Upon the silent stage, the orchestra remained still with all eyes concentrated at the conductor, waiting for any movement of initiation. The audience held its breath, awaiting the first note. At last, when the note came, the atmosphere shifted as listeners sank into the music. While most music students would find their place in the audience, Nic Casey instead found himself as a young composer watching his original composition, Translucence, premiering in the most beautiful venue: Weill Hall Green Music Center.

The appeal to music began with jazz at a very young age, but in 3rd grade Nic began to play violin, his primary instrument. In primary school, he was introduced to many different activities including fencing, soccer, and aikido, but he jokes that the reason he stuck to music was because he was bad at sports.

What sets Nic Casey apart is his aptitude for composition. He first became interested in music composition when his fifth grade teacher asked him to help arrange a piece for a string orchestra. In 8th grade he began electronically composing music by ear.

Since that time, he has taken AP Music Theory, to which he attributed a marked improvement in his composition skills. Taught by the school’s choir director, Andy DelMonte, it is now in its second year. While many people struggle with music theory, Nic was a star student and picked up on things very quickly. Mr. DelMonte noted that, “Nick did really well in AP Music Theory. He is a music theory rockstar.” His compositions have been featured in Analy’s theater production, specifically in The Importance of Being Earnest.

Those who went to Analy’s variety show on February 11th will remember Nic’s quick action, when he picked up his guitar and played backup for two singing girls whose sound system was malfunctioning. Or, they may recall his humorous musical skit with classmate Elijah Pinkham when they performed “Jenny” by Flight of the Conchords. However, Nic is also a part of band known as Far and Away. Having wanted to be in a band, Nic was at one point included in three, but eventually became seriously involved in Far and Away with Fifi Perkins as vocals, Matt Ferdinandson on drums, and Cameron Noran playing guitar and bass. He had known Cameron since preschool, and he met Fifi and Matt during his freshman year at high school. Their band plays at fundraisers, open mics, and talent showcases.

Perhaps the most compelling reason that students quit playing instruments is because of the tedious responsibility of practicing. Even Nic Casey says practice can be a bore, but he has found some joy in it. Most musicians may say that they have felt the urge to quit because of the grueling daily practicing and, Nic agreed: “I definitely wanted to quit practicing. I’ve always hated practicing. Who doesn’t? But I think even more because of classical practicing. It’s all technique. You get a new piece and you go ‘all right I’m just going to sit here for an hour and play it over and over again.’ And then once I discovered jazz on the violin I realized that practicing doesn’t have to be like that.” And it was jazz on the violin that led Nic to be involved in the Stanford jazz institute program, a week long jazz intensive.

As most high schoolers will agree, it is difficult to juggle school with extracurricular activities. However, Nic manages school while juggling all of his musical involvements. He acknowledges that “one of them always has to take precedent.” Though he believes it’s cliche, he advises other aspiring musicians to never give up. “When you’re first starting writing music, you’re going to hate your stuff. You’re probably going to be like ‘What is this? I really dislike this’ and if you do that enough times then eventually you go ‘Hey, this doesn’t totally suck’ and then it just gets better and better.”

When most people look at sheet music, they see odd symbols and peculiar Latin phrases. It’s an entirely different language with its own sounds, rules, history, vocabulary. When Nic Casey looks at sheet music he understands the depth of the musical lexicon and he happens to be fluent in the language.