We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Shannon Merciel. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Shannon below.
Shannon, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today We’d love to hear the backstory behind a risk you’ve taken – whether big or small, walk us through what it was like and how it ultimately turned out.
I would say my career choice in itself is rather risky. I’m one of those people that really put all my eggs in one basket. Music performance is my first and only choice for a career. I have no back up plan, nor would I want one. I truly love what I do and feel grateful every single day. It’s taken me a long time to get to a comfortable place and like any job, it has its downsides. I don’t have the luxury of the same paycheck every two weeks and my ability to work depends on my health. I sustained a back injury last year, for example, and couldn’t work for a month. I also don’t have a retirement plan yet (gasp! I have some stuff to figure out, okay?). Things like that.
During the pandemic I was offered a one-year orchestra teaching position at a local middle school. I accepted, because I really had no other work lined up at the time. I spent that whole year wondering if I would ever perform on stage again. Several of my fellow teachers encouraged me to obtain a teaching certification so I could enter the education field officially and find a secure position as an orchestra teacher when my contract was over. I considered it, but I knew that taking the time to do that would ultimately take away energy from doing what I really wanted to do, which was to get back into performance shape and get ready for professional orchestra auditions. The year I spent teaching was transformative in so many ways, but the most important thing it did was reinforce my certainty in what I really wanted to do with my music career. So I decided to leave behind what I felt wasn’t right for me, and dove headfirst into freelance performing, even though I knew the road ahead to financial security was uncertain. I have to be honest and admit that this final decision to stick with performance in the midst of uncertainty would not have been possible had I not come from an incredibly supportive family. My parents have been there since day one in my first music lesson and encouraged me to pursue music as a career. Without that, I probably would have chosen a different path. My family also helped me financially while I was in school and even beyond on occasion. That privilege has allowed me to have virtually no fear to pursue what I love for a living. I’ve had many other doubts about music as a career, but never the worry of ending up on the street if I were in a desperate situation. Not many people have that, so I count my blessings and keep that in the back of my mind at all times. My partner is a musician too and understands my lifestyle. Having that support at home has been crucial to my career as an adult.
Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.
My name is Shannon Merciel and I am a freelance cellist. I started cello lessons at age 7 via the Suzuki method, pursued music study in college, and graduated with two performance degrees. I have a Bachelor of Music from the University of Missouri-Columbia and a Master of Music from the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland.
I am based in St. Louis but I travel to many places for work. I operate as an independent contractor and play a lot of different types of gigs, but mainly I perform in classical orchestra settings. I have two of what I consider “regular” jobs in music in which I hold long-term contracts. One is with the Omaha Symphony and the other is with the resident orchestra of the Muny, a company that puts on Broadway shows in the summer in St. Louis. Apart from those, I help fill out the cello sections of a couple of major orchestras on an as-needed basis. Outside of the orchestral world, you can find me playing for various events, the normal examples being weddings and church services. However, people who are not musicians are sometimes surprised to learn the settings in which I find myself hired to perform. I played solo cello on a boat for someone’s proposal once and serenaded the couple as they ate dinner. I’ve played on stage with a heavy metal band for an audience of 20,000. I also recently played a concert of music from the game Stardew Valley. As a fan, that one was really fun. I have traveled back to Scotland a few times for recital tours with a chamber group I formed while I was in school there. We have played in some incredible venues and our audiences are always enthusiastic. Another “gig” I value is teaching. I have a small studio of dedicated cello students that I teach on a weekly basis and also coach cello sections in youth orchestras. Being around the kids makes me feel grounded in my community and keeps my teaching skills fresh.
People are particularly drawn to the cello and even though I am an expert in playing it, I also consider myself a spokesperson for this great instrument and its rich history. People frequently come up to me after performances to tell me the cello is their favorite instrument and I wholeheartedly agree. It really is special and contains a multitude of expressive ranges and colors that bring out all kinds of characters and emotions in music. In an orchestra, the cello falls into the lower strings category with the double basses and typically functions as the “tenor” voice of the orchestra. In opera, the cello often reinforces important musical lines by playing in unison with the tenor’s voice. However, the cello has expansive capabilities beyond that. Out of any instrument, the cello is considered the closest match to the human voice in range and tone as it spans all four registers: bass, tenor, alto, soprano. You can find the cello utilized in a broad range of genres, spanning from classical to contemporary, to pop, folk, and jazz. I enjoy being in the cello section of an orchestra because we get the best of all worlds: we can carry the bass line, sing beautiful melodies, and do everything in between.
I consider my career to be a unique one and feel it is an intrinsic part of my identity since I started at such a young age. I can’t imagine my life without music and making a living from it still feels surreal sometimes. I can genuinely say I look forward to going to work and rarely find myself counting down the minutes until the end of a rehearsal.
We’d love to hear a story of resilience from your journey.
My ultimate goal and dream is to win a full-time position in a major orchestra. This is notoriously difficult to do and the pursuit is not for everyone. The auditions are extremely competitive and there are very few job openings in any given year. There are a lucky few who win jobs straight out of school, but for many, it takes longer. The smart ones simply move on to other pursuits with better outcomes. You have to have a clear preparation process. You have to get out of your comfort zone, play for people, and organize mock auditions. I’m lucky to have access to a network of great musicians that are always gracious enough to listen to me and give me feedback. Most of all, the process requires patience and a firm belief that you belong and are good enough. I always joke the auditions themselves are psychological torture, except it’s really not a joke. You might prepare for several months, travel endless hours and spend hundreds of dollars to get to the audition, and end up playing a total of two minutes. And the rejections are tough. Sometimes you know what hindered you, and other times you’re stumped as to what you could have done better. Sometimes the audition committees don’t pick anyone at the end, even after listening to a hundred candidates. There’s plenty of aspects to get frustrated about but my improving results give me determination to continue. I’ve made it to the finals of several auditions now and my desire to win has become stronger. When you get that close to winning and don’t get the job in the end, it can feel like the end of the world. Instead of giving up or resorting to harboring resentment toward the orchestral world for all eternity, I use the opportunity to reach into the depths of my capabilities as a player and scoop out what I didn’t know was there to use for the next audition. To me, a full-time orchestra job means financial freedom while doing precisely what I want to do for a living. That’s something worth waiting for.
For you, what’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative?
It brings me so much joy to experience gratitude from audience members after a concert. Musicians have the special ability to bring listeners into another world for a couple of hours and I think about that privilege every time I’m on stage. I have had people come up to me after performances having been moved to literal tears. They’re often overwhelmed by what they hear and I pinch myself and think, “Did I really do that?” Listeners have a wide range of responses and this reminds me to never take the music for granted and to always allow space for myself to be moved emotionally, whether I am sitting in the audience or performing. Audiences deserve our gratitude as well. The fact that they choose to spend their time in a concert hall and their money on a ticket is the reason I have a job and why the arts are still alive.
Contact Info:
- Instagram: @shannonmercielcellist
- Linkedin: www.linkedin.com/in/shannonmerciel
- Youtube: www.youtube.com/@shannonmercielcellist
Image Credits
Henry David Photography Todd Rosenberg Photography Eric Berlin