Composer and hornist Kayla McComb is a senior at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, where she is pursuing a Bachelor of Musical Arts in Composition-Theory and a minor in Psychology. While at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Kayla has studied with Dr. Reynold Tharp (composition), Dr. Erik Lund (composition), Dr. Sever Tipei (composition), and Bernhard Scully (horn). 

Kayla’s writing focuses primarily on the communicative properties of music, with an artistic intent to correlate transitory properties of sound and transitory qualities of the human experience. Her music is incredibly emotional, and she intends to use music as an artistic platform to discuss specific emotions and create connections through social issues experienced by all individuals. Her research interests include the relationship between psychology and music. She is particularly interested in the promotion of young female composers, and more broadly, gender dynamics within music. 

Kayla grew up in a small suburb of Chicago, Illinois where she began studying voice at the age of nine. At the age of twelve, Kayla began writing music and performing with an alternative rock band formed by her and her brother. The group continued to perform throughout her years in high school, where Kayla also studied horn, voice, and marimba. Kayla decided to continue her musical studies at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, and enrolled at the university as a Music Education major, before enrolling in a few composition and theory classes and discovering her true passion of writing and analyzing music and shifting her studies to composition and theory.  

Kayla has had several works premiered throughout her undergraduate degree, ranging from solo works to -- most recently -- a sextet piece. She has appeared as a guest speaker at an Illinois Summer Youth Music 2019 composition elective course. Kayla currently serves as the vice president for University of Illinois’s Group for New Music, an organization focused on composing and performing new student works, and organizing events to promote unity between composers and performers at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. 

Along with composing, Kayla is also an accomplished hornist and, as a School of Music Merit-Based Scholarship Recipient, has performed with the University of Illinois Symphony Orchestra, Wind Symphony, Wind Orchestra, and Philharmonia. In the summer of 2017 and 2019, Kayla had the opportunity to attend Kendall Betts Horn Camp in Lyman, New Hampshire, in order to further develop her horn playing skills. 

In addition to composing and playing horn, Kayla has worked to maintain consistent Dean’s List level academics throughout her undergraduate degree. Kayla is also employed at the Harding Band Building office, the Music Building, Krannert Center for the Performing Arts, and she has worked as a private music theory tutor. 

Kayla is currently writing a string quartet, which she intends to have premiered in the spring of 2020.