It’s been a couple of weeks since my last update, but I
wanted to make sure I started the contract right and put forth my best
effort. It’s now been 3 weeks back
onboard and I’m feeling settled in.
It’s been interesting coming back after almost 2 years
away. You get a different
perspective from having taken a step back for a bit. Some things that used to drive me crazy now don’t bother me. And other shipboard rules and things
that used to seem normal can now seem so strange. I do have to say that in many aspects the life of a
crewmember is to just carry out the responsibilities and can sometimes put a
person on autopilot. In some ways
maybe it’s good; just do your job and everything is OK. But on the other hand, it does tend to
take away a person’s critical thinking skills, creativity, and independence.
What I would like to dedicate the remainder of this post to
are 3 things that I have discussed before but now in coming back I see it as
clear as ever…
1)
Chart reading. For a member of the orchestra on the ship, this is the
#1 requirement for the gig. When a
member comes in and struggles with reading the charts it means extra work for
everyone. We just got a new
musician last cruise. He’s young
and inexperienced (2 things that are easy to coach and work with) but he also
isn’t a very strong reader. In his
first week onboard it’s been an all-out struggle. There is hardly a part of being a ship orchestra member that
doesn’t require strong reading skills.
Production shows with the singers and dancers have many tempo
changes. They are usually 45
minutes of medleys, quickly going from one excerpt to another, sometimes with
transitions and sometimes just a cold change with 20 clicks different from one
beat to the next. Then there are
the guest entertainers where the musicians can get handed new music at the
beginning of rehearsal, read through it, maybe go through a few tricky sections
or transitions, and then play the show a couple of hours later for the guests
onboard. Then there are the random
other gigs around the ship, typically playing standards with either full
arrangements or sometimes just with a real book playing the heads and
soloing. These “extra” sets for
the orchestra usually have no time scheduled for rehearsal. The orchestra shows up and reads the
charts down. There might be enough
time for the MD to explain the road map or plan on who will take the solos, but
many times it’s just on the fly.
Unfortunately, we’ve had to schedule extra rehearsal time because now we
have somebody who can’t show up and read.
That doesn’t exactly make that person the favorite of the rest of the
musicians.
Now the good part is that it’s never too
late to work on your reading skills.
It’s kind of like exercise where it’s easier the younger you start, but
it’s never too late. If it’s not
your strongest area, then schedule time and work on it every day. Read through a new etude, play the head
out of the Real Book, or just read through the charts in the ship’s big band
book if one is available. No matter
what you are reading through, you will develop those skills where you can read
straight through new material without a problem. When I was in college we worked so much on reading charts
and I admit at the time it seemed like overkill, but now I am so grateful that
I had that experience. Hard to believe the professors knew
better!
2)
Playing in the Style. Jack of all trades, master of none? In some ways this is the life of an
orchestra musician. Every night
can be a different style and genre of music. For instance in this cruise alone, the first night was a
production show that was up-tempo music from the 70s and 80s. The second day was a Celtic themed
multi-instrumentalist guest entertainer.
The fourth day I played at the pool deck with the piano bar entertainer
and a bass player. Day 6 was our
cruise director’s show, which had material ranging from Tom Jones to Danny
Boy. Day 7 was a 3-hour jazz set
and at night was a show featuring mostly material from the musical theater
world. Day 8 was a pop and musical
theater style show. Day 9 was a
cocktail party of light jazz and then an hour-long jazz set. Later this cruise we have a production
show featuring music of Broadway/West End shows and another that features
ballroom styles around the world and has songs in 6 or 7 different
languages. We also have a 2-hour
set of pop music from the 60s to today.
Throw in about 8 or 9 shorter dancer/jazz sets and you can see why it’s
important to know a little about every style. In dance sets, we usually play a little but of rhumba,
cha-cha, bossa nova, samba, rock, swing, beguine, and a few ballads. No two days are exactly the same.
The reason I’m saying this is that I have
seen a few musicians that love one style of music (usually jazz, specifically
bebop). I don’t understand the
phenomenon of ship orchestra musicians and the obsession with bebop. Not that there’s anything wrong with
the genre, but it just seems kind of narrow to focus all of your attention to
it. I am a firm believer that your
playing is a product of all the styles of music you listen to and have played
before. If you listen to bebop 8
hours a day, odds are that your playing is going to be heavily influenced. I’m using bebop as an example but that
can be true with anything from country to rap to Indian ragas. For everyone’s sake listen to different
kinds of music. The ship is a
great environment to trade music with people from all over the world so go for
it. My iTunes collection looks
like a mini United Nations. Of
course I still have my personal favorites, but listening to new styles is good
for you as a musician.
Right now we have a couple of musicians
that are those bebop kind of guys.
And their playing shows it.
Earlier this cruise we were playing a simple 12/8 ballad during a dance
set. Guests were enjoying it and
were dancing out on the dance floor.
It comes time for a solo and what do we hear? The most out-of-time crazy solo you could ever imagine. It didn’t fit musically with anything
else in the song and created quite the musically awkward moment. Learn to play within the style and
learn to style appropriately to match the style. Nobody wants to hear an 80s hair band guitar solo during a
bossa nova just as nobody wants to hear a bebop solo during a slow ballad. Do everyone a favor and just stick to
the style of the song. If you
don’t like it then create your own band and do what you want.
One extra word of advice that goes along
with this… learn how to play something people actually want to listen to. I’m not saying you have to sell
yourself out, but without an audience there is no gig and no gig means no
money. It drive me insane to
listen to a musician play this way out solo and turn around to the band wanting
congratulations like they’ve just climbed Mount Everest. But look at the audience and they
either look confused or the seat is empty because they already got up and
left. There is a fine line between
entertaining and educating an audience.
Not everything has to be “dumbed down” for everyone to enjoy, but at the
same time, playing over everyone’s head doesn’t do much either.
3)
Keep an open mind at the gig. I will take a lesser player with a good
attitude and an open mind over a better player who is a pain to work with. First of all, the Musical Director is
the boss. If he wants you to play
louder, then play louder. The
bandstand is not the time to have a debate over musicality. Just like on land, the bandleader is
the ruler of the group. If you
don’t like it, either form your own somewhere else, or work hard enough to be
promoted to leading a band someday.
The MD or bandleader sets the direction of the group as they think best;
if you are not that person then it is your responsibility to follow. You may not agree completely with every
single decision the bandleader makes, but that’s their job and not yours. You might want to play a ballad
straight while they want it swung.
And it might drive you crazy every single time you play the chart, but
let it go and follow what they want.
As long as you aren’t in danger, then it’s your job to go with the flow.
Unfortunately I’ve seen some younger, less
experienced musicians seriously question the advice and guidance of the more
experience musical directors. Take
the advice of people who have already been through it before. Usually it’s due to insecurity
that they brush off those trying to help, but acknowledge the fact that
somebody might know more than you.
Theirs is nothing
wrong with still being a student.
In fact, the day you stop being a student is the day to stop
playing. Face it, you will never
know everything there is to know about music. To me that’s the beauty of it, there is always more to
learn, something new to seek out.
Understanding that you don’t know everything is NOT a weakness, but thinking
you do IS.
That’s it for this post. Yes, it’s a little bit of a rant, but I mean it as a little
bit of advice for everyone, myself included!
