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SongInvention
Kristi McGarity is a composer, audio engineer, and advocate for disability rights.
Since 2018, personal and family experience with health care policy led her to join the National Council on Independent Living, where she chairs a workgroup under the Advocacy and Public Policy Committee. She was a recipient of the 2023 Corey Rowley National Advocacy Award, in recognition of her efforts organizing access to health care for people with disabilities.
Previously she founded the Music Technology degree program at Montana State University, building a new major for aspiring composers and sound engineers. Her background in acoustic and electronic media includes theatrical composition and sound design, songwriting and production, film scoring, and collaborative works for film/video and dance.
She earned a degree in oboe performance from the University of Michigan and a Master of Music and DMA in music composition from the University of Texas at Austin. In addition to her work at UT, she has taught electronic music at Austin Community College and oboe at Armstrong Community Music School. Long before that, she made happy synthpop under the name Opposite Day.
She lives near Austin, Texas, with her husband, son, and border collies. As SongInvention, she produces custom music on commission to celebrate and commemorate special events.Photo by Kelly Gorham, Montana State University