Matthew Styles

Matthew Styles is a Senior Lecturer in Saxophone Studies at the Western Australian Academy of Performing Arts (WAAPA), Edith Cowan University. He serves as Coordinator of Honours (Music) and is a postgraduate supervisor with extensive experience in musician injury research through collaboration with sports science specialists. As a faculty member, he teaches research preparation courses, creative projects, and woodwind workshops across undergraduate and postgraduate levels.

Matthew holds a Doctor of Musical Arts from the University of Western Australia (2008), a Bachelor of Music with Second Class Honours from the same institution, and two Certificate IV qualifications in Training and Assessment (2013 and 2023). His academic journey includes studies at the Royal College of Music, London, and mentorship under renowned saxophonists including Bob Berg, Martin Robertson, Dr. Kyle Horch, Dr. Otis Murphy, and Dr. Eugene Rousseau.

His research interests center on cross-genre pedagogy and performance, specifically bridging classical and jazz traditions for classical musicians, and developing injury mitigation strategies for saxophonists through multi-disciplinary approaches with sports science. With over 30 years of professional experience as a saxophonist across jazz, classical, funk, and avant-garde genres, Styles brings practical insight to his academic work. His research outputs demonstrate consistent productivity with publications spanning from 2009 to 2025, showing particular focus on saxophone health, performance techniques, and cross-genre exploration. The publications reveal a trajectory from performance-focused outputs toward increasingly research-intensive work examining health, pedagogy, and interdisciplinary approaches.

• 2004 Churchill Fellowship
• HenriSelmerParis Artist
• D'Addario Artist
• JLV Sound Ambassador

Dr. Styles actively supervises doctoral and master's students, currently serving as Principal Supervisor for three PhD candidates and Associate Supervisor for one PhD candidate. His completed supervision portfolio includes four PhD students as Principal Supervisor and five as Associate Supervisor across diverse musical topics. He has secured research funding including an ECU Early Career Researcher Grant ($23,560) for his project 'Saxology: recasting third stream music for the saxophone' (2014-2015). As director of 'The Phone Co.', he leads performance initiatives that integrate his research interests with practical application.

His professional activities extend to membership in the Australian Society for Performing Arts Healthcare (since 2012), Performing Arts Medical Association (since 2015), and Western Australian Music (since 2022), where he serves as a conference reviewer, demonstrating his commitment to advancing knowledge in performing arts healthcare and music education.