Balancing Coding and Keyboards

Computer Science Student by Day and Rock Musician by Night

By Chase Orinski

Imagine the bright lights on stage on a Friday night, playing the keyboard at Elray's Live and Dive in Downtown Iowa City. Sounds fun, right? It also sounds like a lot of prep work, but it's worth doing if you love making music. Now imagine yourself as a computer science major who’s trying to code video games as a career. That sounds incredibly difficult, and sounds like you’d have almost no free time.

This is life for Jake Gragg, a second-year honors student and the keyboard player for rock band The Squares. 

Gragg is originally from Johnston, Iowa (like all of his band-mates), and is obsessed with video games and music. He comes from a musical background, playing the piano and drums throughout grade school, and joining the drumline at the University of Iowa during his first semester, before giving it up to focus more on academics. 

Growing up, Gragg was a gamer, as most teenagers are, enjoying games like Stardew Valley and Terraria. Gragg enjoyed the problem-solving aspect of games like these, which got him interested in computer science, which is why he dreams about making a video game so other people can enjoy gaming as much as he does.

In his time at Iowa, Gragg has already learned how to code in multiple languages, including Python and Java, through which he can now create music as well as launch his new video game.

In a major with such tall tasks, Gragg creates multiple opportunities for himself to correctly balance his time. Because procrastination has always been a struggle for him, he uses something called the “brick” device to keep off social media between school work and band practice. Gragg described the “brick” as a magnet attached to his fridge that locks his social media platforms while he tries to do work, so he won’t get distracted.

Gragg loves social media, which he says really helps him and the band, but he said, “If I’m gonna go on social media, I want to be creating instead of consuming.” 

Another strategy Gragg employs to maintain balance is meditation. When he feels overwhelmed, he loves meditating for about ten minutes at night to wind down, which has proven an effective way for him to bring down his stress levels for the following school day. He also goes back to his roots and plays his favorite video games to take his mind off his stressors.

Like gaming, he also became obsessed with playing instruments as a child. When his parents took him to a guitar center, he fell in love with the drums immediately. He told his parents that he wanted to play the drums for his school band, but his parents knew that there was a prerequisite of playing piano for two years before playing the drums. Gragg’s parents enrolled him in piano lessons for the next two years, and as his love for the piano grew, it evolved into learning the electric keyboard.

Through these lessons, Gragg also learned how to write music, which has “opened new worlds,” Gragg said. When he was asked to join The Squares in 2024, his background helped him to put new twists on already existing songs, such as “Sweet Child O Mine” by Guns N ' Roses and “Say It Ain't So” by Weezer. 

Despite playing these songs often, he gets quite anxious to perform in front of his fans before gigs. He perseveres through the nerves, however, and always completes his shows. Including his favorite show, which he played back in his hometown of Johnston.

Johnston invited The Squares to perform in the town center at their Tunes in Twilight event in late May of 2025. 

“This was one of the band’s best shows to date,” according to Gragg. “We all had a homecoming.”

“It was a full production with hundreds of people showing up,” Gragg said, “There was even a newspaper article for us leading up to our show,” he added. 

The Squares ended up playing one of Gragg's favorite–and most challenging–songs, “Vienna” by Billy Joel, which has an intricate piano solo in the middle of the song. 

“This was my first time playing it live, and I nailed it!” he recalled. 

The entire show was a hit in Johnston, and Gragg said people were waiting after their set just to go up and talk to them and compliment them. 

“To this day, I get people coming up to me about my piano solo, which is so cool.”

The band has performed before large crowds on campus as well.

They are well known for playing at Dance Marathon the past two years, as well as being a frequent flyer at Elrays Live and Dive. 

“They bring us into Dance Marathon as the rock band to keep everybody going through the last few hours,” Gragg said, “It is really important to us, and we all donate back to the fund after the show.” 

They also played at Homecoming this past year as one of the main performers on stage. Over state borders, the band has traveled to Minnesota and Wisconsin, playing songs from “End of Beginning” by Djo to “Creep” by Radiohead, and everything in between.

The Squares have five members currently, including a vocalist, Cameron Capalbo; bass guitarist Chris Dicken; lead guitarist Jackson Zimmerman; keyboarder Jake Gragg; and drummer Fred Jensen.

Given the success the band has enjoyed in the few years it has existed, they plan to put out a studio album sometime by the end of 2026, for which Gragg has written two of the songs so far. The album is set to be released on all platforms, including Spotify and Apple Music.

Until then, Gragg is trying to balance his workload between building his video game, creating new music, and band practice. His perseverance is unmatched when it comes to learning and extracurricular activities.

Whether sacrificing scrolling to get extra studying in, travelling out of state with the band, or playing the keys for local Iowa City fans, Gragg is a perfect example of an honors student who pursues his interests inside and outside the classroom.

Until they come out with their new album, find The Squares at Elray's or Gabe’s playing their normal set list with hit songs from the 1990’s and today.