James F. Dausch was born in Baltimore in 1943. He studied piano and theory at the Peabody Prep through high school, but is otherwise self-taught. He played keyboards and arranged for a local swing band through college, law school and beyond. Since the mid-1970's, Mr. Dausch has been both an accompanist and a singer in the choir of St. Louis Catholic Church in Clarksville, Maryland, where he began composing choral music in 1984. Since 2003, he has been a member of ASCAP.