Christopher Whited graduated from Southeast Missouri State University in December of 2015 with a bachelor’s degree in both music performance and education. He is currently working as a percussionist all over the world by cruise ship.

Whited has been working for Celebrity Cruises since August. He got the job by reaching out to talent agents to get an audition.

“It’s always been somewhat an interest of mine,” Whited said.

He gives credit to adjunct faculty member Jay Contrino for having an interest in playing on cruise ships. Whited said Contrino played on cruises and shared the interest with him when he was a sophomore.

“A lot of my lessons, they always varied, but he made it a point to have a focus in being able to do a variety of things,” he said. “Which is a prerequisite to play on the ship, to basically do a number of different things on the drum set.”

He is in one of five musical groups on the ship. His work schedule can change daily based off the guest artist on the ship.

His main job on the ship is to to play two shows a night with the guest artist in the main theater. He also plays a ballroom set, unrehearsed jazz set and he plays for production shows. Normally each cruise is 10 to 11 days and he gets one day off.

“Playing for guest artists would be my favorite out of all of it because the shows are always changing,” Whited said.

One part able his job that he has really enjoyed is traveling and meeting people from all over the world.

“The number one perk for me is the traveling for sure,” Whited said. “That is probably the best part, in my opinion, is the traveling because you get to see these parts of the world that you would never otherwise get to see or go to chances are.”

He has been able to see Greece, Spain, Portugal, Morocco, the Canary Islands, Caribbean Islands and Meritain Islands.

When the ship is in port, he is able to explore as long as he is not performing or practicing. He said his favorite place he has been able to explore is Rome.

“We got to see the Sistine Chapel, which is probably the highlight of this entire contract for me,” he said. “The Sistine Chapel was really mind-blowing and you got to see Michelangelo's work the architecture and the artwork.”

His father also graduated from Southeast with a music degree. Being from St. Louis originally, he also liked the location of Southeast.

“It’s two hours south of St. Louis, which is far enough to be away from home but close enough to be close to home if you need to be,” Whited said.

Going into to music was an easy choice being from a family of musicians. His father plays percussion, his grandfather plays the saxophone and his grandmother taught music.

“I basically grew up with drum sticks in my hands,” he said.

His father use to write music notes out with Sharpie on large pieces of paper so he could learn to read music. He was able to read by the time he was 3 years old.

Having grown up with music, he got involved in everything pertaining to music while at Southeast.

“I was in as many music-related things as possible,” he said.

He played in marching band, pep band, wind ensemble, orchestra, percussion ensemble, chamber music and jazz band.

Whited's best advice for music students at Southeast is to consistently practice.

“Be persistent in what you’re doing and you know there’s going to be times when you're riddled with self-doubt, but you gotta push through that and then once you get to the point when you’re ready to start auditioning you have to understand that somebody is going to say no, but in the end somebody is going to say yes as well,” he said. “Never doubt your own ability.”