We were lucky to catch up with MØNARCH recently and have shared our conversation below.

MØNARCH, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today How did you learn to do what you do? Knowing what you know now, what could you have done to speed up your learning process? What skills do you think were most essential? What obstacles stood in the way of learning more?

I believe most people in my field would answer this question by saying “through trial and error.” And I entirely agree with that sentiment. Being a musician means making mistakes, playing the wrong notes, not being in time, it’s how we learn what works and what doesn’t. It is an essential part of getting better as a musician, no one is perfect, so understanding that I’m not is helpful and takes some unneeded pressure off of me as well. After years of writing my own music and playing with other talented musicians, I think just trusting my ear to guide me would have gotten me to the point I’m at now faster. Although I’m glad I went through those times of not trusting myself, I wish I did have the courage when I was younger to not be so caught up in being perfect. I tell this to new musicians I meet all the time, your ear will never fail you. That is one of the most essential skills, in my opinion, knowing exactly what you’re hearing and being able to translate it to different instruments, especially in the right context. When I was younger it was definitely a lack of knowledge and confidence that stood in my way, but since starting at FSU’s College of Music, learning how music theory works in certain genres, and putting myself in situations where I wasn’t always in my comfort zone have helped me overcome some of the doubts I used to have in my ability as a musician.

MØNARCH, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

My name is MØNARCH, I am a full-time student at FSU’s College of Music, frontman for the Tallahassee-based band, The Sparrows, and a songwriter/producer. I got into music in a last-minute switch from my prior engineering studies. At first, I was very doubtful of myself when making the switch, but I had my family and friends there telling me to really commit to it fully, and thankfully it’s been good ever since. I mainly am a songwriter, and most of my time is spent seeing what works and what doesn’t work in a song. I have been writing ever since I was around 13, so I have a fair amount of experience when it comes to writing. Also, being trilingual helps me to bring other points of view and flavors into the music I write, and I think that’s one of the things that works to set me apart from other people in my industry. After years of doing music, I would say I’m most proud of how much I’ve grown and how my skills have slowly matured to where they are today. I am also really proud of the work I’ve been lucky enough to do with my band, The Sparrows, I started the group a little more than a year ago, and it’s motivating to see how we’ve all grown together and how far we’ve come. We’re starting to work on our first debut single and our debut album, so you can get updates about that on our Instagram, @thexsparrows, And if you’re ever in Tallahassee we’d love to see new faces at our shows!

What’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative in your experience?

At this point in my career, I would say performing is the most rewarding aspect. Seeing how people react to music in a live setting is just an amazing sight to see, and I’m lucky I get to experience that. Music is something that we all love, it helps us just forget about our problems and learn to live in the moment. For me, when I’m on stage, it’s not really about the music, it’s about being able to make people feel like dancing and have a night worth remembering. Although I think performing is the most rewarding aspect, all aspects of the musical process are rewarding. Whether it’s jamming, writing, or producing, they are all rewarding in their own ways.

Any insights you can share with us about how you built up your social media presence?

Consistency. Since I’ve started posting on social media and making my music public, a lot of it has been posting at least a couple of days a week. Social media updates so fast, and there is always some new kind of content coming out, so you have to be good at putting out just as much content. Ideally, this should be at least once every day, so you get the most value for your post, but I’ve found you can be more lenient with posting if you’re smart about it. The way I do it is by looking at my follower demographics and insights to see how to better time my posts. I usually post all my content on specific days and times when I know the majority of my following is online and more likely to share something they see. Taking advantage of hashtags at the end of your posts also helps to further push your content to new eyes, instead of heavily relying on people’s decision to share your content.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: @_iammonarch
• Twitter: @_iammonarch
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@iammonarchofficial
• Other: TikTok: @iammonarch

Image Credits
Hailey Eaton Juan Martinez