NICHOLAS PETERS

BA (Hons), MA, PhD, AFNCollM, AFHEA, IPHM

As a music-maker, I specialise in creating electro-acoustic music designed to induce altered states of consciousness, required for undertaking shamanic journeying, inner focusing and meditation.

My practice-based research combines both my music-making and my shamanic journeying as a continual process that I have termed ‘Spiritual Musicking’, an expansion upon Christopher Small’s theory of ‘Musicking’. I documented my ‘Spiritual Musicking’ practice of music-making and shamanic journeying for a PhD in Sonic Art at Coventry University, which I passed without any amendments in 2019. My thesis title was: Golden Sunset, Blue Rain: The Shamanic Journeys. A Practice-Based Investigation into ‘Spiritual Musicking’ and Its Creative Music-Making Realisations.

Golden Sunset, Blue Rain has subsequently been released across the digital streaming platforms, including on Apple Music and Spotify, and these recordings total over 3.5 hours of original music.

Alongside creating soundscapes for ‘Spiritual Musicking’, I have composed music for a range of projects, from theatrical productions, through to contemporary dance, multi-disciplinary ‘happenings’ and installations.

I have released a range of my music for streaming and download and these vary from short instrumental compositions, to experimental and ambient tracks. As well as commercially releasing music for streaming and download, I compose music for synchronisation purposes and these can be found on numerous music library licensing sites.

As a performer, I specialise in free improvisation, performing live digital signal processing (DSP) using Ableton Live. I also improvise using a range of vocal techniques (including overtone singing), Irish low D whistle, Scottish high D whistle, piano, synthesizers, shruti box, didgeridoo, melodica, handheld percussion and objects. As an improviser, I was a member of the Transgression Quartet between 2008 and 2019 and the quartet performed in and around the Midlands and in the North of the UK, often collaborating with other free improvisers/ensembles.

In 2005 and 2006, I worked in live television as a Score Reader for the BBC’s The Last Night of the Proms in Heaton Park, Manchester.

I am was lecturer on the BA Music, the BA Popular Music Performance & Songwriting, and the BSc Music Technology degree courses at Coventry University from 2010 to 2022. I was also a guest lecturer on the MSc in Mindfulness and Compassion degree course at Coventry University in 2020, delivering specialist workshops on the healing power of sound and music.

Before embarking on my PhD, I had previously completed an MA (with Distinction) in Music Composition (2011) and a BA (First Class Honours) in Music Composition and Professional Practice (2008), all completed at Coventry University. During the final year of my BA studies, I was awarded the Stephen Zundell Piano Prize. My composition tutors have included Dr Christopher Hobbs, Dr Tom Williams and Dr Robert Ramskill.

I am a member of numerous professional music organisations and societies, including the PRS for Music, the PPL, the VPL and the Central Composers’ Alliance. Since 2012, I have been recognised as an Associate Fellow of the Higher Education Academy (AFHEA). In October 2020, I was awarded the diploma of Associate Fellow of the National College of Music and Arts, London (AFNCollM).

I have also completed IPHM accredited courses, including a Sound Practitioner Diploma, a Meditation Teaching Diploma, and a Chakra Balancing and Energy Healing Diploma.

Website: nicholaspeters.co.uk

Listen to my music on Spotify, Apple Music, Deezer, YouTube.

Recordings are available to purchase on my Bandcamp page.

Read my interview with MysticMag (June 2023).