Mercer Artist: Calvin Langman, musician

Calvin Langman, a student of Mercer’s Robert McDuffie Center for Strings, has played the cello for 10 years. Although he is only a freshman, he has accomplished a great deal in his first few months of college.

He is involved in music not only on campus, but he is also in a band, The Happy Fits, that he and his friend Ross Monteith started in high school.

“Ross really liked my original songs. Over the summer, we started covering more and more songs and starting creating original songs,” Langman said, “Around a month later, I had words and melodies to Ross’s songs. Ross would write more riffs, and I would write more lyrics. By end of summer we had created 14 to 15 songs together. That’s when we decided to release an EP. After a week of the EP being out, we made top 5 on Spotify’s Top 50 USA Vital Chart.”[infographic align="right"][/infographic]

After the band’s almost instant success, the boys are now working on finalizing a West Coast tour from May to June. They are planning an East Coast tour as well. The Happy Fits were invited to play at Penn State in December and are planning more gigs for the future.

Influenced by bands like Reptar, Givers and The Killers, Langman said that he enjoys music that is more soulful and personal. Langman comes from a musical background: his brother is a violinist and pianist, his sister is a pianist and his grandfather was an amateur violinist.

“I chose cello because I wanted to do something different than my brother and sister,” said Langman. “No one else in my family played the cello, so that’s when I started.”

Langman not only plays the cello, but also the piano and a little bit of the ukulele. Langman chose Mercer over other big name music schools because it offers a small program where professors can pay closer attention to individual students.

“There is an amazing program here. The professors are amazing, and the students are amazing,” said Langman, “It allows me to bring out my inner child.”

For the new faces coming in who are interested in music but worried about being stigmatized as a music major, Langman has some advice.

“People always think that people are thinking about them, judging them,” said Langman, “But something I learned is that most people don’t care. You shouldn’t stop yourself from doing something just because you are afraid people are going to judge you.”