It’s late Friday afternoon, that last bit of Calculus is done with and there are no more Zoom calls left. A walk outside the dorm to take in the refreshing evening breeze is met with a distant noise. A farther walk to the outside of the Ikenberry Dining Hall, just in front of the tiny hill where socially-distanced onlookers reside.

The relaxing atmosphere created by student street musicians, like Dany Farray, is surprisingly spontaneous.

“I came by and there was a band playing,” Farray said. “I came to watch them play and it really just evolved and they invited me up to play a song.”

Farray was just one of several musicians who took to the mic that evening, but he is an example of the easy-going attitude that makes the practice of spontaneous concerts a reality on campus. Farray elaborated on his passion for music.

“I’ve been making music for years now. I literally released a song today called ‘Evergreen,’” Farray said. “My friend Marco produced it, and now I’m working on an album.”

Marco Landaverde also took to the microphone with his other friend Jonathan Jacobson, who afterwards talked about their band background.

“We got a band here called ‘Super Rosa,’ where we started out in the dorms and now we’re just playing around,” Jacobson said. “I live in Weston Hall, so it’s easy to move the drums to the Ike.”

The two continued with their evening show, with a continuously growing crowd of onlookers. Many said it was a great background for familiar activities on the courtyard near Ikenberry Commons like Spikeball, hammock chilling and even roller blading. Pandemic setbacks have not broken the spirit of student street musicians and their Friday fun — just spaced it out a little bit.

Student musicians from more organized groups also partook in the spontaneous Friday session. Mariela Bautista, a performer and member of Bandside UIUC, a small student group of musicians making the best of the socially-distanced music scene, spoke about both her background as well as reasons for taking part.

“We kind of just jam together sometimes,” Bautista said. “I also have my own original music under the name ‘Mada Mada.’”

Bautista elaborated on the Bandside RSO and their activities throughout campus.

“This is how I meet the people in my band,” Bautista said. “It’s just this RSO on campus, student musicians who make music together, we perform sometimes. I heard there was going to be a concert out here so that’s why I came. I wasn’t expecting to be a part of it, but we just went up there and sang ‘Valerie’ and it was pretty fun.”

The University’s music scene is anything but quiet. There are several popular RSOs full of new and ambitious student musicians.

Bringing it back down to the sidewalk, Jackson Gantt took to the mic for an energetic finale to the evening, and would later describe what brought him to the show.

“I was invited by my friend Marco,” Gantt said. “He invited me to come and watch but then said that I should go up and play something, so I decided ‘why not’ and went up to play.”

Gantt, like the many other musicians of the evening, had a strong background in the medium. He said he had been singing his whole life but didn’t really commit to it until his junior year of high school when he started taking choir. He then started taking up private lessons and writing his own music and has been doing so ever since.

This wasn’t the first Ikenberry jam session, and many said it most certainly won’t be the last.

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