Professor Nick Fells
- Professor of Sonic Practice (Music)
telephone:
01413304096
email:
Nick.Fells@glasgow.ac.uk
pronouns:
He/him/his
R201 Level 2, Music, School of Culture & Creative Arts, 14 University Gardens, Glasgow G12 8QH
https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7531-4720Research interests
Research Interests
Electronic & electroacoustic composition and performance; experimental music and sonic practices; intercultural and non-Western aspects of composition, performance and technology
Biography
Nick is a composer, performer and sound artist. His research centres on creative and experimental approaches to sound, particularly the use of computer-mediated sound in performance and in electronic and audiovisual art-works. His work combines field and source recording, improvisation and other forms of live performance, computer-based sound processing and sound spatialisation. His audio-visual work uses live computer-based animation and visual processing, extending sometimes to dance and aspects of theatre. A central question in his work is how social relations in close collaborative contexts such as ensemble playing are transformed through technological practice.
He is a founder member of the composers' collective nerve8 and of the Glasgow Improvisers Orchestra, and plays with a number of other improvising groups. As a performer, he plays shakuhachi and computer-based instruments.
His work has been performed in the US, Europe and around the UK, and commissions have included those from the Tramway, Coull Quartet, and Scottish Opera. He was recipient of a Muenchen Kulturreferat Stipendium for an artist residency at Villa Waldberta, Germany, and his work has featured at festivals such as Sónar in Barcelona, Surrounded and Lautwechsel in Munich, Instal and Behaviour in Glasgow, on BBC Radio 3's Late Junction and Hear and Now, at the ISSUE Project Room in New York, on Danish TV and on German national radio.
For more information and for recordings and videos, see http://nickfells.net.
Publications
2019
Fells, N. , Davidson, N. and Türköz, S. (2019) Yonder By. [Audio]
Fells, N. and Adams, N. (2019) field/harbour/thaw. [Compositions]
2017
Fells, N. (2017) Assessing making and doing. In: Heile, Björn, Moreda Rodriguez, Eva and Stanley, Jane (eds.) Higher Education in Music in the Twenty-First Century. Routledge: Abingdon, Oxon ; New York, NY, pp. 138-154. ISBN 9781472467324
Fells, N. (2017) o ire (binaural). Performing Spatial Sound Using Parat+, Helsingør, Denmark, 19 May 2017.
Fells, N. , Türköz, S. and Davidson, N. (2017) o ire trio. [Compositions]
2016
Fells, N. (2016) o ire (synth version). [Compositions]
Fells, N. (2016) Ps[c]yched, for string quartet, bikes and electronics. [Performance]
Fells, N. (2016) o ire (binaural). [Compositions]
2015
Fells, N. and Strachan, Z. (2015) Negative Spaces. [Audio]
Fells, N. and Strachan, Z. (2015) Negative Spaces. [Compositions]
Fells, N. (2015) o ire. [Compositions]
2014
Fells, N. (2014) Ps[c]yched, for string quartet, bikes and electronics. [Compositions]
2013
Fells, N. and Burton, K. (2013) Sonemics II. [Compositions]
2012
Fells, N. and Parker, M. (2012) Munich Underground. [Compositions]
Fells, N. and Burton, K. (2012) sonemics I/Ib. [Compositions]
2010
Fells, N. (c.) (2010) arine. [Compositions]
Fells, N. (c.) (2010) Sublimation. [Compositions]
Fells, N. (c.) (2010) other islands. [Compositions]
Strachan, Z. and Fells, N. (2010) Sublimation. [Performance]
2008
Fells, N. (c.) (2008) rifts. [Compositions]
2007
Fells, N. (2007) Conquest of Space (CoS). [Compositions]
2006
Fells, N. (2006) phonocollusion. [Compositions]
2005
Fells, N. (2005) PET_05b. [Artefact]
Fells, N. (2005) Shooting. [Compositions]
Fells, N. (2005) Shooting Stars. [Compositions]
Fells, N. (2005) Allocation Dynamics. [Compositions]
Fells, N. (2005) Cracked Automatic. [Compositions]
Fells, N. (2005) Far. [Compositions]
Fells, N. and MacGlone, U. (2005) Electric Spirit. [Compositions]
Fells, N. , Bayly, S. and McNamara, J. (2005) Talas. [Compositions]
2003
Fells, N. (2003) Still Life, for string quartet and live electroacoustics. [Compositions]
Fells, N. (2003) Bli. [Compositions]
Fells, N. (2003) Still Live. [Compositions]
2002
Fells, N. (2002) On space, listening and interaction: Words on the streets are these and Still Life. Organised Sound, 7(3), pp. 287-294. (doi: 10.1017/S1355771802003084)
2001
Fells, N. (2001) Words on the Streets are These. [Compositions]
1999
Fells, N. (1999) Kendhang, Or and Vug: three works for performer and live computer system. Organised Sound, 4(2), pp. 79-85.
Articles
Fells, N. (2002) On space, listening and interaction: Words on the streets are these and Still Life. Organised Sound, 7(3), pp. 287-294. (doi: 10.1017/S1355771802003084)
Fells, N. (1999) Kendhang, Or and Vug: three works for performer and live computer system. Organised Sound, 4(2), pp. 79-85.
Book Sections
Fells, N. (2017) Assessing making and doing. In: Heile, Björn, Moreda Rodriguez, Eva and Stanley, Jane (eds.) Higher Education in Music in the Twenty-First Century. Routledge: Abingdon, Oxon ; New York, NY, pp. 138-154. ISBN 9781472467324
Conference or Workshop Item
Fells, N. (2017) o ire (binaural). Performing Spatial Sound Using Parat+, Helsingør, Denmark, 19 May 2017.
Compositions
Fells, N. and Adams, N. (2019) field/harbour/thaw. [Compositions]
Fells, N. , Türköz, S. and Davidson, N. (2017) o ire trio. [Compositions]
Fells, N. (2016) o ire (synth version). [Compositions]
Fells, N. (2016) o ire (binaural). [Compositions]
Fells, N. and Strachan, Z. (2015) Negative Spaces. [Compositions]
Fells, N. (2015) o ire. [Compositions]
Fells, N. (2014) Ps[c]yched, for string quartet, bikes and electronics. [Compositions]
Fells, N. and Burton, K. (2013) Sonemics II. [Compositions]
Fells, N. and Parker, M. (2012) Munich Underground. [Compositions]
Fells, N. and Burton, K. (2012) sonemics I/Ib. [Compositions]
Fells, N. (c.) (2010) arine. [Compositions]
Fells, N. (c.) (2010) Sublimation. [Compositions]
Fells, N. (c.) (2010) other islands. [Compositions]
Fells, N. (c.) (2008) rifts. [Compositions]
Fells, N. (2007) Conquest of Space (CoS). [Compositions]
Fells, N. (2006) phonocollusion. [Compositions]
Fells, N. (2005) Shooting. [Compositions]
Fells, N. (2005) Shooting Stars. [Compositions]
Fells, N. (2005) Allocation Dynamics. [Compositions]
Fells, N. (2005) Cracked Automatic. [Compositions]
Fells, N. (2005) Far. [Compositions]
Fells, N. and MacGlone, U. (2005) Electric Spirit. [Compositions]
Fells, N. , Bayly, S. and McNamara, J. (2005) Talas. [Compositions]
Fells, N. (2004) Wet Day. [Compositions]
Fells, N. (2003) Still Life, for string quartet and live electroacoustics. [Compositions]
Fells, N. (2003) Bli. [Compositions]
Fells, N. (2003) Still Live. [Compositions]
Fells, N. (2001) Words on the Streets are These. [Compositions]
Performance
Fells, N. (2016) Ps[c]yched, for string quartet, bikes and electronics. [Performance]
Strachan, Z. and Fells, N. (2010) Sublimation. [Performance]
Audio
Fells, N. , Davidson, N. and Türköz, S. (2019) Yonder By. [Audio]
Fells, N. and Strachan, Z. (2015) Negative Spaces. [Audio]
Grants
Grants:
- 2010. PI: a methodology for 3D visual and sound projection. Collaboration with Glasgow-based visual arts company rm-star. Glasgow Innovation Fund.
- 2006-9. PI: AHRC Fellowship in the Creative & Performing Arts: New technology-mediated models of composition and performance practice.
- 2006-9. PI: Never Come Ashore – a website for experimental music. Glasgow Innovation Network.
- 2007. PI: Collaboration with Sony Creative Centre, Tokyo.GB Sasakawa Foundation.
- 2004-5. PI: Chaotic gestures: sculpting sound and animation in performance. AHRB Small Grant.
- 2002-5. PI: InterAct. Performing Right Society Foundation for New Music & University of Glasgow Chancellor's Fund.
- 2002-3. PI: Spatial interaction in composing live electroacoustic music. AHRB Small Grant.
Supervision
Past students:
- Seth Rozanoff: Portfolio of Compositions (PhD) https://sethroz.wordpress.com/
- Jodi Cave: Composition Portfolio (MMus, https://bleep.com/release/4285-jodi-cave-for-myria)
- Neil Davidson: Composition in improvisation: forms and otherwise (PhD, https://neildavidson.bandcamp.com)
- Iain Findlay Walsh: Sonic autoethnographies... six | records | of | the | listening | self (PhD, http://iaincampbellfw.blogspot.co.uk)
- Claire Healy: Sonic Arts Portfolio (MMus)
- Niall Moody: Ashitaka: an audiovisual instrument (PhD, http://niallmoody.com)
- Bethan Kellough: Sonic Arts Portfolio (PhD, AHRC funded, https://soundcloud.com/bethanparkes)
- Aisling Quinn: Investigating Voice (MMus)
- Charles Ross: ‘… AND BEING GUIDED, SO TO SPEAK’: externalising the internal musical dialogue (PhD, http://charlesrosscomposer.blogspot.co.uk)
- Nichola Scrutton: Hearing voices: electroacoustic composition portfolio (PhD, http://nicholascrutton.co.uk)
- Graeme Truslove: Composition portfolio (PhD, http://research-portal.uws.ac.uk)
- Minu, Adriana
Sensory sonic practice: ways of being, ways of doing - Wang, Yiwen
Innovation and Recreation of the Concept of Traditional Chinese Aesthetics in Contemporary Compositional Practice - Wu, Bowen
How might Chinese thought and history be used creatively in a producing a hybridised digital art language.
Additional information
Office hours: Monday 3 - 4pm
Electronics with Music Course Convenor
MSc Sound Design and Audiovisual Practice Course Convenor
Postgraduate Convenor, School of Culture and Creative Arts
External Examining
- University of Edinburgh - MSc Sound Design, MSc Digital Composition & Performance (2014-17)
- University of Surrey - BMus Creative Music Technology (2014-17)
- University of York - MA/MSc Music Technology (2007-11)
- Queens University Belfast - MA Composition (2007-11)
- Bath Spa University - BA Creative Music Technology (2006-2010)
- University of Plymouth - BA Sound & Music Production (2006-2010)
List of Works
- o ire - solo laptop and ambisonic sound projection (2015). Composed for openCUBE series, IEM Graz, January 2015. Performed IEM Graz, 2015; TIES Toronto, 2015; ICMC2016, Denton TX; Sónar Barcelona 2016.
- Ps[c]yched - string quartet, bikes, electronics (2014). Coull Quartet/Third Ear Music commission with support from the PRS for Music Foundation, for Sound of Sport, a day of sport events and workshops in the run-up to the Glasgow 2014 Commonwealth Games. Performed Walled City Music Festival, Derry 2014; Cheltenham Festival,2016.
- Negative spaces - fixed medium, collaboration with Zoë Strachan. A radiophonic work for Radiophrenia, Glasgow 2015.
- sonemics II - live video and electronics (2013). Collaboration with Kate Burton (digital film). Tramway commission. Performed Tramway April 2013.
- munich underground - duets for laptops (2012). Collaboration with Martin Parker (University of Edinburgh). City of Munich commission, Surrounded festival, Einstein Arts Centre Munich November 2012.
- sonemics I/Ib - live video and electronics (2012). Collaboration with Kate Burton (digital film). Performed SoundLab, City Halls, Glasgow October 2012.
- sublimation - short opera in one act for 2 sopranos, dancer, small boy, chamber ensemble and electronics (2010). Libretto by Zoë Strachan. Scottish Opera commission for Five:15. Elphinstone Hall Aberdeen, Traverse Theatre Edinburgh, Oran Mor Glasgow May 2010. Cape Town Opera, Baxter Theatre, Cape Town SA, November 2010 (as part of Five:20, Five Operas made in South Africa).
- arine - shakuhachi, koto, sho & electronics (2009). Okeanos, Sound and Music Cutting Edge series, The Warehouse London, 2009; Sonic Art Oxford, 2010.
- other islands - violin, saxophone, piano & electronics (2009). Ensemble Intégrales, Utopia, Operastabile Hamburg 2009; Deutschlandfunk broadcast, Konzertdokument der Woche, 2010.
- in/if - interactive sonic environment. Behaviour festival, The Arches, Glasgow 2009.
- rifts - fixed medium, 8-channel wavefield synthesis format for Sony Wave loudspeaker (2008). For Sony Creative Centre, Tokyo, in collaboration with Yuji Morimiya (Sony). With kind support of the GB Sasakawa Foundation.
- conquest of space (cos) - violin & electronics (2007). Barbara Lüneburg & Marko Ciciliani, Dartington College of Arts & Goldsmith's College London, 2007; Essl Museum, Klosterneuburg, Austria 2010. Co-development with Barbara Lüneburg, joint STEIM Residency, Amsterdam.
- phonocollusion - laptop & spatial displacement (2006). Nick Fells, ISSUE Project Room, NYC 2006; part of collaborative internet performance Langen Nacht der Musik, with Oliver Augst, Nils Butmann, Wolfgang Dorninger, Klaus Schedl and Axel-Frank Singer, t-u-b-e klanggalerie, Munich 2006; nerve 8, Electroacoustic Music Studies Network Conference, DMU Leicester 2007; BBC Radio 3, Hear and Now, August 2007.
- Allocation Dynamics- quartet & real-time computer animation (2005). Nick Fells & Ensemble: Neil Davidson, Pete Dowling, Una MacGlone, Peter Nicholson, CCA, Glasgow 2005; Gunnar Geisse, Mathis Mayr, Christoph Reiserer, Julia Schoelzel, Lautwechsel, Gasteig, Munich 2005.
- Far - quartet & laptop (2005). Nick Fells & Ensemble: Davidson, Dowling, MacGlone, Nicholson, CCA, Glasgow 2005; Geisse, Mayr, Reiserer, Schoelzel, Lautwechsel, Gasteig, Munich 2005.
- Cracked Automatic - quartet & laptop (2005). Nick Fells & Ensemble: Davidson, Dowling, MacGlone, Nicholson, CCA, Glasgow 2005; Geisse, Mayr, Reiserer, Schoelzel, Lautwechsel, Gasteig, Munich 2005.
- Shooting – installation, with Ghanaian sculptor Kofi Setordji (2005). Villa Waldberta, Feldafing.
- Shooting Stars - installation, collaboration with composer Peter Dowling (2005). Villa Waldberta, Feldafing.
- Electric Spirit - double bass & laptop (2005). Una MacGlone & Nick Fells, CCA, Glasgow 2005.
- PET05b - web animation (2005). Commissioned by Paragon, collaboration with retina burn.
- Wet Day - fixed medium (2004). Reeling & Writhing Theatre commission for Standing Wave - Delia Derbyshire in the '60s, Tron Theatre, Glasgow.
- 5 derbies - baritone, 3 clarinets (doubling bass), tenor trombone, piano, percussion, double bass (2004). Damian Thantry & Paragon, Musica Nova Festival, Glasgow 2004.
- talas - cor anglais & piano (2004). Musica Nova, Glasgow 2005.
- bli - sound & animation for computer-performer (2003). Peter Dowling & Nick Fells, CCA Glasgow; Nick Fells, KHM Cologne 2004.
- Still Life - string quartet & live electroacoustics (2003). Gillan Quartet, University of Glasgow, funded by the AHRB.
- Still Live - collaborative environment with instruments & live electroacoustics (2003). Christoph Reiserer, Peter Dowling & Nick Fells, Muffathalle, Munich 2003; Paragon, Instal, Glasgow 2003; Potsdam 2004.
- echoes of clinton's lovechild's screams - fixed medium (2002). Installation, Glasgow 2002.
- words on the streets are these - audience participation & computer (2001). Instal, Glasgow 2001; Tisch School for the Arts, NYC 2004.
- between two pines - shakuhachi & computer (2001). Nick Fells, Pickman Concert Hall, Cambridge, Mass. 2002; Late Junction, BBC Radio 3 2004.
- ripple - instruments & computer (2001). Paragon, Instal, Glasgow 2001.
- Maha - fixed medium (2001). Music Without Walls? Leicester 2001; Sound Practice, Goldsmiths, London 2006.
- riversongs - fixed medium (1999). Late Junction, BBC Radio 3 2004; Sound Practice, Dartington 2001.
- Or - bass flute, cello, percussion & computer (1998). Cornelius Cardew Ensemble, Bretton Hall 1998.
- Vug - Bb clarinet & computer (1998). Electric Spring, Huddersfield 1998.
- gyre:eddy - fixed medium or dance + fixed medium (1997). NARC Dance Theatre, Resolution!, The Place Theatre, London 1998.
- tt - tenor trombone & tape (1995/97). Barrie Webb, Whitworth Gallery Manchester, 1997.
- After the travail - dancers, acoustic ensemble, tape, computer & video (1996). NARC Dance Theatre, Mediamix York 1996.
- Kendhang - solo dancer & computer (1994/96). Siri Rama, ICMC Hong Kong City Hall, 1996.
- roads to follow - solo oboe, piano, vibraphone, glockenspiel, marimba (1995)
- Elegy - central Javanese gamelan (1995)
- Emergence - SATB choir and tape (1995)
- The letting lie - 2 pianos, 3 cellos, 2 double basses, percussion (1994)
- Running - fixed medium (1994)
- Woodsighs - bass clarinet & tape (1993)
Further Recordings
- Munich and Glasgow - The Glasgow Improvisers Orchestra with Evan Parker (FMRCD139-i0204, www.fmr-records.com)
- Which way did he go? - The Glasgow Improvisers Orchestra with Maggie Nicols (FMRCD158-i0505, www.fmr-records.com)
- Falkirk - The Glasgow Improvisers Orchestra with Barry Guy (FMRCD168-i0905, www.fmr-records.com)
- GIO poetics - The Glasgow Improvisers Orchestra (cs114cd, Creative Sources Recordings, www.creativesourcesrec.com)
- Aporias - Neil Davidson, Nick Fells, Raymond MacDonald, Tatsuya Nakatani, Peter Nicholson (cs077cd, Creative Sources Recordings, www.creativesourcesrec.com)
- Próximo - Neil Davidson, Nick Fells, Una MacGlone (AA122, Iorram Records, www.iorram.blogspot.co.uk)
- nerve8 volume 1 (n8cd01, www.digital-music-archives.com)
