About

Composer | Sound & Mantra Therapist | Educator

Nicholas Peters

My work is based around three interconnected areas: music, sound & mantra therapy, and research & teaching.

Music

As a composer, I specialise in creating music designed to induce altered states of consciousness, required for undertaking shamanic journeying, inner focusing and meditation. These meditative compositions range from electro-acoustic soundscapes to tracks featuring the sounds of my Himalayan singing bowls. My singing bowl sound therapy composition ‘Contemplating Dhyana’ and my New Age track ‘Dreams of the Deep (432 Hz)’ have both been played on The Sleeping Forecast on BBC Radio 3 Unwind. My singing bowl compositions have been played numerous times on One World Music Radio. Aside from meditation-related music, I have composed music for a wide range of projects, from theatrical productions, through to contemporary dance, multi-disciplinary ‘happenings’ and installations. I have composed original theatre scores for BAFTA and OSCAR-nominated animator-director Barry J. C. Purves for his productions of Frankenstein (2022) and A Christmas Carol: A Ghost Story (2023), both performed at Altrincham Garrick Playhouse. In June 2024, my soundtrack to Frankenstein was used again by the Congleton Players in their production of the same name; a production which went on to win multiple awards, including the NODA Award for Best Drama in the North West 2024. 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. My composition ‘Sunflower Serenade’ has been used in the multi-award winning short drama film The Youth of Nature, directed by Cameron Moon (2021).

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 a member of numerous professional music organisations and societies, including the PRS for Music, the PPL, the VPL, and the Central Composers’ Alliance.

Sound & Mantra Therapy

I am accredited with the International Practitioners of Holistic Medicine (IPHM) in sound and mantra therapy, shamanism, meditation teaching, and chakra balancing and energy healing.

My extensive background in music and live improvisation, coupled with my doctoral research into ‘Spiritual Musicking’ forms the basis of my sound therapy practice. I specialise in metal Himalayan singing bowls, frame drums, and mantra chanting. I offer a range of treatments for individuals and groups, both face-to-face and online. To read more about sound & mantra therapy and the treatments I offer, please click here.

Research & Teaching

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.

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. In October 2020, I was awarded the diploma of Associate Fellow of the National College of Music and Arts, London (AFNCollM). My composition tutors have included Dr Christopher Hobbs, Dr Tom Williams, and Dr Robert Ramskill.

I was a Lecturer on the BA Music, BA Music Composition, BA Music Performance, BA Popular Music Performance & Songwriting, and BSc Music Technology degree courses at Coventry University from January 2010 to May 2022, and I qualified as an Associate Fellow of the Higher Education Academy (AFHEA) in 2012. 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.

I teach a specialist session on sound, music, and mantra for the Diploma in Transformational Heart Based Practices, a private course run by Dr Liz Sparkes.

Dr Nicholas Peters, BA (Hons), MA, PhD, AFNCollM, AFHEA, IPHM

Dr Nicholas Peters in Coventry University PhD Academic dress at Coventry Cathedral — Dr Nicholas Peters wearing Coventry University PhD academic dress at graduation in Coventry Cathedral, April 2019.