🌿 Alembic Sound Foundations

Professional Group Sound Practitioner Training – Next Group April 2027

Alembic Sound Foundations is a six-month professional training delivered by Suzy in the art of creating and holding immersive group sound experiences with skill, creativity, presence and care.

Alongside developing your practical skills with Himalayan and crystal singing bowls, healing voice & drum and percussion, you will be invited into your own journey of exploration, and personal growth and transformation, supporting you in creating your own sound language.

✨ Why Alembic?

An “alembic” is an ancient apparatus used in the process of distillation – traditionally to extract the precious essence from plants, herbs and other materials.

This is at the heart of the name Alembic Sound Foundations.

The journey through this training is not simply about learning how to play instruments. It is also a process of discovery and distillation – gradually stripping away some of the noise, self-doubt and learned ways of being, and allowing a more authentic expression of yourself to emerge.

The instruments become your sacred tools. Through them, you learn how to create and facilitate sound experiences that are professional, sensitive, skilled and potentially profound, whether your intention is to work with yourself, share sound with family and community, or develop a professional practice.

For some students, Alembic begins as a personal journey and develops into something more. Others arrive already knowing that they want to work professionally with sound.

Many graduates now incorporate therapeutic sound into their existing work, blending it with other healing, therapeutic or creative modalities. Others have developed successful part-time sound practices or gone on to establish sound as a significant part of their professional lives.

Whatever your intention when you begin, Alembic gives you strong practical foundations while inviting you into the deeper work of discovering who you are as a practitioner, how you hold space, and what is uniquely yours to bring to it.

✨ The Journey

During the first three months, you will enter a living laboratory of sound, listening, presence and creative expression.

You will learn how to work confidently with Himalayan and crystal singing bowls, therapeutic voice, drum and percussion, and how to weave these different sound families into cohesive and meaningful journeys.

We explore how different sounds interact; how to create structure without becoming rigid; and skilled students develop the confidence to respond intuitively to what is happening in the room.

This training is suitable for complete beginners as well as practitioners wishing to refine and elevate their work.

The following three months are devoted to practice, integration and embodiment, including:

• A public case-study Sound Bath event
• A written research project exploring an aspect of therapeutic sound
• Continued fortnightly tutorials and student practice and integration
• A practical assessment, online or in person

✨ The Experience

Training combines a weekly live group tutorial with either a weekly video lesson, guided practice or home study, giving you time to learn, practise, reflect and gradually integrate the work.

The training includes:

• Demonstrations and practical instrument technique
• Mentoring and coaching
• Creative sound-weaving practices
• Therapeutic sound theory and energetic principles
• Guided practice and reflective home study
• Developing presence, confidence and self-awareness as a practitioner
• Optional in-person training days in Scotland to complement your online learning (small additional fee)

You will learn to:

• Play and blend a range of instruments to create seamless, immersive group sound journeys
• Develop your own unique sound signature and creative expression
• Understand the foundations and principles of therapeutic sound
• Deepen your listening, intuition and awareness of yourself as a practitioner
• Hold safe, sensitive and intentional space for others
• Create well-structured sound journeys while developing the confidence to respond intuitively in the moment
• Deliver professional sound experiences both in person and online

No previous musical experience is required.

Some background in therapy, wellbeing or holding space can be helpful, but it is not essential. What matters most is a willingness to learn, practice, listen and explore your own relationship with sound.

🌿 A Proven Training

The Diploma in Alembic Sound Foundations has evolved from the Certificate in Creative Therapeutic Sound, created and taught by Suzy Nairn of Soundsphere Scotland since 2015.

Suzy has worked professionally with therapeutic sound since 2009, following two years of formal training and a much longer personal exploration of sound, healing, voice and consciousness.

Over the years, her training has continued to evolve alongside her own practice and the experience of teaching practitioners who have gone on to develop distinctive work of their own.

Alembic brings that experience together into a training that values technical skill, creativity, self-awareness and integrity in equal measure.

The intention is not to produce practitioners who all sound the same.

It is to give you strong foundations from which you can discover how you work with sound – and develop the presence, discernment and confidence to hold meaningful experiences for others.

📅 Dates & Structure

Opening Ceremony: Tuesday 20 April 2027, 6.30-9.00pm (GMT)

Live tutorials take place on Tuesday evenings, 6.30–9.00pm (GMT), alongside weekly self-led online lessons, practice and study.

The first 3 month teaching phase is followed by fortnightly tutorials over three months of student practice, case-study work, research and integration before final assessment on 3 October 2027

🔔 Feeling the Call?

If you’re curious about the training but would like to experience the work first, you are warmly invited to join one of Suzy’s free Alembic “Initiation” workshops which will be taking place from Jan – March 27, Dates tbc.

These are complete, standalone experiences in their own right – an opportunity to explore sound with Suzy and to get a feel for the approach behind Alembic.

And if something in the experience leaves you wanting to go deeper, the Initiation can also become your first step towards the full professional training.

For further information, please email info@soundsphere.scotland