One of the most difficult parts of being an entertainer is building and expanding your personal repertoire to make sure you are continuing to play songs that people like to hear. It is especially hard whenever your audience comes from from a variety of countries and cultures. This is true for both solo entertainers as well as ensembles.
My first bit of advice is to not try too hard to please every single person. You can never please them all. Remember the saying, "you can please some of the people all of the time, you can please all of the people some of the time, but you can't please all of the people all of the time." That saying is true when it comes to picking the music to play. Instead of focusing your energy on that one person that leaves your lounge, focus on all the people staying and having a great time. Most musicians I know are perfectionists so it goes against our mold to let it go, but there's no reason to ruin the good vibe you are setting just because you lost one person. People have different musical tastes and don't take it personally if what you are playing doesn't mesh with one particular person's taste. I've seen it happen, though. An entertainer sees the people in their room and sometimes they notice that a small group of people is more involved in their own conversation than in listening to the music. So what does the entertainer try to do? They start to focus their attention on the small group and neglect the rest of the audience, making the much larger group want to leave.
Now although you may not be able to please all of the passengers all of the time, there is nothing wrong with playing music that the passengers actually enjoy. Surprising, right? In some of my previous posts I mentioned the typical cruise demographics. If you can figure out the average guest (if that really exists) on your upcoming contract or gig, then you can start to personalize your repertoire. Try to keep in mind the cultures and ages of most of the passengers that will be coming to listen to you night after night. It will always be a balance of what you as a musician want to play and what the audience wants to hear. Somewhere in the middle lies a happy balance. I've seen guys playing in jazz sets around the ship and they refuse to take requests of standards because they would rather play bebop or something that they personally find more musically fulfilling. One passenger asked the band if they could play "Take the A Train." Simple enough request. The band knew the tune, the passengers knew it and would have enjoyed listening to it. Did the band play it? No. And why, might you ask? Because the members of the band thought it was too basic and not challenging enough. They would rather play 20 choruses each of "Spain" to an empty room than fulfill a simple request from a passenger. While you can't please all of the people, just make sure that it's not just the people on the bandstand enjoying the music.
This next bit might sound a little contradictory to my first suggestions, but my second piece of advice is not to lose yourself in that process. You were hired because of what you do best. There will be some genres you feel more comfortable with and others not as much, and that is OK. It is good to expand what you can offer, but at the same time make sure not forget your own strengths. Think about it like branding, because as an entertainer or band you are your own brand. When people see your name or the band's name, there should be something that comes to mind. When people hear The Beatles, they expect rock and roll, when they hear John Coltrane, they expect jazz. If you start going off in a million directions you will lose the power of your brand. You could imagine the confusion if The Rolling Stones would come out on stage after decades of doing rock and roll and then started doing nothing but waltzes. It would destroy all the work they put in to build their brand and their image. The same is true in if the band isn't playing in Madison Square Gardens or the Hollywood Bowl. For instance, if a band was put together to be a "Latin band" that performs on ships, they should focus their attention to playing different Latin styles. They should also learn some other styles, such as some ballads, pop, ballroom, and jazz because there will probably be a time when it is useful. But if the one band hired to play Latin styles then they should play mostly Latin styles. If that band starts playing more rock than anything else, you can see where it would become a problem with the onboard management.
I would recommend asking the hiring person at the cruise line or your agent if you are not directly hired, and ask what need they are trying to fill with entertainment onboard. The person in charge of hiring entertainers should know and can help you out. Try and get an email address for the Musical Director/Bandmaster on your next ship and try and find out what they have been experiencing and ask for suggestions. I have always been more willing to work with somebody being proactive, rather than playing to an empty lounge and not caring. Yes, you will receive your pay no matter what, but it might be your last gig with that cruise line if the Hotel Director, Cruise Director, and Musical Director aren't happy with you job performance.
There are other factors to take into consideration as well, and some of them will be the subject of my next post.
I concur about repertoire considerations... it is helpful to remember that artists who are quite beyond playing ships often play the simplest of tunes in performance: check out Chick Corea and Bobby McFerrin's "Autumn Leaves", or organist Joe DeFrancesco playing "Fly Me To The Moon". Their improvisational brilliance negates any thought of the tunes being old hat.
ReplyDeleteThe balance of doing what you're most into and best at with audience expectations is still a challenge. In my case, getting ready for my 3rd piano bar contract, I have to force myself to learn most current songs -- I do not relate to a lot of the music, and especially the lyrics. And, you never know what will work with the guests... sometimes you can put a lot of work into a new hit, but the audience will still prefer to hear something by Billy Joel. But, any added songs are a good, thing, you never know when you can pull them out, and there is always some musical growth to be had.