Will Parker
Lecturer in Music and Sound
Will Parker is a composer, artist, researcher, and educator specialising in audio-visual creation, immersive music technologies, sound design, composition and inclusive and accessible pedagogy. His work explores multimodality working with field recordings, images, video and text.
In collaboration with Dr Johny Lamb Will founded POST—, an inclusive and accessible ensemble that merges analogue synthesis, prepared guitar, and experimental sound-making devices to promote deep listening, musical co-operation, and tactile engagement with electronic music. The project has received external funding to support its development and has resulted in published research outputs, recorded works, and live performances. The project successfully secured HEIF funding (£12K) to develop POST—, supporting local music businesses and facilitating graduate employment.
Will is the research cluster Lead for ‘Innovative and Inclusive Pedagogies’ at Falmouth University’s Academy of Music and Theatre Arts (AMATA), where he contributes to curriculum innovation, research development, and interdisciplinary research and knowledge exchange. His research-led teaching emphasises experimental approaches to music-making, engaging students in creative risk-taking, collaborative composition, and emergent technologies.
Will is also an active peer reviewer for academic journals, including the International Association for the Study of Popular Music (IASPM) and Revenant Journal, contributing to critical discourse in sound and music studies.
As a performer and sound artist, Will has presented work at major venues, including Tate Modern and the Science Museum in London. His practice is focused on immersive and speculative sound worlds, integrating creative coding, spatial audio, and music composition.
Prior to lecturing, Will worked extensively as a composer, sound designer, and dialogue editor across TV, film, radio, and interactive media. His professional portfolio includes work for the BBC, ITV, BAR Honda, and Ubuntu, with credits spanning drama production, audiobook composition, and software interface sound design.
External Links
Qualifications
Qualifications
| Year | Qualification | Awarding body |
|---|---|---|
| 2023 | Fellow of the Higher Education Academy (FHEA) | Higher Education Academy |
| 2013 | MMus in Studio Composition | Goldsmiths, University of London |
| 2006 | BA (Hons) Sound Arts and Design | London College of Communication, UAL |
| 1999 | Foundation Diploma in Art and Design | Surrey University |
Research Interests
Research interests and expertise
- The relationship between field recording, synthesis, and landscape, particularly in relation to new materialist and ecological perspectives.
- Interactive and immersive sound design, exploring spatialisation techniques, extended performance practices, and alternative interfaces.
- Generative and procedural composition, including music computing techniques in music production.
- Speculative sound worlds and environmental storytelling, using emergent technologies to craft new modes of sonic narrative.
- Experimental pedagogy in music and sound design, developing interdisciplinary approaches to learning and teaching in higher education.
- Multimodal creation and collaboration.
Professional Engagement
Independent professional practice
- Released album and book of Red Lake / Black Mine through the record label DAAM is 2025.
- Parker, W. (2025) Red Lake / Black Mine [Album]. Brighton: DAAM. Available at: https://difficultartandmusic.bandcamp.com/album/red-lake-black-mine [Accessed 7/3/25].
- Parker, W. (2025) Red Lake / Black Mine. Book. Brighton: DAAM. ISBN 978-1-0369-0885-0
Social, community and cultural engagement
- Public workshop at performance at the Electronics symposium at part of the POST— research project.
- PARKER, W & LAMB, J (2023) ‘POST— Ensemble’, Workshop and Public Performance. Electronics Symposium, supported by FEAST, Cornwall Council and the AHRC, 25–26 November, The Fish Factory, Cornwall UK.
- Public lecture and performance at the Electronics symposium
- PARKER, W. (2023) 'Red Lake / Black Mine', Lecture and Performance. Electronics Symposium, 25–26 November. Available at: https://ra.co/events/1866679 (Accessed: 5 March 2025).
- Composed music for short film Gommon.
- Parker, W., Kruse, K. & McCoombe, S. (2020) Gommon [Experimental Film]. Screened at the Cornwall Film Festival, Falmouth, 14–20 November 2022. Available at: https://www.mormediacharity.org/experimental-film-2023 [Accessed 7 March 2025].
Engagement with professional associations and societies
- I peer-reviewed two papers for the ‘International Association for the Study of Popular Music’ (IASPM). "Black Flag’s ‘My War’ Side II: Cultural and Aesthetic Legacies in Studio Recording" & ‘Dystopian Machines: The Synthesizer, J.G Ballard and The Normal’.
- I peer-reviewed the paper ‘The atmospheric forteanism of Hellier and the role of sound in recent practices of paranormal investigation’ for Revenant Journal https://www.revenantjournal.com/
