Research & Teaching

What Happened to Seaton Snook? A Parafictional Archive of Sounds and Music from an Abandoned Seaside Town

PhD in Music Composition at University of Southampton

Supervisors: Matthew Shlomowitz and Drew Crawford

A practice-based research project, for which I have created an internet-based archive of sounds and music from and related to the parafictional County Durham coastal resort of Seaton Snook, which mysteriously disappeared in 1968 without a trace.

The project draws on artistic practices that operate in the boundaries of fact and fiction, and the practice of sonic journalism, to investigate aspects of North Eastern English culture, as well as exploring how listener experience can be shaped by the stories we tell about music.

To find out more, visit seatonsnook.com

The written commentary accompanying the project can be downloaded from the University of Southampton site.

Early Modern Soundscapes Network

AHRC-funded international research network examining how sonic interaction shaped identities c. 1500-1800.

In association with principal investigator Dr Rachel Willie (Liverpool John Moores Univeristy) and the National Trust, I compose soundscapes and interactive sound walks to be experienced by visitors to Speke Hall, a Tudor house on the outskirts of Liverpool, as well as sound design for a forthcoming pirate themed production of Macbeth, to be performed on the Golden Hinde ship, London.

Early Modern Soundscapes website

Soundscapes in Poor Theatre

Workshop for drama/theatre studies

GCSE to Degree level; can be adapted for younger students

Non-verbal sound plays an important part in theatre, but often the sonic possibilities are left unexplored beyond obvious sound effects and incidental music. In this workshop, we will look at ways of creating soundscapes that fundamentally affect the not only the tone of a piece, but also the performance of the actors, and the experience of the audience. No experience in technology is required - in Poor Theatre tradition, we will be using just our voices and bodies.

Originally delivered for 1st and 2nd year drama students at University of West of England, Bristol

Contact me for more details or to book a workshop

I am also an associate lecturer at Goldsmiths College, University of London, and am available for private tuition in composition, music technology, and piano.

Recent visiting lecture and conference appearances

28/6/23 Music And/As Process conference, University of Glasgow

How Worldbuilding Affects Composition Affects Worldbuilding

2/2/23 Goldsmiths, University of London

Research Seminar for UG/PG students on the Seaton Snook project

23/1/23 Kingston Univeristy, London

Talk on building a career as a composer/musician

6/12/22 University of Southampton

Q&A on At Last, The Leopards... as part of a "Sounding the Museum"

16/11/22 University of Glasgow

Public seminar on What Happened to Seaton Snook

19/10/22 Wesleyan University, CT

Q&A with composition students on Seaton Snook and parafiction

6/10/22 University of Edinburgh

Research Seminar for UG/PG students on the Seaton Snook project.

22/10/22 Hartlepool Folk Festival

Public presentation of What Happened to Seaton Snook?, including Northumbrian smallpipes performance

16/9/22 Music And/As Process interdisciplinary practice conference, Surrey

Building Seaton Snook: the process of parafictional art creation and presentation

6/7/22 Voices In And Out of Place, Newcastle:
Positive Appropriation in Seaton Snook

24/6/22 Histories of Digital Journalism Conference, Budapest:
Listen Up! The Case for Sonic Journalism

15/6/22 Practise Based Research Symposium, University of Plymouth:

What Happened to Seaton Snook? (Keynote speaker)

14/9/21 Royal Musical Association annual conference:
Parafiction as a framing device for musical compositions

5/7/21 Early Modern Soundscapes Network:

Recreating Historical Soundscapes, Keynote Roundtable - invited participant

11/3/21 IASPM-D-A-CH, Paderborn:

Creating the Creators of Seaton Snook

6/1/21 Narrative and Storytelling in Research, University of Southampton:

Hidden Narrative as a Source for Musical Composition