Alexander Mercks: The Ordinary Epic and the Flow of Creativity

In this episode of Handpan Voices, I’m joined by Alexander Mercks — handpan player, musician, teacher and creator of Handpan Pal. Our conversation centres around Alex’s new album, The Ordinary Epic, a deeply personal and cinematic project shaped with handpan, piano, strings, voice, electronics and percussion. Alex talks openly about the process of creating the album, how it differs from his earlier improvised work, and why this music feels like a more honest reflection of what he wants to create now. We talk about composition, improvisation, sadness, emotional connection, and the long process of shaping simple musical ideas into finished pieces. We also explore Handpan Pal, Alex’s play-along learning platform designed to help handpan players move beyond patterns, understand chords more clearly, and find more flow in their playing. This is a conversation about music, creativity, feeling stuck, finding your own voice, and the strange journey from improvising alone with a handpan to building something much bigger. #Handpan #HandpanVoices #AlexanderMercks Chapters: 00:00 Intro 02:20 The Ordinary Epic crowdfunding message from Alex 06:21 Welcome to Alexander Mercks 07:09 Most unusual place Alex has played Handpan 11:33 Whats your dream handpan scale? 15:04 Evolving beyond “just handpan” 17:46 Listener Question from Thomas 20:30 What's your process for composing a piece of music? 23:34 Butterfly and developing album ideas 25:31 Creating The Ordinary Epic 36:29 Composition versus improvisation 39:41 Ideas for performing the album live 42:13 Freestyle vs Composition 44:48 Handpan Pal Intuitive learning tool 57:56 Why intuition comes from experience Find Alexander Mercks: The Ordinary Epic: https://www.indiegogo.com/en/projects... Handpan Pal: https://www.handpanpal.com/ Alexander’s website: https://alexander-mercks.com/ YouTube:    / @alexandermercks   Instagram:   / alexander.mercks   Handpan Voices is a podcast sharing conversations with players, makers, teachers and organisers from across the handpan world. Hosted by Phil Begnett. This channel explores the handpan through conversation, performance, and live shared experience. You’ll find interviews, live streams, performances, and reflections from across the handpan world — including real-time sessions where I play, talk, and connect with viewers as it unfolds. A central part of the channel is Handpan Voices, a podcast featuring in-depth conversations with handpan players from around the world, sharing their stories, perspectives, and experiences. This channel is also connected to Handpanion, a small handpan-centric shop dedicated to quality accessories and products for handpan players. Whether you actively play the handpan, work with sound and wellbeing, or simply enjoy watching and listening, you’re very welcome here. If you’d like to explore more, you’ll find links to Handpan Voices and Handpanion below. Handpan Voices (Apple Podcasts) https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast... Handpanion https://handpanion.com/