Dr Stephen Cottrell BA (Hons), MMus Ethnomusicology, PhD
Dr Stephen Cottrell studied at the University of East Anglia, the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, and the Paris Conservatoire. During a freelance musical career spanning nearly two decades he earned an international reputation as a saxophonist performing contemporary music, particularly as leader of the Delta Saxophone Quartet. He later returned to academia, completing an M.Mus. in Ethnomusicology at Goldsmiths College. A British Academy scholarship facilitated doctoral studies, also at Goldsmiths, where he was subsequently awarded a PhD for ethnomusicological research into professional musicians in London. Prior to joining the full-time staff at Goldsmiths he was a Senior Lecturer at Thames Valley University, and before that a Research Associate at Middlesex University.
Academic qualifications
BA (Hons), MMus Ethnomusicology (Goldsmiths, London, awarded with Distinction), PhD (Goldsmiths, London)
Areas of supervision
Current PhD students and their fields of study:
Jennifer Brand (AHRC funded) Musicology - Winds of Change: wind instrument design and the changing sound of British orchestras between c.1890 and c.1950
Emma Brinkhurst (AHRC funded) - Ethnomusicology: Music, Memory and Belonging in London’s King’s Cross
Ju-Lee Hong - Musicology: Cello Performing Traditions on Record: an empirical analysis
Jocelyn Howell (AHRC funded) - Musicology: Wind instrument design and manufacture at Boosey and Hawkes: a corporate history
Anna Kounadi - Performance: Analysing Skryabin Performances on Record
Lis Lewis - Musicology: English Flute Traditions in the 20th Century
Polina Proutskova - Ethnomusicology/Computing: The application of music analysis and retrieval software in ethnomusicology
Alejandro Toledo - Performance: Musical creativity in Moldavian Roma music making
Sally Watkins - Ethnomusicology: A Musical Ethnography of the Band of the Coldstream Guards
Recorded works
Selected recordings:2002
DSQ CD Facing Death on FMR (FMRCD104). Andriessen/Fitkin/Fox/Duddell/Alvarez.
2000
Solo CD release The Electric Saxophone on Clarinet Classics (CC0033). Works for saxophone and tape/electronics. Siegel/Dearden/Harrison/Alvarez/Gregory.
1998
DSQ CD Minimal Tendencies on Clarinet Classics (CC0024). Glass/Reich/Riley/Bryars/Nyman. BBC Music Magazine 'Disc of the Month'.
1997
Solo CD release of Jonty Harrison's EQ for saxophone and tape on NMC (NMC D035).
Research interests
Stephen's research interests fall into three inter-related areas:ethnographic approaches to musicians and music-making, particularly within the Western art music tradition; the study of musical instruments, particularly the saxophone; and the study and analysis of musical performance via recordings.
He is an associate editor of the journal Twentieth-Century Music, and on the executive committee of the British Forum for Ethnomusicology. He is also Artistic Advisor to the record label Saxophone Classics.
Selected publications
In preparation
The Saxophone. Monograph for Yale University Press.
In press
'Musical Performance in the Twentieth Century' in The Cambridge History of Musical Performance, eds Colin Lawson and Robin Stowell.
'Ethnomusicology and the Music Industries: an overview', in Ethnomusicology Forum, special issue on 'Ethnomusicology and the Music Industries'. Guest editor of this special issue, includes also 'An interview with Ben Mandelson'.
2009
'The Rise and Rise of Phonomusicology', in Recorded Music: Society, Technology, and Performance, ed. Amanda Bayley, Cambridge University Press, p.15-36. ISBN 978-0-521-86309-4.
2007
'Music, Time, and Dance in Orchestral Performance: The Conductor as Shaman', in Twentieth-Century Music vol 3/1 p. 73-96
'Local Bimusicality among London's freelance musicians' in Ethnomusicology, 51/1 p.85-105
2006
'The Clarinet and its Players in Eastern Europe and Greece' (with E. Mantzourani) in The Versatile Clarinet, ed. Roger Heaton, Routledge, p.31-46. ISBN: 0 415 97317 1 (Hbk)
2004
Professional Music-making in London: Ethnography and Experience. Monograph for Ashgate Publishing Limited. ISBN: 0 7546 0887 5 (Hbk) 0 7546 0889 1 (Pbk).
2003
'The Future of the Symphony Orchestra', in The Cambridge Companion to the Orchestra, ed. Colin Lawson, Cambridge University Press, p. 251-264. ISBN: 0 521 80658 5 (Hbk) 0 521 00132 3 (Pbk)
2002
The History of the Saxophone. A collection of historical recordings of saxophone music, with 20,000 word accompanying booklet. Clarinet Classics (CC0040).
'Music as Capital: Deputising Among London's Freelance Musicians' in British Journal of Ethnomusicology, vol. 10/2: 61-80