"WE HELD THE EMMY IN THE MIDDLE OF TIMES SQUARE, LOOKED AROUND AND SAID, 'WE WILL NEVER FORGET THIS MOMENT,'" recounts JMU music industry professor David Cottrell. His smile still lingers from that September win for news and documentary work at the National Television Academy awards ceremony. Cottrell and composing partner Chris Mangum won the Music and Sound Emmy for Outstanding Individual Achievement in a Craft for their scoring of Stalking Leopards, a National Geographic special on MSNBC.  Mangum says the night was so magical, he could almost see it as part of a show. As they walked through New York to their hotel, people shouted congratulations and asked to hold the award.  "Times Square seemed so clean, wonderful and joyful," Mangum says. "I felt like the whole city could have broken out into a Jerome Kern Broadway number at any moment." As it happens, Cottrell and Mangum could have written such a score themselves. Back in Harrisonburg, Cottrell tries to talk more about that night and his Emmy, but the music he has playing in the background keeps drawing him elsewhere. "Listen to this," he says, turning up the music for Understanding Oceans, one of the more than 150 documentaries for which he and Mangum have composed music. Cottrell rhythmically moves his hands as he conducts an imaginary orchestra in his office in the Music Building. The music carries the professor's thoughts on to another place in his story, the occasion he and Mangum began their business in 1995. An up-tempo piece comes through the speakers, and Cottrell's tapping hands and bouncing knee catch the wavelength. Unaware of his constant motion, the music industry professor recalls the cold call that brought him and Mangum together. Cottrell, then a professor at Shenandoah University, had developed a studio in his house.

Mangum called on a Friday with a dilemma: He had been approached with the opportunity to compose the music for the opening of a documentary. But his equipment wasn't working, and the music was due to the editor on Monday. Could he use Cottrell's?

Within two weeks the pair decided to go into business together. "From out of my basement, Cottrell-Mangum Music was born," Cottrell says, remembering the early days of their venture. Mangum even lived in his basement for awhile.

At the same time, Cottrell obtained an appointment to the music faculty at JMU, and Cottrell-Mangum continued. With each new project, word-of-mouth about their music spread throughout the industry, and soon they were taking on more and more projects. The duo has now composed music for National Geographic, the Discovery Channel, The Learning Channel, History Channel and PBS.

"We just love music," Cottrell says. "To me, it's just so much fun. And they pay us for that; it's kind of ridiculous."

Kathryn Pasternak, supervising producer of the Natural History Unit for National Geographic Television and Film, says Cottrell and Mangum are a rare pairing. "There's nobody else in this business that has a partnership as effective as they do," she says. "We love working with David and Chris. ... They're very creative composers. They bring a fresh ear to every project they tackle."

Mangum also says he and Cottrell bring different skills to their team. "His strengths are my weaknesses and vice versa. I mean that seriously," Mangum says. "As a team, we've been compared to the likes of Penn and Teller. I guess I'm like Penn in so much as I'm tall, loquacious yet a bit ungainly, and David may resemble Teller in so far as he is thinner and a bit balding, but that's just about as far as the analogy goes for David as far as the 'mute' aspect of Teller's character is concerned. In our minds, we are every bit as nutty, creative, outrageous and entertaining as the magic guys."

They just finished a three-hour special on John F. Kennedy for the History Channel and a special on the Wright Brothers' first flight for Discovery. The partnership with Mangum is a comfortable one, Cottrell says, adding that he's like a brother.

"We have such complementary skills. We are so much more together than we are apart," Cottrell says.

When working on a composition, the Cottrell-Mangum team views a video or beta version of the program they are writing. The director usually has given them some guidance, but then they have to make it creative, lively and in sync with the images.

"David and I realized that our success as composers of commercial music requires us to approach music from the immediacy of a kid's perspective -- as openheartedly and unintellectually as possible," Mangum says. "It is the process of silencing the mind and letting the heart speak in its own native tongue that gives us the greatest pleasure in what we do."

They both work on Macintosh G4s using Emagic Logic Platinum audio production software. Though Mangum works in Washington, D.C., and Cottrell works in Winchester, they are able to share MIDI files and sound files via the Internet.

"Chris and I usually talk about the show that we are currently working on and decide how we are going accomplish the producer's vision," Cottrell says. "This may include deciding which cues each of us will compose or produce as well as sharing our ideas as to the direction of certain cues. We may decide to assign cues to either one of us based on our natural musical instincts and training."

Cottrell and Mangum try to use as many live musicians as possible in their recordings. Two JMU music professors, Carl Donakowski, cello, and Michele Kirkdorffer, oboe and English horn, played on the Stalking Leopards score. Kirkdorffer says Cottrell is a "gifted composer" in writing music to complement visual action. "He composes music that draws the viewer further into the emotion of the film," she says. "The timing of the phrases and nuance of the phrases must fit exactly to the motion in the film. It is a completely different approach to composition, and David is extremely talented in fitting the aesthetics of sound in with very detailed visual action."

Even as Cottrell talks about his work with Mangum, he gets a call from his composing partner on his cell phone. Cottrell laughs as he speaks easily into the slim receiver. They are discussing their next project.

"Here at JMU, I can tell you what I'm going to be doing in a few months," Cottrell says after he finishes his conversation. "I never know what I'll be doing today with the business. I could get a call today."

Cottrell and Mangum agree they had no expectations of winning an Emmy for their work. They took a train to New York, stayed in a hotel near the ceremony and went to the awards determined to enjoy every morsel of the $450 dinners purchased for them.

"We were so certain that we would not win, that we didn't even bother to prepare a speech," Mangum says. "When we heard our names called, we were both so utterly shocked that I think we were then only verbally capable of primal clicks, grunts and wild gestures. That's saying quite a bit for two guys who never seem to be at a loss for words."

Cottrell says he gave the shortest acceptance speech of the night. He and Mangum had been told by National Geographic that, in the event they won, sound mixer Nelson Funk would speak for all of them. But when Funk won first for another project and was led backstage, Cottrell and Mangum were called on to speak. Mangum quickly thanked those who had helped them on the project. Cottrell, overwhelmed by the win, said "Ditto."

"Honestly I was just in shock," Cottrell says. "I still have a hard time believing it. Time sort of stood still while we made it to the stage."

Back at JMU, Cottrell talks about how his Emmy win bolsters his teaching. As the Cottrell-Mangum Music sampler plays in the background, everything from jazz to Celtic to sacred music fills Cottrell's office. Cottrell drives to JMU on Mondays, Wednesday and Fridays to teach and spends his Tuesdays and Thursdays in his studio in Winchester, working on projects with Mangum. Not only does the team write the music, they also orchestrate, conduct and record it. Cottrell, who has a doctorate in French horn, sometimes even plays on his recordings. His doctoral degree is the lone decoration on the wall in his JMU office.

Teaching students about that process remains Cottrell's "first love." As he talks about being in the classroom, he picks up a length of PVC pipe in a corner of his office to give an impromptu lecture on the physics of sound waves. Just as he enthusiastically talks about writing music for documentaries, his talk on the force of sound waves contains an animated explanation of the strange noises emanating from the white tubing.

Along with teaching classes, Cottrell also coordinates internships for music industry students. Cottrell says JMU students make great interns, and they learn much from the real world experience. He's glad he can also share his "real world" music industry knowledge with them.

"I try to give them a sense of what the industry is really like and not just what I've read about," he says.

He smiles as he remembers going to class the first time after winning the Emmy. He carried his black bag into his 8 a.m. class on that Friday. Then, just as the class was starting, he pulled out the pewter, gold-plated statuette. He says a couple of jaws dropped.

"Maybe they listen a little more," Cottrell says of how the Emmy has affected his teaching. "They probably figure I must know something about it.

Story by Donna Ragsdale Dunn ('94)

  Design by Leah Bailey ('00)