James Koga
Computer Science
Irvine, Calif.
What was your favorite class and why?
Without a doubt, my favorite class was MUSIC 4421, Technology of Music Performance, taught by Professor Kevin Ernste. As a classically trained cellist and a self-taught music producer, Kevin taught me to explore performing music in non-traditional ways. For my final project, I built a heartbeat sensor that dynamically changed the music of my live performance. The faster I ran and did jumping jacks in front of the audience, the faster my soundtrack would go. The steadier my heartbeat, the tempo would slow and the track would fade out. This class opened the door to experimenting as a musician and learning how to marry coding and improvisation.
What are the most valuable skills you gained from your Arts & Sciences education?
I’ve learned how to learn from other people and to be truly fascinated with other people’s passions. By opening up and listening to other Cornellians, I’ve learned how to solder circuits from Elida, to produce soundtracks for game design from Gordi, to analyze how gender is portrayed in films from Zayana and to play the Nigerian Talking Drum from Wale. Everyone I’ve met has made an impact in their own way and has given me nuggets of knowledge that I’m going to take beyond my time at Cornell.
What have you accomplished as a Cornell student that you are most proud of?
I’m the president of Cornell Music Production Club (CMP), which started off as a club of four when I took over my freshman year and is now a community of more than 100 artists, producers, creatives and mixing/mastering engineers. We’ve released three campus-wide collaboration albums featuring more than 40 student artists, hosted album-release parties with more than 200 people in attendance, and most importantly, created a platform for student-artists to connect, collaborate and release music together. I’m most proud of the artists I’ve seen grow over the past three years as president. I’ve truly enjoyed watching their music styles change as they mature as musicians and students.
Who or what influenced your Cornell education the most?
The Milstein Program in Technology and Humanity changed the course of my Cornell experience. Milstein gave me the freedom to explore my interests that didn’t fit in the structure of school curriculums. I’ve had the opportunity to sample sounds across campus for the junior project, and create my own video games under the mentorship of Dro, a former Blizzard employee. I’ve built my own music studio and designed an instrumental glove in a maker lab. I’ve designed a heartbeat sensor that manipulates music in live performances for the Milstein M Studio. In addition to all the weird interests that I’ve explored, I’ve also met incredible friends that have helped me through the thick and thin of Cornell.
Every year, our faculty nominate graduating Arts & Sciences students to be featured as part of our Extraordinary Journeys series.Read more about the Class of 2025.
