Rascal
Url	Official website
Notable instruments	SuhrStandardsClassicClassic T

Guthrie Govan (born 27 December 1971 in Chelmsford, Essex, England) is a guitarist known for his work with the bands Asia (2001–2006), GPS, The Young Punx and The Fellowship as well as Erotic Cakes (a vehicle for his own music). He is a noted guitar teacher through his work with the UK magazine Guitar Techniques, Guildford’s Academy of Contemporary Music and currently the Brighton Institute of Modern Music. He is also a former winner of Guitarist magazine's "Guitarist of the Year" competition.

Biography and early playing career

Govan began playing guitar aged three, encouraged by his father but initially learning mainly by ear. At the age of nine he and his brother Seth Govan played guitar on a Thames Television programme called Ace Reports. At secondary school he was exposed, via older classmates, to "shred" guitarists of the time.) he sent demos of his work to Mike Varney of Shrapnel Records. Varney was impressed and offered him a record deal; ultimately however, Govan declined. Regarding his reasons he has explained: "it was as though all I really wanted to know was that I was good enough […] I found I was getting a bit wary of the shred movement."

In 1993 he won Guitarist magazine’s "Guitarist of the Year" competition with his instrumental piece Wonderful Slippery Thing (a version of which would eventually appear on his debut solo album); the demo of the track earned him a place amongst several other entrants in the live final, which he then won. Subsequently, he submitted a sample transcription (of a Shawn Lane piece) to Guitar Techniques magazine; this earned him a job as a contributor to the magazine, ending a spell working in fast food. Since the late 1990s, Govan has taught at the Guitar Institute in Acton, Thames Valley University, and the Academy of Contemporary Music; he currently teaches at Brighton Institute of Modern Music. In this context, he is known for his ability to teach a wide range of styles.

Playing career in the 2000s

Asia, GPS and The Young Punx

Govan began his involvement with Asia playing on the album Aura. With his work on the album complete, Govan was added to the Asia line-up for the tour to support the new album. Bad Asteroid, an instrumental in the live shows, was a Govan original composition; it dates back to his early 1990s demo. He went on to play on the band’s 2004 album Silent Nation.

In 2006, Asia keyboardist Geoff Downes left to reform an earlier Asia line-up; Govan and the other two band members, John Payne and Jay Schellen, formed GPS (named after the members' initials). After the addition of Ryo Okumoto on keyboards the band released the album Window to the Soul (2006).

Govan performs on a number of tracks on Your Music Is Killing Me, the debut album of UK electronic dance music act The Young Punx and is part of their live act. He also appears in the music video for their track Rockall.

Govan had been a member of Asia featuring John Payne with Payne, Schellen, and Erik Norlander from 2007 until mid-2009 when he was replaced by Mitch Perry.

Govan has played live acoustic guitar for Dizzee Rascal, including a performance on Later With Jools Holland.

Erotic Cakes and The Fellowship

Govan’s debut solo album, Erotic Cakes, was released through Cornford Records in August 2006. In the album's sleeve notes, Govan states the album is named after an episode of The Simpsons; he also explains that when playing live, the band is billed as Erotic Cakes rather than simply Guthrie Govan. In addition to bass by Govan’s brother Seth and drumming by Pete Riley, the album features guitar solos by Richie Kotzen (whose Los Angeles studio was used to record the guitar tracks on the album) on Ner Ner and Bumblefoot on Rhode Island Shred respectively. Seth Govan and Pete Riley also complete the Erotic Cakes live band. Previous versions of Waves and Rhode Island Shred appeared on the compilation Guitar on the Edge, Vol 1. no.4 (Legato Records, 1993).

Influences and technique

Govan’s earliest influences were Jimi Hendrix and Cream-era Eric Clapton; as such he describes himself as coming from a "blues rock background". elsewhere, fellow virtuosos Joe Satriani and Paul Gilbert have praised Govan's playing.

Equipment

Govan mainly uses various Suhr guitars: the Guthrie Govan Signature Model, three custom Standards, a Modern 24-fret model, a Classic and Classic T. Govan also favours Cornford amps: the sleeve notes of Erotic Cakes state he has used an RK100, MK50 and Hellcat.

References

External links

Official Guthrie Govan Web Site

Cornford Records on Myspace Samples of the debut album

A YouTube clip of Govan improvising Sample of his fusion-jazz style

Another YouTube clip of Govan improvising Bluesy style showcasing Govan's string overbends to create melody

Category:Living people Category:1971 births Category:Asia (band) members Category:English rock guitarists Category:Academics of Thames Valley University

Name	Fred Frith
Background	non_vocal_instrumentalist
Birth name	Fred Frith
Born	February 17, 1949Heathfield, Sussex, England
Instrument	Guitar, Violin, Bass guitar, Keyboards, Percussion
Genre	Avant-rock, experimental, free improvisation, contemporary classical
Occupation	Musician, Composer,Professor of Composition
Years active	1968–present
Label	Caroline, Moers Music, Ralph, RecRec, Recommended, Fred, Tzadik, Winter & Winter
Associated acts	Henry Cow, Art Bears, Massacre, Skeleton Crew, Keep the Dog, Chris Cutler, John Zorn
Url	www.fredfrith.com

Fred Frith (born 17 February 1949) is an English multi-instrumentalist, composer and improvisor.

Probably best-known for his guitar work, Frith first came to attention as one of the founding members of the English avant-rock group Henry Cow. Frith was also a member of Art Bears, Massacre and Skeleton Crew. He has collaborated with a number of prominent musicians, including Robert Wyatt, Derek Bailey, The Residents, Lol Coxhill, John Zorn, Brian Eno, Lars Hollmer, Bill Laswell, Iva Bittová and Bob Ostertag. He has also composed several long works, including Traffic Continues (1996, performed 1998 by Frith and Ensemble Modern) and Freedom in Fragments (1993, performed 1999 by Rova Saxophone Quartet).

Frith is the subject of Nicolas Humbert and Werner Penzel's award-winning 1990 documentary film Step Across the Border. He has contributed to a number of music publications, including New Musical Express and Trouser Press, and has conducted improvising workshops across the world. Frith's career spans over three decades and he appears on over 400 albums. He still performs actively throughout the world.

Frith is also one of the subjects of the Canadian documentary Act of God, from the director of the award winning Manufactured Landscapes. The film is about the metaphysical effects of being struck by lightning.

Currently Frith is Professor of Composition in the Music Department at Mills College in Oakland, California. He lives in the United States with his wife, German photographer Heike Liss, and their children, Finn Liss (born 1991) and Lucia Liss (born 1994).

Frith was awarded the 2008 Demetrio Stratos Prize for his career achievements in experimental music. The prize was established in 2005 in honour of experimental vocalist Demetrio Stratos, of the Italian group Area, who died in 1979. In 2010 Frith received an honorary doctorate from the University of Huddersfield in West Yorkshire, England in recognition of his contribution to music.

Frith is the brother of Simon Frith, a well-known music critic and sociologist, and Chris Frith, a psychologist working at University College London.

Biography

Frith was born in Heathfield in Sussex, England into a family where music was considered an essential part of life. He started violin lessons at the age of five and became a member of his school orchestra. But at 13 he switched to guitar after watching a group imitating a popular instrumental band at the time, The Shadows. He decided to learn how to play guitar and get into a band. Frith taught himself guitar from a book of guitar chords and soon found himself in a school group called The Chaperones, playing Shadows and Beatles covers. But when Frith started hearing blues music from the likes of Snooks Eaglin and Alexis Korner it changed his whole approach to the guitar, and by the time he was 15, The Chaperones had become a blues band. Frith's first public performances were in 1967 in folk clubs in the North of England, where he sang and played traditional and blues songs.

Besides the blues, Frith started listening to any music that had guitar in it, including folk, classical, ragtime and flamenco. He also listened to Indian, Japanese and Balinese music and was particularly drawn to East European music after a Yugoslav school friend taught him folk tunes from his home. Frith went to Cambridge University in 1967 where his musical horizons were expanded further by the philosophies of John Cage and Frank Zappa's manipulation of rock music. Frith graduated from Cambridge with a BA (English Literature) in 1970, and an MA (English Literature) in 1974, but the real significance of Cambridge for him was that that was where the seminal avant-rock group Henry Cow were formed.

Henry Cow

Frith met Tim Hodgkinson, a fellow student, in a blues club at Cambridge University in 1968. "We’d never met before, and he had an alto sax, and I had my violin, and we just improvised this ghastly screaming noise for about half an hour." But something clicked and recognizing their mutual open-minded approach to music, Frith and Hodgkinson formed a band there and then. They called it Henry Cow and they remained with the band until its demise in 1978. In the early 70's Fred's grey Morris Minor sported the band's heraldic logo, much to the amusement of boys at his dad's grammar school in York where he was the headmaster.

Frith composed a number of the band's notable pieces, including "Nirvana for Mice" and "Ruins". While guitar was his principal instrument, he also played violin (drawing on his classical training), bass guitar, piano and xylophone.

In November 1973, Frith (and other members of Henry Cow) participated in a live-in-the-studio performance of Mike Oldfield's Tubular Bells for the BBC. It is available on Oldfield's Elements DVD.

Guitar Solos

After Henry Cow's first album, Frith released Guitar Solos in 1974, his first solo album and a glimpse at what he had been doing with his guitar. The album comprised eight tracks of unaccompanied and improvised music played on prepared guitars. It was recorded in four days at the Kaleidophon Studios in London without any overdubbing.

When it was released, Guitar Solos was considered a landmark album because of its innovative and experimental approach to guitar playing. The January 1983 edition of Down Beat magazine remarked that Guitar Solos "... must have stunned listeners of the day. Even today that album stands up as uniquely innovative and undeniably daring." It also attracted the attention of some "mainstream" musicians, including Brian Eno, resulting in Frith playing guitar on two of Eno's albums, Before and After Science (1977) and Music for Films (1978).

In the mid-1970s, Frith contributed a series of articles to British weekly music magazine, New Musical Express entitled "Great Rock Solos of our Time". In them he analysed prominent rock guitarists of the day and their contribution to the development of the rock guitar, including Jimi Hendrix and Eric Clapton.

Post Henry Cow

While recording Henry Cow's last album, differences emerged between the group members over the album's content. Frith and Chris Cutler favoured song-oriented material, while Hodgkinson and Lindsay Cooper wanted purely instrumental compositions. As a compromise, Frith and Cutler agreed, early in 1978, to release the songs already created on their own album, Hopes and Fears, under the name Art Bears (with Dagmar Krause). The instrumental material was recorded by Henry Cow on Western Culture later that year, after which the band split. The Art Bears trio continued purely as a studio group until 1981, releasing two more albums, Winter Songs in 1979 and The World as It Is Today in 1981.

During this time Frith also released Gravity (1980), his second solo album, recorded at Norrgården Nyvla in Uppsala, Sweden with Swedish group Samla Mammas Manna, and at the Catch-a-Buzz studio in Rockville, Maryland with United States band The Muffins. It showed Frith breaking free from the highly structured and orchestrated music of Henry Cow and experimenting with folk and dance music. "Norrgården Nyvla" was also the title of one of the tracks on the album and is considered one of Frith's most recognisable tunes.

New York

, Oakland, California in October 2005.]]

Towards the end of 1979 Frith relocated to New York City where he immediately hooked-up with the local avant-garde/Downtown music scene. The impact on him was uplifting: "... New York was a profoundly liberating experience for me; for the first time I felt that I could be myself and not try to live up to what I imagined people were thinking about me." Frith met and began recording with a number of musicians and groups, including Henry Kaiser, Bob Ostertag, Tom Cora, Eugene Chadbourne, Zeena Parkins, Ikue Mori, The Residents, Material, The Golden Palominos and Curlew. He spent some 14 years in New York, during which time he joined a few bands, including John Zorn's Naked City (in which Frith played bass) and French Frith Kaiser Thompson (consisting of John French, Frith, Henry Kaiser and Richard Thompson). Frith also started three bands himself, namely Massacre, Skeleton Crew and Keep the Dog.

Massacre was formed in 1980 with bassist Bill Laswell and drummer Fred Maher. A high energy experimental rock band, they toured the United States and Europe in 1980 and 1981, and released one album, Killing Time (1981), recorded at Martin Bisi's later-to-be historic studio in Brooklyn. Massacre split in 1981 when Maher left, but later reformed again in 1998 when drummer Charles Hayward joined. The new Massacre released three more albums.

Skeleton Crew, a collaboration with Tom Cora from 1982 to 1986, was an experimental group noted for its live improvisations where Frith (guitar, violin, keyboards, drums) and Cora (cello, bass guitar, homemade drums and contraptions) played a number of instruments simultaneously. They performed extensively across Europe, North America and Japan and released Learn to Talk in 1984. Zeena Parkins (electric harp and keyboards) joined in 1984 and the trio released The Country of Blinds in 1986. In October 1983 Skeleton Crew joined Duck and Cover, a commission from the Berlin Jazz Festival, for a performance in West Berlin, followed by another in February 1984 in East Berlin.

Frith formed Keep the Dog in 1989, a sextet and review band for performing selections of his extensive repertoire of compositions from the previous 15 years. The lineup was Frith (guitar, violin, bass guitar), René Lussier (guitar, bass guitar), Jean Derome (winds), Zeena Parkins (piano, synthesizer, harp, accordion), Bob Ostertag (sampling keyboard) and Kevin Norton (drums, percussion). Later Charles Hayward replaced Norton on drums. The group existed until mid-1991, performing live in Europe, North America and the former Soviet Union. A double CD, That House We Lived In, from their final performances in Austria, Germany and Italy in May and June 1991, was released in 2003.

Other projects

During the 1980s, Frith began writing music for dance, film and theatre, and a number of his solo albums from this time reflect this genre, including The Technology of Tears (And Other Music for Dance and Theatre) (1988), Middle of the Moment (1995), Allies (Music for Dance volume 2) (1996) and Rivers and Tides (2003). Exploring new forms of composition, Frith also experimented with chance or accidental compositions, often created by building music around "found sounds" and field recordings, examples of which can be found on Accidental (Music for Dance volume 3) (2002) and Prints: Snapshots, Postcards, Messages and Miniatures, 1987-2001 (2002).

in August 2006.]]

As a composer, Frith began composing works for other musicians and groups in the late 1980s, including the Rova Saxophone Quartet, Ensemble Modern and Arditti Quartet. In the late 1990s, Frith established his own Fred Frith Guitar Quartet consisting of Frith, René Lussier, Nick Didkovsky and Mark Stewart. Their guitar music, varying from "tuneful and pretty, to noisy, aggressive and quite challenging", appears on two albums, Ayaya Moses (1997) and Upbeat (1999), both on Lussier's own Ambiances Magnétiques label.

The ex-Henry Cow members have always maintained close contact with each other and Frith still collaborates with many of them, including Chris Cutler, Tim Hodgkinson and Lindsay Cooper. Cutler and Frith have been touring Europe, Asia and the Americas since 1978 and have given dozens of duo performances. Three albums from some of these concerts have been released by Recommended Records. In December 2006, Cutler, Frith and Hodgkinson performed together at The Stone in New York City, their first concert performance since Henry Cow's demise in 1978.

In 1995 Frith moved to Stuttgart in Germany to live with his wife, German photographer Heike Liss and their children Finn and Lucia. Between 1994 and 1996, Frith was Composer-in-Residence at L’Ecole Nationale de Musique in Villeurbanne, France.

Frith relocated to the United States in 1997 to become Composer-in-Residence at Mills College in Oakland, California. In 1999 he was appointed the Luther B. Marchant Professor of Composition in the Music Department at Mills where he currently teaches composition, contemporary performance and improvisation. While he had never studied music in college, Frith's credentials of over forty years of continuous practice and self-discovery got him the position. He has, however, maintained that "most of my students are better qualified to teach composition than I am," and that he learns as much from them as they learn from him.

In March 1997 Frith formed the electro-acoustic improvisation and experimental trio Maybe Monday with saxophonist Larry Ochs from Rova Saxophone Quartet and koto player Miya Masaoka. Between 1997 and 2008 they toured the United States, Canada and Europe and released three albums. In March 2008 Frith formed Cosa Brava, an experimental rock and improvisation quartet with Zeena Parkins from Skeleton Crew and Keep the Dog, and Carla Kihlstedt and Matthias Bossi from Sleepytime Gorilla Museum, and The Norman Conquest. They toured Europe in April 2008 and performed at the 25th Festival International de Musique Actuelle de Victoriaville in Victoriaville, Quebec, Canada in May 2008.

==Equipment==

Guitars and playing technique

Fred Frith has used a number of different guitars, including homemades, over the years, depending on the type of music he is playing. For the more structured and refined music he has often used a Gibson ES-345, for example on his solo album, Gravity. For the heavier "rock" sound, as in Massacre, he has used an old 1961 solid body Burns guitar, created by the British craftsman Jim Burns. On his landmark Guitar Solos album, Frith used a modified 1936 Gibson K-11 guitar (q.v. for details).

For Frith's early unstructured music, as with Henry Kaiser on With Friends Like These, and his early table-top guitar solo performances, he used a homemade six- and eight-string double-neck guitar, created by a friend Charles Fletcher. Frith told Down Beat magazine in 1983: "It was the one and only guitar that he ever built ... he constructed it mainly out of old pieces from other guitars that I had, and for the body I think he used an old door." Later he added a live sampler to his on-stage equipment, which he controlled with pedals. The sampler enabled him to dynamically capture and loop guitar sounds, over which he would capture and loop new sounds, and so on, until he had a bed of repeated patterns on top of which he would then begin his solo performance.

Effects and amplification

in April 2009.]] ;Effect pedals:

Pro Co RAT Distortion Pedal

Boss FV-50L Volume Foot Controller

Boss RC20-XL Delay

DigiTech DigiTech Whammy 4

Line 6 DL4 Delay

EBow

;Amplification:

Fender Amplifiers

Step Across the Border

Step Across the Border is an award winning 1990 documentary film on Fred Frith, written and directed by Nicolas Humbert and Werner Penzel, and released in Germany and Switzerland. It was filmed in Japan, Europe and the United States, and also features musicians René Lussier, Iva Bittová, Tom Cora, Tim Hodgkinson, Bob Ostertag and John Zorn.

Fred Records

In 2002, Fred Frith created his own record label, Fred Records to re-release his back catalogue of recordings and previously unreleased material. Frith also appears on several releases by Tzadik Records and Winter & Winter.

Compositions

Since the late 1980s, Fred Frith has composed a number of longer works. Here is a selection, the year indicating when they were composed. For a complete list, see Compositions by Fred Frith.

The As Usual Dance Towards the Other Flight to What is Not (1989) – for four electric guitars

Helter Skelter (1990) – for two sopranos, contralto and a large electric ensemble

Stick Figures (1990) – for six guitars and two players

Lelekovice (1991) – (for Iva Bittová) string quartet no. 1

Stone, Brick, Glass, Wood, Wire (1992) – graphic scores for any number of players

Freedom in Fragments (1993) – a suite of 23 pieces for saxophone quartet

The Previous Evening (1993) – a tribute to John Cage for four clarinets, tapes, bass, footsteps, electric guitars, whirled objects and voice

Elegy for Elias (1993) – for piano, violin and marimba

Pacifica (1994) – a meditation for 21 musicians with texts by Pablo Neruda

Seven Circles (1995) – for piano

Impur (1996) – for 100 musicians, large building and mobile audience

Shortened Suite (1996) – for trumpet, oboe, cello and marimba

Back to Life (1997) – for trumpet, oboe, cello and marimba

Traffic Continues: Gusto (1998) – for large ensemble with improvising soloists

Landing for Choir (2001) – for Flamenco singer, cello, saxophone and samples

Allegory (2002) – for string quartet and electric guitar

Fell (2002) – for string quartet & electric guitar

The Happy End Problem (2003) – for flute, bassoon, gu zheng, percussion, violin and electronics

The Right Angel (2003) – for orchestra and electric guitar

Save As (2005) – for cello and percussion

Snakes and Ladders (2006) – for clarinet, electric guitar, piano, percussion, cello and double bass

Episodes (2007) – for Baroque orchestra

Water Stories (2007) – for clarinet, piano, percussion, violin, and cello

For Nothing (2008) – for contralto and Baroque string quartet

performing in Austria in November 2009.]]

Discography

Fred Frith appears on over 400 recordings: with bands, in collaboration with other musicians, solo, albums he produced for other bands and musicians, and albums featuring his composed work performed by others.

Films

1990 Step Across the Border – a 90 minute documentary on Fred Frith by Nicolas Humbert and Werner Penzel.

1991 Streetwise – a documentary by Charles Castella about Frith's work in Marseille with "unemployed rock musicians".

2000 Le Voyage Immobile – a documentary about Frith's trio with Louis Sclavis and Jean-Pierre Drouet for France 3 national TV.

2004 Touch the Sound – a documentary by Thomas Riedelsheimer about Scottish percussionist Evelyn Glennie and her collaboration with Frith.

2007 Attwenger Adventure – a documentary on Austrian folk-punk duo Attwenger by Markus Kaiser-Mühlecker, with special appearances by Frith rehearsing and performing live with Attwenger and Wolfgang "I-Wolf" Schlögl at Music Unlimited XX. in Wels, Austria.

2009 Act of God – a documentary by Jennifer Baichwal about the metaphysical effects of being struck by lightning, with music by Frith and others, and a segment showing Frith conducting an experiment to measure the effect of improvisation on brain waves.

Footnotes

External links

FredFrith.com Official homepage.

Fred Frith biography FredFrith.com archive at the Internet Archive Wayback Machine.

Fred Frith biography The Canterbury Website.

Fred Frith interview Dan Warburton, Paris Transatlantic Magazine, March 1998.

Fred Frith interview BBC Music archive at the Internet Archive Wayback Machine.

Stage Effects Setup. All About Jazz. .

Fred Frith discography.

Fred Frith interview at allaboutjazz.com

Category:1949 births Category:Living people Category:20th-century classical composers Category:21st-century classical composers Category:English guitarists Category:English violinists Category:English bass guitarists Category:English keyboardists Category:English composers Category:British film score composers Category:English experimental musicians Category:Free improvisation Category:Canterbury scene Category:Alumni of the University of Cambridge Category:English multi-instrumentalists Category:People from Wealden (district) Category:Henry Cow members Category:The Golden Palominos members Category:Tzadik Records artists Category:Moers Music artists