Kurtis Koch taught band for 38 years – 34 of them here in Great Bend – and when he retired there was no question that he’d still be making music.

“When I retired, I knew exactly what I was going to do,” he said. Which was, “keep busy with what I want to do. I retired in May, nine and a half years ago, and the first month, in June, I composed my first piece of music.”

Koch said he hadn’t taken the time to sit down and write music at the end of a full day of teaching, but with time to spare he has been able to compose percussion music and get some of it published. Pieces include “Solo Flyer,” a timpani solo involving two timpani, and “Alpha One,” a drumset solo using the standard four-piece set, that is described as a fun solo showcasing different grooves and styles.

Koch also keeps busy playing in bands, including the Kansas All-Star Big Band, which will present a big-band Christmas concert this Saturday at the Crest Theater. (See adjacent story.)

“Band and music is my hobby,” Koch said. He helped with productions at Barton Community College this year. He also gives private lessons, teaching all instruments.

His wife Debbie Koch is also a retired music educator. She was the first band director at Central Kansas Christian Academy and retired this past spring after teaching there for 20 years.

The Kochs have two musical children and three grandchildren. Their oldest son, Nathan, teaches bassoon and music theory at the University of Nebraska in Lincoln. The youngest, Matthew, was a musician at Barton Community College and went on to earn a business degree from Fort Hays State University. He works in Larned as an Edward Jones advisor.

Excellent teachers and family support

“My family was all from Barton and Russell County,” Koch said.

Koch was born in Great Bend but his family moved to Russell when he was in the sixth grade. That was also the year he got involved in band.

“I was really lucky and had two excellent teachers,” he said. That can be the source of inspiration and spark for many of us, and Koch was no different. “Russell, in the day, had a big, outstanding band program.”

Good teachers take time to teach more than just their subject matter, Koch said.  “We learned a lot about life.” And extra-curricular activities are particularly good for teaching life lessons. He likes the saying, “There are no bench warmers in band.”

“I was very fortunate to have supportive parents,” he added. “Parents are a key factor to a child’s success.”

When it came time to choose an instrument for band, “The teacher said, ‘We really need trombone players.’ My mom said, ‘No, he wants to play drums.’”

Koch’s first job was with a band.

“My junior-high band director had a band and needed me to fill in for his regular drummer one weekend. So my first playing experience was at 14 years old – at a club in Ellis, Kansas.”

He went on to be a regular drummer for area bands.

“When you played back then, you played from 9 o’clock at night to one in the morning. My parents had to take me because, back then, kids couldn’t get in if you were under 18. So, my parents had to go with me all through high school to all of my gigs.”

That’s been long enough ago that Koch doesn’t remember any of the names of the bands he played in, but one was led by Dan King.

Elmer Huslig, a sales associate at Great Bend Music, was the drummer. Huslig (1935-2017) also worked for Great Bend Candy and Tobacco and was the state champion drummer when he was a member of the Argonne Rebels Drum and Bugle Corps.

Another member of the band Koch remembers is Alvin “Shorty” Prosser, the piano player. “Shorty could play anything by ear on that keyboard,” he said. “He was just a phenomenal musician and a nice guy and then, later on, I had the privilege of teaching his daughter.”

Teaching career

After graduating from Wichita State University, Koch checked the bulletin boards in search of his first teaching job. Uniontown, a small community in southeast Kansas, hired him as the band director for grades 5-12. He also taught high school choir and a music appreciation class.

“It was quite a learning experience, like all first-year teachers go through,” he said. “I had to learn by trial and error.”

A few years later, Koch ran into Joe Boley at a convention and said he was interested in returning to the Golden Belt. Boley said a position would soon be open at Harrison Junior High in Great Bend. (There were two junior high schools in Great Bend at the time; the other was Roosevelt Junior High. The Roosevelt building is now the Central Kansas Dream Center and the Harrison site is where Great Bend Middle School is now located.) “So I sent my application in. As they say, ‘The rest is history.’” 

When Koch retired from teaching music at Great Bend USD 428, he also retired from serving as the Great Bend City Band director, handing over the baton to Steve Lueth. However, he and Debbie are still members of the band.

They are members of the Golden Belt Community Concert Association.

He still plays with bands, as he did before retiring.

Koch also works part-time at the Great Bend Recreation Commission. On Monday mornings he can be found at the GBRC Activity Center and he comes to the Carl Soden Recreation Center two evenings a week to supervise the Cavanaugh Wellness Center.

Music for enjoyment

Koch loves big band music from all decades. “The newest, hottest band out there is called Gordon Goodwin’s Big Phat Band.”

Virtually everyone enjoys listening to good music, Koch said. Not everyone has musical talent but, “some people play the radio really well.”

Community Connections is a regular feature of the Great Bend Tribune, showcasing people who live in the Golden Belt. We welcome readers to submit names of individuals who are active in the community that they would like to see featured in a future story. Send suggestions to news@gbtribune.com and explain their “community connections.”

All-Star Big Band comes in like Santa

The Kansas All-Star Big Band, which includes 16 of the very best jazz musicians in the state of Kansas, will present a free concert at 7:30 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 10, at the Crest Theater, 1905 Lakin Ave.

Many of the band’s members are jazz educators from Hays to Wichita to Lawrence and everywhere in between, including Great Bend’s Kurtis Koch.

Band leader Anthony Panek from Wichita, who plays trombone, said he started the band in 2021 because he loves big bands. “Our state of Kansas needed its own professional big band and that’s what our band is – the greatest musicians in the state.”

Coming from military, cruise ship or professional big band backgrounds, these professional jazz musicians bring to Kansas the very best in big band entertainment, he said. They all have a connection to the state in some way.

Saturday’s free concert will be mostly Christmas music and is designed to keep everyone in the big band mood, Panek said. Expect to hear everything from Count Basie’s Christmas arrangements to a big band version of music from the Nutcracker Suite and some newer Gordon Goodwin arrangements.

The group’s big-band Christmas is sponsored by the Barton County Arts Council and the Great Bend Convention and Visitors Bureau.