I am Masaoki Okajima in the College of Music and specialize in composition and music theory. Students in the College of Music have many dreams and study hard. It would make me happy to help you realize your dream.

I was born and raised in Yokohama, and thus a "Hamakko" or native Yokohama resident. After finishing my undergraduate and graduate work in Composition at the Tokyo National University of Fine Arts and Music, I have been active in the composition of chamber music, songs, and choral works. Throughout the College of Music's history since its foundation as a department at Ferris Junior College, I have been fascinated by students' pure and innocent voices and composed pieces for them, which has been deeply inspiring for both of us and clarified my attitude toward composition. As a Japanese person, that means naturally turning the beauty of Japanese language into a music that can speak for itself. Words have rhythm. And through the accents of pitch that are a poem's original pure song, I believe it is my mission to convey that as music.

I composed the following pieces for students at Ferris University: Psalm 42, Quemadmodum desiderat cervus for Baritone, Mixed Chorus and Orchestra, and 5 Hymns after Poems by Genzo Mizuno for Women's Chorus and Organ. These were performed by our students and faculty members in the Christmas concerts.

Major works:

Epitaph I for Bass Clarinet, Double Bass, Cello, Viola and Percussion
Dream of Dream for Clarinet and Piano
Expression I for Marimba
Poem of the Grasses on a Moonlit Night for Soprano, Flute and Piano
Talking with Ravel... for Two Pianos