Nick Chamberlain is a Birmingham-based classical musician, composer, artist and teacher. 

​

He studied art at Hereford College of Arts after which he worked in the craft industry for five years. He went on to study classical guitar and composition at Royal Birmingham Conservatoire. 

​

Composition

Nick composes music for various instrumental combinations in a range of styles, including classical, electronic and soundscape. His compositions have received excellent reviews and his pedagogical music is used by music teachers around the country. He has developed work with string players from London Symphony Orchestra and his choral piece, 'From A Railway Carriage', was recorded and broadcast on Performance On 3, BBC Radio 3, as part of Sound and Music’s Adopt a Music Creator scheme. 

 

Education

Nick teaches guitar for Services for Education-Music Service and privately from his Creative Guitar Studio. As well as teaching whole class (WCIT), small group and individual lessons, Nick works with looked after children as part of the 'Music Cares Project'. Nick has also given many workshops and presentations for teachers and students with Birmingham Music Service. He has organised larger scale educational events including several Music Service instrumental days and a workshop and concert with the Ukulele Orchestra of Great Britain. Videos of Nick's teaching are used for teacher training as part of the Reel Music programme. Three of the plucked string ensembles he has directed have been invited to perform at the National Music for Youth festival and he presently directs the Birmingham Schools' Guitar Ensemble, a student ensemble for advanced classical guitarists.

​

SoundMuse

In recent years he has combined his music work with research into sound which has evolved into the SoundMuse project. This project incorporates video and photography as well as instrumental music and soundscapes. In June 2022, The Hive Gallery in Birmingham exhibited 'SoundMuse: The Sound of Nature and the Nature of Sound', Nick's first exhibition. His audio-visual piece, ‘Moments of Nature in Music,’ was the central installation in the exhibition.

 

As well as music tutoring and ensemble directing, Nick also directs SoundMuse workshops that explore the themes of his research into sound. He has recently lead workshops at BOM Gallery and The Hive Gallery where participants created visual art using sound vibrations.

​

Working Practice

My audio-visual creative work has evolved from my research into sound, and especially cymatics, the study of making sound waves visible. I am fascinated by the multitude of patterns and forms that emerge in water, soap bubbles and granules when sound is passed through them, and much of my work is intended to celebrate these amazing natural symmetries. I am interested in how art can emerge from this sort of detailed scientific experimentation.

 

As well as cymatics, the natural word also inspires my work, but in a more direct way. Much of this work is inspired by such familiar things as rain, wind, flowers and bees, each piece evoking a fleeting series of moments. 

 

In some pieces, I ‘allow’ the sounds or music itself to create patterns in real-time. In these cases there is an element of chance in the way the patterns form and I set up the apparatus in order to try and best ‘capture’ the sound waves for the visual effects I require.

 

The purpose of my ongoing SoundMuse project is to explore the mysteries of sound from the earliest vibrations of the infant universe to the dawn of human culture. It provides a framework on which I can research, explore and create new work in various forms.

 

I am interested in how scientific truths, and the expression of those truths through art, can combine to create a "sense of profundity", and that this insight can be a force for change in the most positive of ways.