Graduation day is six weeks away and for some senior student musicians it marks a defining moment in their musical life.

An unpredictable future lies ahead and graduates must strike out on their own.

Some dream to make it big on their own or with bands. Others plan to make a professional career out of music in the teaching sector. Still, other non-music majors plan to establish a career in their individual fields and keep their musical pursuit as a side endeavor.

Kirk Johnson, a music professor and the graduate coordinator for the music department, said, “Any aspect, any professional opportunity that you aim for is going to be competitive. Going into the arts is difficult, but I will encourage anyone who has the drive and dedication to strive for that. To make a profession as a musician is not impossible. It is necessary part of society. “

The Life of Music Majors

There are currently 127 students that are majoring in music. Of that number, 95 students are concentrating music education.

Chris Hastings, a senior music major with a concentration in performance, wants to go into teaching at the college level.

“I have been giving lessons for five years now, and still do today,” Hastings said. “And it is still one of those things I enjoy doing.”

Hasting works at Sound Source Music Center in Mattoon and is a guitarist in the local group the Staff Blues Band. After he graduates in December, he wants to attend graduate school.

The music department has 12 graduate students, and two are working on their theses.

Johnson said recent graduates have gone to teach at universities and community colleges. Others now teach in public schools at the high school and middle school levels.

“Some go on and perform for a living,” Johnson said. “We’ve had graduate students graduate from here and go to places that have an active music scene like in Chicago or New York and become freelance musicians, and even others go onto areas that are not related to music like business.”

The Life for Others Musicians

Charleston has an active music scene with more than 10 student bands. Many of these musicians are non-music majors but still plan to make a name for themselves after college.

Matt Schumake, a senior English and creative writing major, is the bassist for the Andy Van Slyke band that plays indie, rock and swing music. He will graduate in May and has made no definite post-college plans, but is considering joining AmeriCorps.

“As far as music goes, I would be lying if I said I did not want to take it as far as I could,” Schumake said. “That is always the dream for anyone playing music, to do something with it.”

Schumake said Andy Van Slyke is hoping to keep the band together, at least through the summer because the members will be in the area.

“I have been playing in bands and writing and performing and recording since I was 13 years old,” Schumake said. “I would just feel wrong not doing it. It is not something I want to do, it is something I feel I have to do.”

The local band Little Boy Jr. is made up all seniors and soon-to-be five-year seniors who are not music majors. The group already has their summer planned with shows booked on the North side of Chicago in efforts to move from the small-town Charleston music scene and on to the larger music scene in Chicago.

“You got to be in Chicago to get people to pay attention, we have a long time to make it, but this summer, we are going to try real hard to get people who have no idea who are out to some shows,” Joe Courtney said.

Joe Courtney is a guitarist, singer and songwriter for Little Boy Jr. He is also a senior English major with teacher certification who will student teach in the fall. For Courtney, music and his band come first.

“We are going to stay together as long as it takes,” Courtney said. “We are putting in however many years it takes.”

Courtney said he just wants people to know who the band is, not to be rich and famous, but just to be able to make a living out of it.

“This is what I wanted to be since high school,” Courtney said.” And I have thought about it, because it can sound like an unrealistic dream, but I just want to be doing a job I like.”

Facing the Music and Reality

Life is uncertain, and plans after college can fall through. Sooner or later college musicians face reality and need to figure out how to make it on their own. Some pursue their dreams and others pursue it on the side.

Bryan Adams is a former college musician who now pursues music on the side. He graduated in December 2007 with a communications studies degree, played guitar and base and sang in the former local band called The Fuz from 2003 to 2007.

Now living in Darien, Ill., Adams plays music on the side and is a full-time IT technician with Northrop Grumman.

He is involved with a Talking Heads tribute band and the band Savy who write and play original songs; both groups play in Carbondale and Springfield. Adams also recently started writing his own music.

Learning for Adams did not stop when he graduated. He is currently mastering the piano and a pedal steel guitar, a horizontal electric guitar with knee and foot petals that uses a slide instead of fingers to stop or shorten the length of the stings.

“There’s a lot more places to play and more musicians to play with in the Chicagoland area, a bigger network,” Adams said. “And I learned, when you play with different people, you grow yourself.”

Adams was realistic though.

“Its always that dream–that dream to play professionally and play music your entire life,” Adams said. “At the same time I needed money and a job. And I needed a job with health insurance and benefits and so I started [working].”

Still, the same pursuit to make it big never changes, no matter what stage in life a musician is.

“I still want to go after the dream of doing that, and who knows after this health care bill passes, maybe I can quit my job and go after it.”

Colleen Kitka can be reached at 581-7942 or crkitka@eiu.edu