Student music compositions performed on campus

“Hearing my piece performed was very surreal. I really had a hard time believing it was happening right up to the first note,” Gachne said.

Gachne has taken two semesters of private composition lessons with Dr. Michael Stephen and taken arranging classes and other music classes.

“I really don't know what role composition will play in my career. I will continue to write, but I see it mainly for myself. I feel no pressing desire to be a renowned composer,” he said.

He has also taken theory and arranging classes with Dr. Sandy Schaefer, Dr. Joel Schreuder and former faculty member Dr. Adam Lambert which occasionally included simple composition assignments.

“I like taking a simple idea, something like a five-note phrase, and using that as the basis for a full piece. I don't like how slowly I write. I tend to try to make each individual note in the piece the best possible note, and sometimes get stuck at a part where a single note in a chord or phrase sounds off. It will frustrate me right up until I find something that I like,” he said.

Gachne said he has a number of favorite composers including Pat Metheny.

"Duke Ellington is another, along with Gordon Goodwin. J.S. Bach will always astound me. I like many French composers from the late 19th and early 20th centuries, like Claude Debussy and Maurice Ravel. Ask me who my favorite composers are next week and I might say something completely different,” he said.

“One Step,” a composition by student Tanner Johns of Alliance, Neb., saluting jazz legend Miles Davis was also performed at the honors recital by a band including Johns, Dr. Sandy Schaefer, Nick Brooks of Alliance, Neb., and Drew Kasch of Highlands Ranch, Colo.

During the recent High Plains Jazz Festival, Johns’ big band piece titled “Dirty Bubblegum” was performed by the CSC Jazz Band. Last year, a guitar/sax duo titled “Breathe” composed by Johns was played by the CSC Jazz Band