David is currently a PhD Candidate in the Faculty of Music, at the University of Cambridge, under the supervision of Professor John Rink. His current doctoral research (The Collaborative Guitar: Co-Performer Creativity in Musical Performance) combines historical, theoretical, ethnographic, and autoethnographic approaches to collaborative performance involving the guitar, with the aims of developing the concept of 'the collaborative guitar' and explaining the real-time creative processes engaged in by small musical ensembles more generally.
His research interests include:
Recent publications include:
His research interests include:
- Artistic Research
- Classical Guitar
- Collaboration
- Communication
- Creativity
- Ensemble performance
- Gesture
- Latency
- Musical Performance (especially as a mediation of order and chaos)
Recent publications include:
- Cotter, David. ‘The Creative Musical Mediation of Order and Chaos’. In Jordan Peterson: Critical Responses , edited by Sandra Woien. Carus Books, 2022.
- Cotter, David, and Marc Estibeiro. ‘The Guitar Reimagined’. In Rethinking the Musical Instrument, edited by Mine Doğantan-Dack. Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 2022.
CONFERENCE PRESENTATIONS
Upcoming
'Latent: A Composition for Two Guitars and Electronics Controlled Using the Natural Sound of the Instrument and Pitch Tracking Algorithms'. Presenting at XXIII Colloquio di Informatica Musicale, Ancona, Italy, 25 October.
'Virtual Collaboration: Navigating Agency, Identity, and Latency in 21st-Century Musical Performance'. Presenting at Music and Sonic Art: Sounding Identities (Eleventh International Conference), Middlesex University, London, 22 September 2022.
2022
‘Virtual Music Performance: Collaboration, Communication, and Creativity'. Presenting at South African Society for Research in Music (SASRIM) (16th Annual Conference), Rhodes University, South Africa, 26 August 2022 (virtual presentation).
'The Collaborative Guitar'. Presented at NoiseFloor Conference, Staffordshire University, Stoke, 13 May 2022..
'The Collaborative Guitar'. Presented at The 21st Century Guitar Conference, Ball State University, Indiana, USA, 19 March 2022.
2021
‘Introduction to Artistic Research’. Presented at the Research Training for Practitioners Course, University of Surrey, UK, 16 November 2021.
‘Remote Collaboration: Communication, Creativity, and Latency’. Presented at the Music–Musicology–Interpretation Conference, University of Arts in Belgrade, Serbia, 22 October 2021.
‘Creative Musical Collaboration in the 21st Century’. Presented at the BEYOND Conference, Northern Ireland, 20 October 2021.
‘Creative Musical Collaboration in the 21st Century’. Presented at the Research, Resilience, Resurgence Conference, North West Consortium Doctoral Training Partnership, 18 October 2021.
‘The Musical Performance of Texts and Text in the Virtual Domain’. Video presentation for the Text and Textuality Conference, Durham University, UK, 15 July 2021.
‘The Future Is Now: Virtual Musical Performance in the 21st Century’. Presented at the KVNM-RMA Postgraduate Symposium, Royal Society for Music History of the Netherlands (KVNM) and the UK Royal Musical Association (RMA), 4 July 2021.
‘Remote Collaboration: Creativity and Communication’. Presented at the Transformations of Musical Creativity Conference, Transtraditional Istanbul (TTI), Turkey, 24 June 2021.
‘The Future Is Now: Virtual Music Performance in the 21st Century’. Presented at the Futures: Time, Uncertainty, and the Imagination Conference, SWW DTP, 14 June 2021.
‘Remote Collaboration: Communication, Creativity, and Latency’. Presented at the New Music International Forum, The Saint Petersburg Contemporary Music Center, Russia, 22 May 2021.
‘Virtual Music Performance: Collaboration, Communication, and Creativity’. Presented at the University of Connecticut’s Graduate Music Conference, University of Connecticut, USA, 15 May 2021.
‘Remote Collaboration: Communication, Creativity, and Latency’. Presented at the NoiseFloor Conference, Staffordshire University, UK, 11 May 2021.
‘Remote Collaboration: Communication, Creativity, and Latency’. Presented at the Towards 2040: Creating Classical Music Futures, Maastricht University, The Netherlands, 22 April 2021.
‘Remote Collaboration: Communication, Creativity, and Latency’. Presented at the Language - Music - Gesture: Informational Crossroads Conference, Saint Petersburg State University, Russia, 19 April 2021.
‘Musical Performance and COVID-19: Creativity, Collaboration, and Communication in the 21st Century’. Presented at the 1st Annual Midlands Music Research Network Conference, Midlands4Cities Doctoral Training Partnership, UK, 19 April 2021.
‘Remote Collaboration: Communication, Creativity, and Latency’. Presented at the New Materialisms in Music and Sound Conference, The University of Texas at Austin, USA, 17 April 2021.
‘Remote Collaboration: Communication, Creativity, and Latency’. Presented at the Music, Sound and Media in Times of Crisis (MiToC) International Study Day, Carleton University, Canada, 10 April 2021.
‘Guitarists in Lockdown: Collaboration, Communication, and Latency’. Presented at the The 21st Century Guitar International Interdisciplinary Conference, Universidade NOVA de Lisboa, Portugal, 25 March 2021.
2020
2020 Vision: The Guitar and Virtual Reality’. Presented at the Midlands New Music Symposium, University of Nottingham, UK, 6 December 2020.
‘2020 Vision: Music, Indeterminacy, and Virtual Reality’. Presented at the Indeterminate Futures / The Future of Indeterminacy Conference, University of Dundee, UK, 15 November 2020.
‘2020 Vision: The Future of Musicology Through Virtual Reality’. Presented at the Shaping the Present by the Future: (Ethno)musicology and Contemporaneity, Young Musicology International Conference, Belgrade, Serbia, 24 September 2020.
‘2020 Vision: Remembering and Reinventing Music Through Virtual Reality’. Presented at the 5th Cambridge AHRC DTP International Conference: Form and Forgetting, University of Cambridge, UK, 23 September 2020.
‘2020 Vision: Identity, Musicology, and Virtual Reality’. Presented at the Baltic Musicological Conference: Music and Change Before and After 1990, Lithuanian Academy of Music and Theatre, Vilnius, Lithuania, 12 September 2020.
2019
Old Frogs, New Tricks: Identity and Technology in a New Collaborative Work’. Presented at the Who is the ‘I’ that Performs?: Enacting Musical Identities, Orpheus Institute, Ghent, Belgium, 29 November 2019.
‘Virtual Reality and the Classical Music Industry’. Presented at the CMIC2019: Second Annual Conference on The Classical Music Industry, Middlesex University, UK, 13 November 2019.
‘The Collaborative Classical Guitar: Reassessing the Role of Accompanist’. Presented at the Hands-On Guitar Conference, Hands-On Symposium, University of Aveiro, Portugal, 2 November 2019.
‘Classical Guitar and Live Electronics with Dynamic VR Score: Hands-On Research in a New Collaborative Work’. Presented at the Hands-On Guitar Conference, Hands-On Symposium, University of Aveiro, Portugal, 2 November 2019.
‘New Work for Classical Guitar and Live Electronics with Dynamic VR Score: Structuring Improvisation in a Three-Dimensional Virtual Environment’. Presented at the International Guitar Research Centre Conference, Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts, Hong Kong, 14 July 2019.
2018
New Approaches To Understanding The Role Of Physical Gesture In Classical Guitar Performance’. Presented at the Research Masterclass, Guildhall School Of Music And Drama, UK, 15 October 2018.
CONFERENCE CO-PRESENTATIONS
2021
Cotter, David, and Marc Estibeiro. ‘Remote Collaboration: Communication, Creativity, and Latency’. Presented at the British Audio-Visual Research Network, University of Leeds, UK, 6 May 2021.
Cotter, David, and Marc Estibeiro. ‘Remote Collaboration: Creativity and Communication Through Controlled Improvisation in a Virtual Context’. Presented at the Communities and Communication Conference: Connections, Staffordshire University, UK, 24 April 2021.
2020
Cotter, David, and Ella Nixon. ‘2020 Vision: Sound Instruments, Sonic Cultures, and Virtual Reality’. Presented at the The Sound of Modernity, Sound Instruments and Sonic Cultures Interdisciplinary Conference, White Rose College of Arts and Humanities, National Science and Media Museum, Bradford, UK, 18 December 2020.
2019
Cotter, David, and Jonathan Packham. ‘BREKEKEKEX (2019): A New Collaborative Work for Classical Guitar, Live Electronics and VR Headset Score’. Presented at the The Classical Musician in the 21st Century Conference, University of Cambridge, UK, 23 May 2019.
Cotter, David, and Jonathan Packham. ‘New Work for Classical Guitar and Live Electronics with Dynamic VR Score: Structuring Improvisation in a Three-Dimensional Virtual Environment’. Presented at the EXPO2, University of Oxford, UK, 25 February 2019.
CONFERENCE CO-PRESENTATIONS
2021
Cotter, David, and Marc Estibeiro. ‘Remote Collaboration: Communication, Coronavirus, and Creativity’. Presented at the Creative Resilience: Artistic Expression and Community Connections Throughout COVID-19, University of Florida, USA, 16 October 2021.
Cotter, David, and Marc Estibeiro. ‘Remote Collaboration: Communication, Creativity, and Latency’. Presented at the British Audio-Visual Research Network, University of Leeds, UK, 6 May 2021.
Cotter, David, and Marc Estibeiro. ‘Remote Collaboration: Creativity and Communication Through Controlled Improvisation in a Virtual Context’. Presented at the Communities and Communication Conference: Connections, Staffordshire University, UK, 24 April 2021.
2020
Cotter, David, and Ella Nixon. ‘2020 Vision: Sound Instruments, Sonic Cultures, and Virtual Reality’. Presented at the The Sound of Modernity, Sound Instruments and Sonic Cultures Interdisciplinary Conference, White Rose College of Arts and Humanities, National Science and Media Museum, Bradford, UK, 18 December 2020.
2019
Cotter, David, and Jonathan Packham. ‘BREKEKEKEX (2019): A New Collaborative Work for Classical Guitar, Live Electronics and VR Headset Score’. Presented at the The Classical Musician in the 21st Century Conference, University of Cambridge, UK, 23 May 2019.
Cotter, David, Nicola Davanzo, Johannes Regnier, and Claudio Panariello. ‘In the Hall of the Interactive Guitars’. Presented at the NordicSMC Winter School, RITMO Centre for Interdisciplinary Studies in Rhythm, Time and Motion, University of Oslo, Norway, 8 March 2019.
Cotter, David, and Jonathan Packham. ‘New Work for Classical Guitar and Live Electronics with Dynamic VR Score: Structuring Improvisation in a Three-Dimensional Virtual Environment’. Presented at the EXPO2, University of Oxford, UK, 25 February 2019.