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

Alright, Spencer thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. We’d love to hear about a project that you’ve worked on that’s meant a lot to you.

My first meaningful project was my first album as a leader (Last Place in a Bear Race) which released in November of 2022. I wrote all the music over the course of my college studies. It was a long process of getting all the musicians together, securing studio time, rehearsing, recording, and mixing/mastering. There was a huge monetary and time cost involved with the project, so to see it all pay off at the release was a huge relief. A lot of musicians I respect came to the release and expressed their respect and approval. It was so humbling to see people buying the album and listening to it. Now, less than a year later, I can’t listen to the thing. I’ve already grown so much as a musician that I can’t listen to it without constantly critiquing myself. I think more than anything, it’s a bookmark and proof of my progress and maturity. My next project is the release of the Merk Brothers’ debut album, At Least, releasing on July 7, 2023. I couldn’t be prouder of the work we all did and I can’t wait for everyone to be able to listen to it.

Spencer, 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?

I am a trombonist, composer, arranger, and educator. I began playing the trombone in the Lakota West band program when I was a 6th grader and started working professionally in the industry as a senior in high-school. I am now 24, and I’ve been an active member of Cincinnati’s music scene since beginning my studies at CCM in 2017. In August of 2023, I will begin my studies at the Peabody Conservatory of Johns Hopkins University as a Graduate Jazz Fellow. Some major career highlights of the past few years include winning the International Trombone Association’s J.J. Johnson Competition and performing with Umphrey’s McGee, Kim Deal, Maria Schneider, Mike Gordon, and Jeff Hamilton. I’ve released one album as a leader (Last Place in a Bear Race) and I have another album with my two brothers releasing on July 7, 2023 (At Least).

How can we best help foster a strong, supportive environment for artists and creatives?

Society’s attention span is decreasing at an alarming rate. Social media empires seek to monopolize everyone’s time with endless 10-second loops of nothing. They compete to make the most effective algorithms that feed us videos, advertisements, songs, and movies that pander to our own preferences, biases, politics, and belief systems. Instead of quality, we seek quantity because endless addictive “content” (what an apt and disturbing term…) is available to us at a moment’s notice. For those of us that are trying to create quality art, our audience is rapidly disappearing. If we want the arts to survive, everyone needs to take an active role in their preservation. We need to fight the current trend in entertainment by actively seeking out and appreciating quality art. I think the best thing we can all do as individuals is to find one piece of art a day to truly appreciate. This takes effort and it will take practice. For just a few minutes a day, shut out all distractions and devote 100% of your energy to a song by Miles Davis, a painting by Pablo Picasso, or a film by Stanley Kubrick. Do this, and you’ll experience the passion, empathy, and humanity required to create and enjoy art.

What do you find most rewarding about being a creative?

Witnessing the entire lifespan of an idea. As a composer, you come up with an idea, spend countless hours writing the piece, rehearsing it, and then performing and/or recording it. You spend so much time and energy nurturing this idea so it can grow to its full potential. There’s a certain moment where it transitions from being just yours to being everyone’s. I cherish that moment every time it happens. The most rewarding moment of my career so far was winning the ITA J.J. Johnson competition in 2022. It was a complete surprise and marked a serious change in my mentality. Learning where I stacked up against other trombonists my age led me to aspire to much greater things than I had before. It’s always nice when you’re granted tangible validation for your thousands of hours of practice and study, but that almost never happens. When it does, you have to cherish it as much as possible, learn what you can, and hold on to it. Another huge moment for me was playing with one of my heroes, Maria Schneider. She’s my favorite artist, so playing her music under her direction was a literal dream come true. Other rewarding moments happen weekly when I play good music with good musicians. Everyone on stage and in the audience can feel when something’s really happening. It’s a special feeling to be a part of the moment where quality art is being created.  

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.spencermerkmusic.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/spencer_merk_trombone/
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@spencermerk9931

Image Credits
Brenna Campbell Rick Merk Matthew Warner