Rachael Gibson
Music As Touch: rethinking the Composer-Performer-Audience hierarchy through a practice-based exploration of tactile approaches to music making and engagement. (Working Title)
Rachael is a composer and sonic artist who started her PhD at the University in October 2022. She is currently undertaking a practice-based composition project funded by the NWCDTP which will explore new ways to notate and musically interrogate the relationship between touch and performance.
Recently, she has participated in the LSO Soundhub Scheme (2024/25) and the Britten Pears Young Artist Programme (Composition, Alternative Performance and Practice Art course 2023/24). Her music has been performed by ensembles including Riot Ensemble, Pixels Ensemble, and House of Bedlam.
Teaching and learning
Graduate Teaching Assistant:
23/24
MUSI108 - Introduction to sound recording, MUSI130 - Classical music history, MUSI170 - Introduction to music and AV media, MUSI213 - Sampling and remixing, MUSI380 - Rhythm, form and musical time
24/25
MUS181 - Foundations in tonal harmony, MUSI108 - Introduction to sound recording, MUSI170 - Introduction to music and AV media.
25/26
MUSI108 - Introduction to sound recording, MUSI243 - Sound recording and production 2.
Outputs
Selected Practice Outputs & Relevant Activities:
- Co-Director, Gender Equality in Music Industries group, University of Liverpool (Sept 2024 – present)
- London Symphony Orchestra Discovery Day installation (June 2025)
- Presentation - Embodied Research Methods in Music and Sound Study Day, City St. George's (June 2025)
- RMA students’ conference – presentation (Jan 2024/25)
- London Symphony Orchestra Soundhub Member 24/25.
- Into My Heart (2025) for ensemble and electronics, performed at the LSO Soundhub showcase, St Johns Waterloo (May 2025)
- PGR representative, Interdisciplinary Center for Composition and Technology,
- University of Liverpool (2024)
- Wayward sisters (2024), for electric guitar trio, live visuals and video score.
- Britten Pears Young Artist Programme 23/24 (CAPPA)
Supervisors
Dr Ben Hackbarth & Dr Jonathan Crossley