Douglas D. Nott was born in Yakima, Washington. He received his bachelor's and master's degrees in music from Central Washington University and his Doctor of Musical Arts degree from the University of Arizona, Tucson. Dr. Nott was an award-winning composer of over 140 works for orchestra, band, chorus, and solo instruments. He studied composition, orchestration, and film scoring with Robert Panerio, Robert Mucznynski, and Paul Creston.