Mercer trombone player dreams of the big screen

The arts and entertainment industry is a business with a lot of overlap. Many musicians play several instruments. People who act can often sing and dance as well.

Mercer Sophomore Jacob Serrett is no exception to this trend.

Serrett began his time at Mercer as a trombone performance major after playing the instrument for several years.

“It wasn’t until high school that (playing trombone) really started to pick up as something that I thought I’d be really interested in,” Serrett said.

Serrett also plays several other brass instruments, the piano and the ukulele. Additionally, he writes, sings and acts. Of all of the instruments he plays, Serrett said that his favorite is the piano.

“I really love playing piano,” Serrett said. “If I’m having a really bad day, or if things get really anxious, I’ll often just go into one of the practice rooms in the music building, and I’ll just sit and play.”

Serrett said that music is his go-to for alleviating stress.

“I get kind of scatterbrained, but once I regroup, I will take time to either go and just listen to music by myself for a little bit, or go on a walk and listen to music,” Serrett said.

Serrett started doing theatre while he was in high school, where his first musical was “The Addams Family.” Eventually, Serrett found his way into the school choir at the request of his high school’s choral director.

“I think that was a gateway for me to get more into acting stuff,” Serrett said.

Of all of the career paths that he could follow with his set of skills, Serrett said that his dream job is to be an actor.

“I’ve always thought that doing voice acting, whether it be in TV shows or video games or something, would be really cool,” Serrett said.