International award for York St John University music lecturer’s first monograph

Dr Mark Marrington, Associate Professor in Music Production, has won a prestigious global award for his book Recording the Classical Guitar. 

The Association for Recorded Sound Collections (ARSC), based in the US, have announced the winners of the 2022 ARSC Awards for Excellence in Recorded Sound Research. The awards, first launched in 1991, celebrate authors publishing the very best work in recorded sound research. 

Dr Marrington, course lead for the University’s MA in Music Production, won the Best History Award in the category Best Historical Research in Recorded Classical Music for his 2021 book. 

The book, Dr Marrington's first solo monograph, was published last year by Routledge and offers an insightful history of classical guitar recording, from  the early twentieth century to the present day.  

Early in his music career, Dr Marrington studied classical guitar and composition before moving the focus of his research to music production. His current teaching at York St John University is focused on “phonomusicology” which concerns the study of musical recordings in reference to the technological factors that have shaped their sound and content. The book fuses Mark’s early classical music interests with the field of recording, bringing a unique narrative for guitarists, producers and musicologists.  

Dr Marrington said: “This award is a fantastic acknowledgment of the four years of extensive research that went into this book, which would not have been possible without the incredibly supportive, successful music community at York St John. In writing this book I’ve been able to reignite my life-long love of classical guitar whilst bringing new knowledge to the field of recording, and at the same time enrich my teaching!”  

Find out more about the Recording the Classical Guitar on the Routledge website.  

Discover more about studying an MA in Music Production at York St John University