About
Makyo (魔境) is a zen term which refers to demons that distract from the path to enlightenment. Drab Makyo are very dull.
I was born in 1986 to two engineers and spent my childhood flitting from one interest or planned future to another, hoping to be anything from a public transportation bus driver to a biochemist. In high school, music slowly started taking precedence over all other interests as I spent an inordinate amount of time in choir, singing, hanging out with choir people, or composing choir music. I spent the first semester of college in biochemistry and quickly realized that, although I liked biochem, I was awful at it. The two obvious alternatives were music or computers. I like computers a lot, but am far to prone to goofing off to ever consider that as a major (also, math is over my head). Music it was.
As a student at Colorado State University, I've worked my way through the music department, starting in pre-music, then B.A. music, then B.A. music education, and finally working on finishing up my B.M. in music composition. I had originally intended to teach (which makes my moniker of 'Drab Makyo' all the more appropriate), but found that I quickly grew weary of taking classes on how not to get sued by parents in the American public school system, and switched to something that fit me all the better - composition.
As a composition major in what used to be an agricultural school, I've seen the program grow from one student to close to ten, and I've done my level best to help shepherd that growth. I've worked closely with the department in setting up a composition lab, including 9 computer stations, each with two computers and two monitors, custom software, and in some cases, custom hardware. I headed the Student Composers Alliance as the inaugural president, and I was included as part of the selection process of our renowned professor of composition, Dr. James David.
My goals in life are to continue composing what I love and sharing it with the world. Even though it's looking more and more like I'll wind up working in computers anyway, I think that keeping my passion in music alive is one of the most important things I can do with the time I've been given.
