Senior Cory Breth has an unusual combination of passions — music and teaching Spanish.

Both passions grew gradually, and now he is at a point in his life where he knows he wants to pursue both.

Breth started singing when he was five and playing guitar at 12, but he thought life as a musician was unrealistic for him until he came to the University.

Similarly, Breth took four years of high school Spanish and liked it, but never saw a career with it as possibility until he came to the University. He took Spanish 201 as a perspective class and enjoyed it, so he continued to the next level. That’s when he realized he was good at teaching and helping his classmates, so he declared a Spanish major his sophomore year.

“I want to do both [music and teaching Spanish] at the same time because it’s what brings me joy,” Breth said. “It’s been really hard to decide what to do with my life. I mean they are both completely different paths.”

Breth has tried incorporating his music in the classroom to change things up a bit.

“It’s just a way to grab their attention,” Breth said. “I definitely think it could be a useful tool in the classroom.”

Breth plans on utilizing his summers to record music.

Each Wednesday night Breth leads the Active Christians Today worship where he gets to play music. He also tries to play at various churches on Sundays.

Breth has worked hard to get his music career to where it is today.

He has three albums available. “The Other Side – EP,” “A Cory Breth Christmas Collection” and “En Vivo.”

He released his debut album in June 2011, and it consists of six alternative rock songs.

“I think it’s more difficult than people think to ‘make it,’” Breth said. “I’ve done vocal training to hone my craft, and I’ve done a lot of work to get to where I am.”

The most recent album Breth has released is “En Vivo,” which has five live acoustic cover songs.

“I’m trying to get to that point where I can just play my own music,” Breth said.

He has started incorporating more original songs into his performances. Breth said he has eight solid originals, and is working on 12 others that he still wants to fine tune.

“Writing music is like the monkey on my back,” Breth said. “It takes me a long time to be a good writer.”

Breth has found help in the area of writing songs from his friend Pat Pollifrone, who he met his freshman year at the University. Pollifrone was a sophomore when he watched Breth play his guitar in the student lounge of his residence hall.

“Me and my girlfriend thought that he was probably too cool to want to talk to us, but it turned out that he was a really down-to-earth guy, and we became friends,” Pollifrone said.

Pollifrone asked Breth if he would want to check out some of the songs he wrote, and Breth ended up asking him to write some more.

“What I think makes Cory stand out is that he’s humble about his music,” Pollifrone said. “It’s something that he takes seriously and still has fun with it.”

Freshman Danny Humbarger is a fan of Breth’s music and has worked with him making music. Humbarger, like Pollifrone, thinks Breth has such a down-to-earth personality that it makes him unique.

“He’s just a guy who tells it like it is, which is really nice,” Humbarger said. “He plays a lot of storyteller songs, and with his voice that is low and calming, it goes right into your soul.”

Breth said he likes to tell stories in his songs so that people can relate to them.

“Music is my release from everything,” Breth said. “It’s just a way to connect with people and impact them in different ways.”

Breth has information about upcoming shows and his music at www.corybreth.com.