While some couples on campus enjoy heading to the movies on date nights, Ball State juniors Chris Graham and Sydney Sorrell enjoy each other's company by making music and writing songs.
Graham's music talents started in 8th grade when his parents bought him a guitar and his friends taught him the basics. Sorrell was involved in theater and guitar lessons in middle school and high school.
It wasn't long before their paths crossed.
They met a little more than a year ago when Sorrell's manager at a coffee shop told her she might be interested in the guy whose art was being featured in the shop.
"When I first started working at the coffee shop, my manager knew I was kinda artsy and played guitar and he said, ‘Hey, keep your eye on this kid' and then a year later [Chris] came in alone to hang up his artwork," Sorrell said.
The two exchanged numbers and started to hang out. It wasn't before long that the couple realized their shared love of music.
Sorrell had played one of her own original songs and "impressed" Graham with her talents and naturally "jazzy" voice.
"Her voice was really different from other girls, I liked that it was deeper and kind of jazzy," Graham said.
Since then, Graham and Sorrell decided to join their musical talents and work cooperatively as a way to bond and just "have fun together," as Graham puts it. They started out playing covers together.
"By doing covers, we were helping each other out to discover what we're good at and what kind of styles we like," Graham said.
They then began to write some of their own songs that mixed her jazz voice and his talent for the instrumental parts of a song. The two have previously stuck to a genre of either indie acoustic or classic jazz in the style of Billie Holiday.
"We now want to do a little more rock or indie rock and mixing it with our own genre," Graham said.
Even though the couple works well together and tries to make time for writing songs, they have very different styles when it comes to learning a new song.
"He's definitely [learns] more by ear and I took AP Music Theory, so I know more of the technical stuff," Sorrell said.
However, they are moving forward as a musical couple by entering in some of the contests on campus including events for Homecoming Week and Fall Fest. This was their first audition outside of playing at Starbucks together. Graham is ready to begin a bigger project with his brother, Nick, who plays the drums and violin.
"I want to build on the instruments that I use. I want to play more piano and I want to learn bass with Sydney so we can jam together," Graham said.
Graham wants to get Sorrell a bass so they can start turning their style towards the rock genre. Once she learns the bass, they plan on writing more songs in that style to create their own genre of music. Even for writing and creating music, they work together as a team with Graham taking care of the guitar part and Sorrell writing the lyrics.
Looking toward the future, Graham and Sorrell plan to get married after graduation. They have dreams of settling down in Noblesville, Ind. and creating their own recording studio in their home. But don't expect this couple to be playing at their own wedding or to pursue a career in music. Graham and Sorrell agree to keep their love of music as a hobby.
"I kind of leave all my fun things off to the side, because once you start mixing those things, you start to hate it after a while and I don't want that to happen," Sorrel said.
Graham and Sorrell look forward to a future together escaping the stresses of life through combining their individual talents into one musical collaboration.
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