Nicholas Patrick Quigley

Nicholas Patrick Quigley (he/they) is a creative musician and arts educator. Since releasing their debut album of minimalist-inspired chamber music and songwriting in 2017, they have centered on themes of climate change, neurodiversity, and oeuvres of dreams. Now relying primarily on guitars, electronics and effects, digital synthesis, the voice, field recordings, and sound-finding techniques, Quigley weaves at times disparate sonic settings together in searches to make sense and meaning of the outer and inner world’s organic calamity. While avoiding mockery, they sometimes employ a dry wit, unreliable narrator, incorrect text, or other modes of humor, aiming to situate darker or larger-than-life themes in a more emotionally mature or down-to-earth relief.

Inspired by integrative and avant-garde approaches, Quigley has studied in creative workshops with Brian Eno, Laraaji, Meredith Monk, and the Center for Deep Listening at Rensselaer. Their discography can be found on Bandcamp and all the major streaming platforms.

As a music teacher at Durfee High School of Fall River, MA, Quigley guides students through creative processes from exploring their identities and cultures, generating and developing original musical ideas, and producing finished recordings in digital audio workstations. Quigley’s critical approach to curriculum and instruction is constructivist, inclusive, and healing-centered, integrating multilateral standards for music learning within broader studies of the world and the self through musicking.

Prior to joining the Durfee Fine and Performing Arts faculty full-time, Quigley taught music in a variety of public-school settings, covering all grades and including a range of general music and ensemble arrangements. Their service roles have included local union board membership, bargaining committee work, and co-coordinating the Play On! music festival, providing public K–12 students in alternative music education formats a platform to share their music free of fees and auditions. Quigley engaged guest artists for the festival and established transportation grants to eliminate the final access barrier for schools with greater budgetary constraints.

Quigley has presented at research- and practice-oriented conferences, and published in the Journal of Popular Music Education, Impact: The Journal of the Center for Interdisciplinary Teaching and Learning, and Teaching Music, among others. Through their studies, they have explored the educational backgrounds of DIY musicians, applied eco-literate pedagogy in praxis, and integrated social-emotional learning-focused expressive arts and general music curricula. They hold certificates from the Pacifica Graduate Institute (Ecopsychology) and University of Michigan (Trauma-Informed Programs and Practices for Schools). A member of the academic music honor society, Pi Kappa Lambda, Quigley is a graduate of the University of Massachusetts Lowell (BM, cum laude, Music Business), Boston University (MM, Music Education), and Salve Regina University (CAGS, Expressive and Creative Arts).