Musical education
He studied piano, music theory and composition with Jan van Vlijmen, Peter Schat and Louis Andriessen at The Hague Royal Conservatory of Music. In 1975 he undertook his piano exams with Gérard van Blerk; his study of music theory was completed in 1977. From 1979 to 1980 he studied composition with Toru Takemitsu in Tokyo.

Douw taught music theory and composition at the Hilversum Conservatory of Music. In 1990 he was in California for research, preparing a thesis on Stravinsky's composition techniques in his final, serial period (1954-1966). This thesis was published in 1995: The construction of order and direction in Igor Stravinsky's In Memoriam Dylan Thomas, Canticum Sacrum and Threni. At present he is head of the composition department at the Conservatory of Music in Amsterdam.