Long Overdue Update

So it has been a while since I last wrote a post... a long, long while.  I wish I could have a really good excuse, but it was just a matter of things got busy once I was on the ship and continued for the next 8 months and then got home and was busy there as well.

Being back on land really reminds us how much technology and communication plays a part of our every day life.  On the ship, phone calls are pretty much for emergencies and internet access is a commodity that is charged by the minute.  On my last 3 contracts, we were able to buy an internet package of $30 for just over 6 hours of access.  And the signal is a satellite connection that makes 1997 AOL dial up speed seem fast.  So next time you complain that you are paying $20 a month for high speed data on your phone, just know it could be much worse.  At our best rate, unlimited internet on the ship would be over $2,500 a month.  Even worse, the rate for passengers would work out somewhere around $25,000 (this is no exaggeration, their rate is somewhere around 60 cents per minute, just do the math from there).

So what were we up to for the last 8 months?  I started my contract in November in Athens, Greece at the start of the crossing, meaning that the ship was moving locations around the world, this time from Europe to Asia.  We spent about 4 and a half months throughout Asia until returning to Europe where we finished the contract on July 4 in Southampton, the port for London, England.

All in all we visited over 40 countries on three continents (Europe, Asia, Africa).  I added seven new countries to my travel list, bringing it 65 countries visited while working on a ship and 68 visited in my lifetime.  Some of the new ones were fun and exciting and a couple of new ones were major disappointments... more on those in a separate post.

During this past contract a lot happened with different opportunities and things that will be happening for us in the future.  I will give a full update later, but this past contract will be our last where my wife was in the production cast and I was a member of the ship's orchestra.  We have learned to never say never, but this is the right time to head in a different direction.  Everyone on a ship laughs when a crew member says it will be their last contract.  For many, they say it every time and make their way back to the ship contract after contract.  But right now we have several opportunities to continue doing what we love in different venues so we will take it.

My goal is now being back on land will give me the chance to continue writing right here.  We will continue to travel and perform and we will also be working on land so I will surely have plenty to write about.  At least it will be easy to improve from the amount of time from my last post to this one.

Sting Worked on a Cruise Ship

Yesterday I was reading an article about the launch of Sting's new album, "The Last Ship."  He performed some of the album material for the press onboard the Queen Mary 2 because Cunard has partnered with Sting to promote his new album.  In the interview, Sting revealed that at one point early in his career he did a contract on a ship, the P&O Oriana.  He played bass in a band and also sang, until they received complaints that his singing was "bothering the female passengers."  I guess it goes to show that you can't please every passenger.  Since his contract on P&O, Sting has released 5 studio albums with The Police, 11 solo studio albums, and in total between his former band and his solo career has sold over 275 million albums.  That's 275,000,000!  Throw in 16 Grammy Awards and I think it's safe to say he is most likely the most successful former ship musician of all time.

One of the best quotes was when he mentioned that performing in a band on a cruise ship gave him valuable experience.  "You had to do all kinds of music.  You had to play ballroom dancing, you had to play cabaret, pop music, disco, anything... It was a very good education for a young musician."  That coming from an icon in rock/pop music.  For anyone who has ever performed onboard a ship, they can relate to what he is talking about.

There are other performers who got their start working on a cruise ship.  Academy Award-winning actress and singer Jennifer Hudson at one point performed in the Hercules show onboard the Disney Wonder.  Actress Taraji Henson, who was in the movies Hustle and Flow, Baby Boy, Curious Case of Benjamin Button, Think Like a Man, and the television series Person of Interest, worked on Odyseey cruise lines while attending school at Howard University.  There are also numerous singers and dancers on Broadway and West End who have spent time performing onboard cruise ships.  It provides a great opportunity to paid as well as perform, see the world, and gain valuable experience.

Reading the article about Sting led me to an important point and that is a point I have made previously on this blog, and is you must set goals to make sure that you get something out of the experience.  If Sting honed his craft decades ago by playing on a ship, then any musician can, if they have the right mindset.  Did most musicians on a cruise ship set out with this as a career goal?  No.  But they can learn from their time if they choose to do so.

There are 5 parts to how to accomplish this:

1) Set concrete practice goals for each contract.  Set minimum amounts of time to spend practicing and hold yourself accountable to it.  There will still be time to get off the ship and explore the ports, have other hobbies, and log practice time.  And the practice time should not just be shedding the music to play on the ship, which is a good thing to make sure you are prepared and keep your ship job.  But make sure to include general technique and expand on your fundamentals because this is what will make you a better musician in the future.  Determine your weaknesses and go after them.  Unfortunately I see a lot of musicians log practice hours going through things that they already do well.  Maybe it's because they want to walk away feeling good.  Practice should be uncomfortable, it should push you as a musician and as a person.  Don't play through the same things over and over, especially when you can already do it well.  Instead, find your areas of weakness and spend quality time trying to improve them.  But you have to set aside the time.  Because it is easy, I see a lot of musicians stay out late at the crew bar, then sleep until the afternoon when rehearsal starts, then repeat the process.  I find it kind of funny that it is usually those musicians who hate ships and complain about working on them.  It's all how you look at it.

2) Learn from the music you have to play.  There is a lot of music to be played on a ship.  Sting said it well in that you will play so many different styles of music every day.  It's your choice how you want to look at it.  Some people dislike the job because they are playing a lot of music, but not necessarily the stuff they want to play.  No offense, but I see that attitude most with the hardcore jazz guys.  They want to play nothing but burning, up-tempo bebop tunes to show off their chops and have some stupid showdown with other musicians on tunes like "Donna Lee" or "Giant Steps" or "Cherokee."  When solos come around, they usually play fifteen choruses of some completely unlistenable garbage full of crazy extensions and then when finished, they stand off to the side with a smug look while criticizing everyone else's solo and saying how much better his own was.  Ok, rant over.  But back to the music, there are a lot of styles I studied in school but hardly used on a regular basis  On almost every single cruise, the orchestra will play samba, bossa nova, mambo, rhumba, waltzes (English and Viennese), swing, funk, rock, etc.  Now it is up to me if I want to care about what I'm playing or go on autopilot.  Use that experience to really dig into the different styles and learn how to play them authentically.  Same it true with guest entertainer shows.  I have vastly expanded my musical knowledge by performing with the different guest entertainers, the acts who come for just a few days at a time.   I have played everything from music theater to classical to Motown and everything in between and I know I am a better musician for it.

3) Learn from the people you are working with.  I have been so fortunate to work with some really talented people from all over the world.  While I might have studied a lot of world music while in school, it was totally different seeing it up close and personal every day with people who grew up with it.  I have worked with steel drummers from Trinidad, salsa musicians from Latin and South America, and dance bands from all over the globe.  They all grew up with different perspectives on music than I did, and sometimes learning from them caused a breakthrough in my own playing.  And it's not just true with the performing side, I have also worked with some excellent production team members (stage managers, sound techs, light techs, riggers, stagehands, etc.) who have gone on to work with major touring acts such as Aerosmith and The Rolling Stones, or with shows such as Cirque du Soleil and Dragone, and have worked at incredible permanent venues such as Brevard Music Center and major universities throughout the country.  Everyone working onboard is a resource if you choose to learn from them.

4) Learn how to perform.  This might seem silly, but this is an area that many musicians might lack.  They don't understand what it means to be on stage or on the bandstand and actually perform for people.  I don't mean twirling my drumsticks above my head during a show, I mean playing in an ensemble using listening skills.  I like to communicate with the other musicians, particularly the other members of the rhythm section while I perform along with them.  Because we are playing and producing sound, this usually means using non-verbal communication through eye contact.  I once worked with a bass player who  never looked up out of his stand... ever.  It was frustrating because it gave off a vibe that he just didn't care about anyone but himself.  In actuality he was inexperienced and was just trying to keep his head above water reading while the charts, but it made the playing situation more difficult than it could have been.  Learn how to listen to the ensemble and take musical cues from your colleagues, it can make a world of difference.  Musical interaction is the name of the game.

5) Develop your professional skills.  I've said it before and I will say it again and again, being a musician, singer, dancer, entertainer, etc. is still a job.  It might be a fun job, but it is still a job, meaning that it is a profession, meaning that you need to be professional.  There are parts of the job that are not enjoyable, but are necessary.  Things like paperwork or training or punching a time clock (this is required of all crew members on all cruise lines in order to comply with international maritime labor laws).  But you take the bad with the good and in the end you must weigh them all to see if the job is personally worth it.  Some people know how to be professional without ever thinking about it, but for some it is more of an acquired skill.  I see a lot of younger musicians who don't see the professional side as important because it is "just a ship."  As a musical director I try to advise them that whatever habits they are developing now will follow them in the future.  It's not like they can show up late for 6 months of a ship contract, then get a job on land and magically start showing up on time.  Habits are hard to break, for better or worse.  Might as well start good habits sooner than later.


Performing on a cruise ship offers a lot both professionally and personally.  I cannot complain with my own experience.  First, I met my wife while working on a ship.  Without the ship, we most likely never would have met.  Then there is the travel, sightseeing, and learning about other cultures.  After my next contract I will have traveled to 161 different cities in 63 countries on 5 different continents (still have Australia and Antarctica to go).  Yes, it makes picking a place for a personal vacation a little different than most people, but it has given me insight into many cultures and has broadened my own perspective, showing me how small the world is and how interconnected we all are.  I have met some incredible people from all over the world and keep in touch with a lot of them.  And I have made a living performing music and doing what I love.

Sting onboard the Queen Mary 2 (Photo from Cunard)

Some Words of Advice

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!

The Audition

The next 2 posts will be dedicated to the 2 A's: Auditions and Agents.  Again, this will pertain to orchestra musicians, because solo entertainers and bands will have a different process.  This will be dedicated to the first A, the Audition...

During Jonathan Kane's show, a tribute to Sir Elton John

Like almost all music jobs, working on a cruise ship requires an audition.  The reason is simple in that both sides will be investing money before the musician even steps foot onto the ship.  For the cruise line, they will be doing quite a bit of admin work to put the new employee into the computer system and to make sure all of the paperwork is in line.  The cruise line will also be paying for the employee's airfare to join the ship and also for a hotel room for the night before.  In order to allow for delays and small travel issues, the cruise lines generally choose to fly all crewmembers one day before they will sign on the ship and then put them up in a hotel for the night.  I have had 2 instances where I was flown the day of joining, but those are pretty rare.  Once onboard, the employee will be given a long series of trainings onboard so there is quite an initial investment on the company's part.  On the employee's part, they will be getting a background check, filling out a lot of paperwork, and then they have to pay for a pretty intense medical.  Once the musician is on the ship, their health insurance is covered 100%.  Add to that the fact that it is hard to deal with medical emergencies while at sea and you can understand why the cruise line would want to make sure that every employee is healthy and fit for duty.  The medical is very thorough and is a lot more in depth than the traditional annual physical exam.  In addition to a physical examination, the employee will get a chest x-ray, drug screenings, and full blood work.  The medical is valid for 2 years and can be used for multiple contracts.

On stage during a production show with singers and dancers

One kind of unrelated topic is the contract length.  For almost 100% of new hires, the cruise line will assign the musician to a ship for a full 6-8 month contract.  The musician will stay on the same ship for the full contract and then go home for a 6-8 week vacation and then either return to the same ship or go to a different ship for their next contract.  Obviously somebody has to cover the position during those 6-8 weeks during the musician's vacation so there are possibilities to do what is called a "vacation fill."  Usually these opportunities go to musicians who have already proven themselves and have a few contracts under the belts.  Since these contracts are only 6-8 weeks long, the musician must adapt well and be able to learn production shows very quickly.  The length of full contracts scare off a lot of people, but that's just a part of the gig.  Don't expect to get assigned a short, 6-8 week contract right off the bat.  It might be a possibility in the future, but you have to prove yourself to the cruise line first.

Now back to the audition process.  The actual process was kind of strange compared to the many other auditions I have had in my musical career.  For one, an audition to work on a cruise ship is typically done over the phone.  I had never done a sound check on a phone before!  I'm not sure if the auditions have evolved into using Skype or video conferencing yet, but mine was just over a regular phone line.  There are some live auditions offered at different locations, but in order to accommodate more people and also to cut down costs, most auditions are held over the phone.  I was asked to play a lot of different styles just to make sure I was well versed.  Then I was asked to do different transitions between style and appropriately set up the transitions.  For instance, I think I was given 8 bars of bossa nova and then transition into 8 bars of swing.  It went on for a few more styles and more transitions.  Then 8 bars of bossa nova into 8 bars of double time samba.  The reason is that playing on a ship is a very musically diverse job and you can't just play rock or just play jazz.  The next part of the audition was sightreading.  They emailed me 3 charts and then gave me 10 minutes to study them and then they called me back and asked me to play them straight down.  The examples were relevant to playing on a ship as they were 1) a musical theater excerpt (similar to what a musician would play in a production show), 2) an up-tempo swing chart, and 3) a disco/rock chart.  While it's impossible to audition for every possible scenario, I think my audition did a good job at covering the key areas.  It takes being able to play a lot of different styles correctly and also being able to read well.

A photo backstage with the 9-piece orchestra

As soon as I finished my audition we discussed my background and experience and at the end I was offered a position on a specific ship starting on a specific date.  For those people who plan to audition for a cruise line, just remember that you may not start right after you complete your audition.  But then again, a friend of mine auditioned on trumpet and had less than a week to get everything together and join a ship.  In my case, my audition was in early June and they offered me a position starting at the end of August.  The reason is that for orchestra members, there is only one position each on the ship.  Meaning only one lead trumpet, one drummer, one guitar, etc. in the orchestra.  Unless somebody gets fired during their contract (it does happen, unfortunately), the office has to wait for somebody's contract to end in order to put another musician there.  There are other factors the office has to consider as well, such as whether a musician wants to return to the same ship (the general rule is that a musician can finish their contract, take a vacation, and then as long as they are in good standing can choose to return to the same ship) or if the shows and demands of a specific ship are good for the musician (if the ship has production shows that require heavy doubling for woodwinds, putting a weak doubler wouldn't be a good choice).  My recommendation for those who audition is don't be picky for your first ship if you want the job.  Some musicians try to demand a certain itinerary right from the start and it will give the office a bad first impression.  Remember your main priority is work.

The audition for a cruise line is like any other audition.  Before the audition even starts, make sure you are prepared and that you show yourself in the best possible light.  If you have an audition scheduled, don't schedule anything else that day.  Even if it is over the phone, it is very serious and will mean the difference in getting the gig or not.  Pick a time when you know there won't be any background noise and you won't have any distractions happening.  Give the office a landline number to call if possible so you aren't worrying about your cellphone signal, especially if you are in a basement of place with a weak signal.  Make sure your internet connection is strong as you will be receiving sightreading material through your email.

One of the benefits: my wife and me visiting the pyramids!

On the personal side, be respectful and courteous to the person auditioning you. As the economy continues to struggle along and land gigs are harder to come by, there are more and more musicians heading to ships as they offer regular paychecks and come with lots of other benefits (traveling the world, time to practice your instrument, meeting lots of people.  This means there is more competition out there and you want to give them a reason to hire you.  As with nearly every other gig, people want to work with others that are easy to work with and respectful, even if they are slightly less talented.  A cruise ship is a very closed environment (think, how far away can you get from a person), so the office knows how important it is to hire people that will work well with the other musicians.  The person auditioning you has most likely been a Musical Director on a ship before so they know the demands of the job, meaning they are probably imagining you playing onboard during your audition.  If you make a mistake, continue going and don't let it affect you.  Some musicians have a tendency to stop and apologize for their mistake during an audition.  But keep on going, you can't stop because of a mistake in the middle of the show.

One more recommendation is to always be honest with the people auditioning you.  You might be able to pull one over on them, but you will pay for it in the end.  I have seen musicians onboard who might have "fudged" their resume a bit or told a white lie during the audition process and then they might get put into a bad situation and struggle once they start the job.  For example, if you play trumpet, be honest with your range and experience.  If you are not a legit lead player, don't offer yourself as a lead player because it will come back to bite you once you sign on.  Better to be honest from the start.  If you play tenor and struggle with your clarinet doubles, better to be honest.  I worked on a ship where the tenor player had to double on clarinet and play the entire opening solo to "Rhapsody in Blue."  Imagine trying to pull that off if you play clarinet at an elementary level.  We had one tenor player that had to be moved to another ship because he couldn't play it; not a great impression with the office for future contracts.  Just remember, honesty is the best policy.


Well, that covers the basics of the audition process.  It may vary depending on the cruise line and whether the audition if for the cruise line or for an agency.  And that brings me to the next post, which will cover the next A: Agents.