Building a Repertoire, Part 2

I have already discussed several parts of developing a repertoire in previous posts.  There are so many things to consider that it can be overwhelming.  This post will take a further look into using demographics while building your repertoire.

Now how can you use the average age of the passengers to your advantage?

One major aspect is realizing the cultural differences and determining what music was popular for the majority of the audience.  This is a bit tricky because songs that were popular in the USA weren't necessarily popular in the UK and vice versa.  I know it's hard for most Americans to believe that their music isn't the most popular all over the world, or what is the hit song of a particular year isn't the hit song in al parts of the world.

Let me give an example to illustrate my point.  I just picked the year 1976 as an example, because in 2015 the people who followed music at that time make up a large percentage of the cruise passenger demographic.  Using 1976 as an example, here are the top 10 songs for that year in both the Unites States and in the United Kingdom:

USA
1) Silly Love Songs by Paul McCarney and Wings
2) Don't Go Breaking my Heart by Elton John and Kiki Dee
3) Disco Lady by Johnnie Taylor
4) December 1963 (Oh What a Night) by The Four Seasons
5) Play that Funky Music by Wild Cherry
6) Kiss and Say Goodbye by The Manhattans
7) Love Machine, Pt. 1 by The Miracles
8) 50 Ways to Leave Your Lover by Paul Simon
9) Love Is Alive by Gary Wright
10) A Fifth of Beethoven by Walter Murphy and The Big Apple Band

UK
1) Save Your Kisses for Me by Brotherhood of Man
2) Mississippi by Pussycat
3) Don't Go Breaking My Heart by Elton John and Kiki Dee
4) Fernando by Abba
5) Dancing Queen by Abba
6) If You Leave Me Now by Chicago
7) A Little Bit More by Dr. Hook
8) Under the Moon of Love by Shadawaddywaddy
9) I Love to Love by Tina Charles
10) You To Me Are Everything by The Real Thing

As you can see, there is only one song that appeared in the Top 10 on both sides of the Atlantic in the year 1976.  That means, do your research for both.  But there is some common ground that can help you out, artists like The Beatles, Abba, Elton John, etc.  Try and do a little research into the demographic and see what songs are popular.  They might be different than what you grew up with, so it may mean learning some new material to add to your repertoire.  It would be a horrible way to start a contract by finding out that a lot of your material gets ignored by your audience.  It is much easier to research and learn new songs as home than on a ship, where you perform nightly and internet connections are slow and expensive.

Try and research some "above and beyond" things that could make you the talk of the cruise.  If you know you will be performing in front of a large number of British guests, think pub sing-alongs.  Consider doing different themes for the evening.  Again, use your strengths and your own background to your advantage.  Have a background in musical theater?  Think about adding a Broadway/West End night.  Do you know a lot of music from British rock bands?  Do a British Invasion night.  Cruise directors and musical directors will appreciate the effort and the audience will as well.

There is another thing to consider with the demographics and that is the age of the typical passenger.  This is important because it will give you insight into what songs they remember.  As a musical director, I have fielded complaints from passengers because some of the musical acts onboard play music that is either too old and dated and also music that is too current, both of which missed the target demographic.  I had one passenger (probably in their 50s or 60s) come up to me right after a show and complain that the music was from way before their time.  They said, "We might be old, but we aren't dead!  That is music for my parents and grandparents."

How can you use the average age to help build a repertoire?  Consider that most people develop their musical tastes in their junior high, high school, and university days, meaning somewhere around the ages of 12-20.  Musical tastes can change over time, but you can use that as a starting point.  Meaning if the average age of the passengers is 70, then they started developing their musical tastes around 50-58 years ago.  Since this is 2015, going back 50-58 years would take us back to 1957-1964.  That means on a cruise today with an average passenger age being around 70, I would go focus back as far as 1950s and 1960s.  What does that tell me as a musician and musical director?  1950s rock and roll and British invasion would be a good place to start for guests that are now 70 years old.  Use the same theory and if the average age of the passengers is closer to 60 years old, then jump forward 10 years and look at music from the 1960s and 1970s.  Some itineraries might have more in the 50s age range, then look forward even more to the 1970s and 1980s.

What entertainers must realize is that everything changes over time.  The cruise industry has had a tendency to stick with traditions, but in the past decade they have realized that the must start to change and adapt.  Go back to the "Golden Era" of cruising, with midnight buffets every night, chocolates on the pillows, skeet shooting and driving golf balls off the back of the ship.  When it came to onboard music, most entertainers on cruise ships focused on the music of the Big Band era.  Not that there is anything wrong with jazz and big band music, but we have to be honest and say that it lost its popularity after World War II in mid 1940s.  By the time the year 1946 came to a close, 9 of the top big band leaders stopped touring: Glenn Miller (killed in a plane crash but band continued touring), Woody Herman, Benny Goodman, Harry James, Les Brown, Jack Teagarden, Benny Carter, Ina Ray Hutton, and Tommy Dorsey.  After 1945 jazz as a musical form was not dead, but the popular acts were solo artists backed by a band, such as Frank Sinatra, Nat Cole, Tony Bennett, Ella Fitzgerald, and Rosemary Clooney.  Going back to our earlier formula, that means that a passenger be around 80 years old for it to be the style of music that they "grew up with."  By 2015, a person would have to be a minimum of 70 years old just to have been alive at the end of the big band era.

What does all of that mean for music onboard a cruise ship?  It is still the tradition to play jazz and big band music (even though there are no full big bands onboard anymore, it is a modified, smaller instrumentation) using the ship's orchestra, the group that plays in the main theater nightly.  But there are more and more other groups utilized to cater to the majority of passengers, such as a quartet that plays a variety of music from the 1950s to 1980s.  Big band should never leave the cruise industry, but it might find itself in more of a niche than it used to.

Figuring out the typical age of passengers is quite impossible as every cruise is different.  When I was doing the same itinerary over and over every 12 days, each 12-day cruise had a different set of passengers and could vary drastically.  There are the obvious times when there will be more families and children onboard, such as summer, spring break, and winter break.  Another good indicator is the typical length of cruise for the ship.  In general, the longer the cruise, the older the guests.  Why?  Because most 25-year-olds can't exactly take 3 weeks off of work in a row to fly and take an 18-day cruise.  Also, Alaska will have an older demographic compared to the Caribbean.  European and Asian cruises usually fall somewhere in the middle.  It is worth asking your agent or the person from the cruise line who hired you what the typical passenger is like on your upcoming contract.  Just as ai said in my last post, you shouldn't completely change what you do to cater to the guests, but there has to be some meeting in the middle.

My suggestions are to do as much research and learning before you start your contract.  Being proactive and having a game plan is always better than being reactive and being behind in the game.  But no matter what there will always be surprises.  It's best to bring song books and bookmark lyric sites so you can minimize your time online, as crew members have to pay by the minute for internet when onboard the ship.

I wish there was a magic formula to know exactly what kind of music the passengers will want to hear.  Just try and do as much work before arriving to the ship and remember to be flexible while onboard.  All musicians, whether in the orchestra, in a group, or a solo entertainer, will report to the musical director and the cruise director.  Work closely with them and ask for their advice if things aren't going as you had hoped.  You can even ask them to stop by one of your sets to observe and give feedback.  They will appreciate the fact that you care about your job.  They are usually permanent people on that specific ship, so they will have a better scope as to what might work and what might not when it comes to repertoire.

If you are heading out to do a contract soon, good luck and hopefully some of this information is helpful.  Even if you have been doing the job for many years, it is always good to take a moment to reflect and analyze the current state of your performance.

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.

Another Contract Begins

It's that time again as vacation winds down and it's time to hop on a plane to join another ship.  This time I'm flying to join a ship in Athens, Greece.  I've worked on this ship back in 2012 and it's also the sister ship of the one I just finished my last contract on.  My wife is already there, so I am ready to get onboard. Vacation has been nice and it's the longest I've stayed in the US for one period of time in the last five years.  But vacation can't last forever and it's time to get back to work.

This itinerary is another world cruise type of itinerary.  I join the ship in Athens on Monday and that is the start of the crossing to Asia.  We immediately go through the Suez Canal, then through the Gulf of Aden and the pirate waters, stopping in the Middle East, then over for 3 days in Mumbai.  The next cruise will have stops in India, the Maldives, and Sri Lanka.  The next will get us to Southeast Asia via Andaman Islands, Myanmar, Thailand, Malaysia, and then ending in Singapore.  We will spend 3 and a half months in Asia before heading back to Europe again, where my contract will end on the 4th of July in Southampton, England.  It's a really, really long contract but that is my wife's sign off date with her cast, so I asked to stay until then as well.  And as the corny saying goes, "home is where the heart is," so for 8 months we will just make our home all over the world on a ship.  A huge plus is that because she is a featured singer, she gets a huge guest cabin and porthole.  The porthole really helps with the sanity because natural daylight is at a premium for crew members.  Most crew live either below the water line, on the inside, or just where there are no portholes, so they live without natural light in their cabins for months at a time.  It makes it near impossible to tell what time you wake up, because 7am looks the same as 10am which looks the same as 4pm.

It's always nice to check out the itinerary before starting a contract, that way we can plan along the way. During our contract, the ship will visit 43 different countries on 3 continents (Europe, Africa, Asia).  Even though this is my 8th contract and my 3rd contract on a world cruise format, there will still be 28 new cities in 7 different countries.  It will also bring my total up to 161 different cities in 63 countries.  Yes, I'm a nerd and I keep track of these things.  But I figure not many people get to see this much of the world, so why not pay attention and take it all in.

The work will be nice, too, and it


will keep me busy.  The ship has 4 production shows (one is a cappella so no orchestra), a long party set at the pool with about 25 songs all segued together, all the different guest entertainers, shows with the cruise directors, sometimes Welcome Aboard and Farewell Shows, a jazz brunch every cruise, shows with the featured singers (which includes my wife's solo show which I enjoy playing), and various sets around the ship (welcome back from tours, jazz sets, ballroom sets, etc.).  Since I've already worked on this ship, I am familiar with the material and there are a lot of people that I know there so it will be nice to return.

I will do my best throughout this next contract to keep up with posting.  Hopefully it will become a mix of advice and insight into working on a ship as well as updates with the cool places we are visiting.  Maybe a little bit of travel advice along the way.  My wife and I are also writing an entertainment/travel/lifestyle column for a newspaper called Cebu Daily News in the Philippines so I will try and post links if you feel like reading a little more in depth about that side of things.

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)

Who Is the Typical Cruise Ship Passenger?

Cruise demographics can be an interesting thing.  I have been asked many times to describe the typical cruise passenger.  It's difficult because there are cruising options for everyone; it is not just a vacation for the super wealthy as it was generations ago.  A lot of people ask because they are curious about what to expect when they get onboard when they start to work on a cruise ship.

A line of guests waiting
to board the ship

For one area of musicians, the ship's orchestra, the guest demographics don't change how they do they job to much of an extent.  The ship's orchestra typically performs in the main theater, playing for the production shows along with the ship's singers and dancers as well as with guest entertainers.  Production shows are chosen by a corporate office and tend to stay onboard the same ship for several years.  The guest entertainers are also booked by somebody in the corporate office.  Because of that, the ship's orchestra generally just plays whatever shows they are assigned to perform.  There are a few extra performances around the ship (big band set, jazz jam sessions, singer sets, etc.) but those don't make up a majority of their performance schedule.

The lounge entertainers are where the passenger demographic can make or break their experience.  Whether they be solo entertainers such as in the piano bar or a solo guitarist, or a dance band, trio, or duo, they interact closely with the guests throughout the cruise.  Their freedom to make their own set lists and take specific requests means that the people onboard will impact their performances.  They are hired based on their ability to connect and interact with guests.

My first ship played host to quinceañera parties,
a coming-of-age party to celebrate a girl's 15th birthday.
They were extremely elaborate with gowns that rival
most wedding gowns.  The parties had hundreds of
people every cruise, changing the music preferences.

Cruising is a very diverse industry.  Most people who have cruised before know that the crew come from all corners of the world, typically somewhere between 40-50 different countries, even on a smaller ship.  But what they may not know is the same is usually true for the passengers onboard.  There have been cruises I worked on where there were nearly 40-50 different countries represented by the passengers.  While this makes for a nice collection of cultures, it can be stressful when you need to know what it is each one of them wants to hear.

There are a few generalizations that I have seen hold true over the years.  There will always be exceptions to the rule, but here is a general guide:

1) The longer the cruise, the older the crowd.  There aren't many 25-year-olds that can take off two weeks off from work at a time to go on a vacation.  So when you are looking at your upcoming itinerary and see a 17 day cruise, imagine a retirement home at sea (not everyone, but usually an overwhelming majority).  The same is true for repositioning cruises, which is when the ship changes locations for a season (i.e. Europe in summer and back to the Caribbean for winter).  The ship is at sea a lot and you usually don't see many younger people book a cruise to sit out by the pool all day every day.  The opposite is also true, there is usually a younger, party crowd on the 3 and 4 day cruises.

The sports area on a newer, larger ship.
Complete with rock climbing and basketball.

2) School breaks mean families and a LOT of kids.  The summer season can be brutal on a cruise ship.  The first ship I ever worked on carried on average 4,000 passengers every week.  During the school year we might have had 100 out of the 4,000 be under the age of 18.  But then come summertime and we had cruises with over 1,000 children on the ship.  While they might be well-behaved, that is still a lot of kids.  I remember at the end of summer and seeing the worn out youth staff ready for the school year to begin.  Having a large number of kids also holds true for other school breaks: spring break (which is different from school district to school district and high school to university, so that season is more spread out), Thanksgiving, and winter break.

3) The more expensive the cruise, the fewer children onboard.  The last contract I did was on a small (600 passengers), "luxury" ship and there were hardly any kids onboard, ever.  We didn't even have facilities for them.  The cruise fare was also considerably more than the average 7-day, mainstream cruise in the Caribbean.  Because of that, people didn't want to pay a huge amount to take their kids along with them.  The more kid-friendly, mainstream cruise lines (Royal Caribbean, Carnival, Princess, Norwegian) will usually have some amount of kids year round, as opposed to more upscale cruise lines (Azamara, Crystal, Seabourn, Regents) where kids are not as common at any time of the year.

A restaurant in Grand Cayman giving shots
to what I'm pretty sure where underage kids

4) The itinerary will impact the passengers onboard.  Imagine how many 25-year-olds are waiting in line to take a cruise to Alaska.  While some might, it is generally an older crowd for Alaska season.  Europe and Asia usually see a mix of ages as it is a more itinerary-driven group of passengers who are there to get off the ship and see the sights.  Then the Caribbean can be just about everything from the older people who want to escape the cold, to the younger crowds who want to head down to the beaches and party.  Other factors to consider are the ease of traveling to the home port and the visas required throughout the cruise.  When I was sailing out of Dubai as a home port, we had more British guests than American guests as there were easy, direct flights from the UK compared to the many hours of flying and connections from the US.  Caribbean itineraries will be dominated by passengers from North America looking for fun in the sun.

Do you see separate children's facilities?
Then expect to see kids onboard.

5) The ship will attract a certain demographic.  Stand-up surfing, basketball courts, rock climbing walls, ice skating rinks.  Those features are divisive items on cruise ships.  Some people would never cruise without them, some never cruise with them.  There is a ship for everyone.  Ship layouts are available online, so check them out and it will give you a hint to expect.  See children's facilities, then expect to find kids.  If you see basketball courts and ice skating rinks, expect to see families and an overall younger crowd.  Ships built for people with active lifestyles will attract more active people.


So what does all this mean if you are going to work on a cruise ship?  Do your homework beforehand and be prepared.  Cruise itineraries are available on each cruise line's website, so once you get an assignment, go look up where you will be going.  It will help not only with your performance, but also in knowing what to pack for your contract.  It is far easier to expand your repertoire at home where you have every resource at your fingertips (internet, music stores) than reacting after you are already on the ship where you may not have access to fast and unlimited internet and a good music store.

As a lounge entertainer, there are always songs that you will be asked to perform on a nightly basis (think Piano Man in the piano bar).  Those are hits that can be performed all over the world and can guarantee a connection with the audience.  But if you can learn some go-to songs to hit the specific passenger demographics, you can quickly become the hit of the cruise.

My next post will take a closer look at some suggestions to determine repertoire for a contract.

A staple of the mainstream cruise lines: the bellyflop competition.

The Darkness

This post will focus on one of the not-so-nice parts of working on cruise ships; it can affect all areas of the crew, but for some reason there seems to be a higher concentration amongst musicians.  While the job is really nice, I have found this darkness that can come out at time.  There is even a Facebook page dedicated to it called "Dark Showband Musicians."  I think at times we all experience it to a certain degree.  It is when people aren't happy with their jobs and it starts to take them over.

I have found specific times when "the darkness" tends to show itself.  The most common is at the end of a contract.  Spending 6-8 months onboard the same ship, seeing the same people, eating the same food, playing the same shows, this can lead to some burnout.  There is also a unique element to living where you work.  That nice meal in the mess (dining room) at the beginning of the contract starts to look inedible after so many months.  Even that nice crew member who always smiles when you pass by starts to get on that last nerve.

The other time can be more calendar related and that is around the holidays.  The holidays can be fun while working on a ship, but it can also be a reminder that you aren't around your family and friends at that time of year.  Many crew members call home or Skype home, ending the conversation with tears in their eyes, then have to go work with a smile on their face.  They sacrifice time with their own family to serve other families who are on their vacation.  Holidays are also the highest fares for a cruise, so there are a lot of added expectations for the crew and oftentimes extra work which can lead to more darkness.

Then there are other times that the darkness can come out at any random time.  While it can signal other problems in a person's life, I have found five common reasons for everyday darkness with ship musicians.

1) Playing on a cruise ship often has a lot of included downtime.  Even on a busy day, there are still hours to fill.  The problem lies with the people who don't have a healthy way to spend their downtime.  The happiest musicians I've seen have something else to do during their contract.  That can be sightseeing, photography, working out, arranging songs, working on a course, etc.  The people who don't enjoy their time usually sit in their cabin bored out of their mind, or spend every hour in the evening drinking at the crew bar.  If you are about to do a contract, make of list of things you want to accomplish during the time and stick to it.  And don't count on the internet for a way to spend time because first, it's extremely slow on a ship because it is a satellite based system, and second, crew pay for internet on the ship by the minute so the cost adds up quickly.

2) The musician isn't playing the music that they want to play.  Not to generalize, but I've seen this the most with the jazz guys.  Their ideal gig would be living in NYC and playing jazz all day, every day.  On a cruise ship there is jazz, but also many other genres from classical to rock to Broadway.  A side to this is not landing the gig that they want.  In their minds, some musicians believe that they are dumbing themselves down and lowering their standards by performing on a ship.  They are unhappy that they aren't working in NYC or LA.  Truth be told, I have performed with a lot of great musicians, performers, and sound techs who have had amazing gigs both before and after cruise ships.  I played with a lead trumpet from Maynard Ferguson's band, a trombone player who toured with Tom Jones, a sound tech who is now touring with the Rolling Stones, a singer who won the NBC show "The Sing Off" ... you get my point.  The gig is what you make it.

3) They are caught in a money trap with ships and don't know how to get out.  I have met so many people (not just musicians) who have said they are doing "one last contract" and then I see them a few months later signing back on the ship.  Some people are just really irresponsible with money.  While they work on ships to save money, but they spend too much (either too much shopping, drinking, or eating off the ship) and aren't left with enough savings to support themselves when they go back to land.  When they go home for a 6-8 vacation and don't work and only spend, they go back to their next contract with no money left in their bank account.  It's a viscous cycle that they just don't know how to break so working on a ship becomes a necessary evil to them.  Set savings goals and stick to them.  It's easy so save money by working on a ship; there is no rent, basic meals are paid for

4) Some people are just not meant for ship life.  It's not a bad thing, it's just a fact.  Ships are full of rules and schedules and some musicians aren't used to it and don't want that kind of structure.  There are rules for everything and all cruise lines have a strict, zero tolerance policy on drugs and abuse of alcohol.  Crew members must wear a uniform and name tag in a public areaI'm more of a rule follower myself, so I never had an issue in this regard, but I've seen a lot of "rebel" people that just can't cope with a lot of rules.  Another aspect of ship life that is not for everyone is having to leave family and friends behind for 6-8 months at a time.  It is a very big sacrifice, especially for parents who miss out on the major milestones of their children.

5) Finally, some people are just miserable no matter what and need something to complain about.  Call them grumpy curmudgeons or whatever you like, but unfortunately these people can be detrimental to an ensemble.  Darkness just breeds more darkness.  Give them $10,000 in cash and they will complain it's not $20,000.  I've worked with several of those people.  One time we were doing 7-day cruises with an overnight in Dubai every single cruise for almost 3 months.  One day I had to call a rehearsal in the late afternoon because of the theater schedule and we were doing a show with an entertainer at night.  The keyboard player stood up and cursed at me because I was taking away some of his port time.  He didn't figure it out that 1) he is working and work does come first, and 2) we were in Dubai for two days every week for three months, it's not like asking him to come back a couple of hours early was taking that much away from his Dubai experience.


To be honest, every single ship I have worked on has had people like this, but life is short and not worth wasting time on them.  The good news is that not everyone is like that.  I was usually lucky and could find people who were happy people.  Life is what you make of it and you have the choice in your own attitude.

Contract Finished!

Anna in front of the performing arts center
in Reykjavik, Iceland

After 7 and a half months onboard the ship, my contract is finally finished.  No matter how good a contract turns out to be, it is a great feeling to step over the gangway one last time to go on vacation.  No more checking your watch in port to make sure you aren't late coming back to the ship, and no more morning crew lifeboat drills.

In 7 and a half months onboard the ship, I traveled 39,107 Nautical miles (45,000 statute miles, meaning just under 2 times around the world at the equator) while visiting 94 different ports in 41 countries/territories.  Out of those places, 65 ports were new to me as were 21 of the countries.  After 7 contract working onboard ships, I have now been to 133 different cities in 56 countries.  Yes, I know I am a nerd because I keep track of everything.

Sibelius monument in Helsinki, Finland

The best part of my contract is getting to work with my wife, Anna, who is a featured singer onboard the ship.  Out of my 7 and a half months, she was onboard for 5 of them.  I am very fortunate to travel all over the world and perform and also be there with her.  I have a great deal of respect for the thousands of crew members who have to leave their families to earn a living out at sea.

Statue of Rimsky-Korsakov
in St. Petersburg, Russia

This last contract was professionally challenging, but rewarding.  For the last 4 months, I was the Musical Director onboard the ship.  This adds quite a bit of extra responsibility when it comes to scheduling and organizing the musicians onboard.  My previous Musical Director experience was on much larger ships, so I thought being on a smaller ship would be easier.  In some ways it is true because there are less musicians to manage, but when it comes to scheduling, the smaller the ship, the more schedule changes.  I think with larger ships, there are so many different pieces to the puzzle that schedule changes are incredibly difficult so they don't tend to happen as much.  On a smaller ship, there are far fewer venues and people involved so because changes can happen quickly, they do very often.

Faroe Islands, where houses have grass
on the roofs.

One of the most rewarding parts was watching my wife continue to develop her headliner show.  She had performed it in the past, but over her five months onboard she continued to make changes and add in new arrangements.  She was performing her show every cruise in the main theater which gave her the change to try things out.  It was fun watching her work with her arranger, Naldy Rodriguez (one of the best I have ever had the chance to work with!), as they added new medleys to the show.  Not just being a proud husband, but her arrangements are by far some of the best I have performed; they push the musicians in a good way, the arrangements make a 7-piece band sound really full, and there are no errors which makes for a happy Musical Director!

St. Andrew's Golf Course in Scotland.
Too bad I don't play golf!

Another rewarding part is being able to travel to so many different places.  I started my contract in Hong Kong and the ship was in Asia for the first couple of months before heading east towards the Red Sea and through the Suez Canal, then going through the Mediterranean and eventually up to Scandinavia and the Baltic, up to Iceland and back, before coming to the British Isles and I finally finished in Lisbon, Portugal.  I had never been to Scandinavia and Russia before nor the British Isles so it was nice to see whole new areas of the world.

Childhood home of Paul McCartney,
where he and John Lennon wrote hundreds
of songs in Liverpool, England.

It's time now to get caught up on the many things that need to be accomplished before going out again.  The most important is getting new pages added to my passport.  I remember when I received my first passport, I was so proud of my first few visa stamps.  I wanted my stamp from every country (even though most countries don't stamp passports for crew members).  By the end of this contract, I was counting down the last few empty pages, hoping I wouldn't run out by the end.  I finished with 2 half pages, even to get me back to the United States.  Luckily U.S. citizens can get extra blank pages added to current passports, although the price is almost the same as a new passport.  But considering I still have 4 years left of my current passport and there are important visas that are still valid and that I will continue to use, I opted to add pages instead of getting a whole new passport book.

Victor Hugo's house in St. Peter Port, Guernsey
in Channel Islands.  The black desk in the corner
is where he finished writing "Les Miserables"

Now that I am back in the world of high speed internet and no rush to get back on a ship before sailaway, I will have the opportunity to continue to add to the blog.  There are more things I want to discuss, especially things I have witnessed with new musicians over the past seven and a half months.

O'Donoghues Pub in Dubline, Ireland, where
the band The Dubliners started performing

Long Overdue Update

The Anne Frank House in Amsterdam

It has been a very, very long time since I've posted an update.  Almost 4 months in fact.  But I have good reasons, promise.  First, internet is not very consistent onboard cruise ships.  While the rest of the world might be all about broadband, 4G, etc. the internet onboard cruiseships takes me back to the days of AOL dialup and hearing the screeching of the modem.  There have even been parts of this itinerary where we had no internet at all.  Last month we visited Norway for a few weeks and went above the Arctic Circle.  That area is one of the most beautiful I've ever seen, but being above the Arctic Circle doesn't exactly put the ship in prime locations for satellite access.  And second, since the beginning of May I have been the musical director on the ship.  While small ships mean less people to manage, it means lots of scheduling changes and extra work here and there.

The Church of Spilled Blood
 in St. Petersburg, Russia

Just since my last post we have visited 28 different countries.  Some of the highlights: doing another tour in the Holy Land, walking through Cannes during the film festival, being in Monaco during the Grand Prix, visiting the Anne Frank House on what would have been her 85th birthday, standing on Omaha Beach on the 70th anniversary of the D-Day landing, and seeing wild reindeer in Norway, visiting the Rimsky-Korsakov Conservatory in St. Petersburg, Russia (students have included Tchaikovsky, Rachmaninoff, Shostkovich, and Prokofiev, and Rimsky-Korsakov was a school director!).  Just in the last 6 weeks it has been a whirlwind of all new countries for me.  Here is the list: England, Portugal, the Netherlands, Germany, Norway, Denmark, Poland, Estonia, Russia, Finland, and Sweden.  All in all I've now visited over 50 countries and still have a few more to go before I finish this contract.

The Nobel Museum in Stockholm

Traveling and working onboard a cruise ship gives some access that wouldn't normally be possible.  For instance, I'm sitting here inside a Starbucks in St. Petersburg, Russia.  Normally to visit Russia it required a lot of paperwork and expensive visas.  But working on a cruise ship, it costs me $10 per day for a "crew shuttle bus tour."  There is a visa exemption for staying up to 72 hours onboard a cruise ship in Russia, but you can only leave the ship on an organized tour.  So they organize shuttle busses for the crew and charge a small fee and we can leave anytime we want.

Nordkapp (North Cape), the northernmost point in Europe,
and only 2,093 miles from the North Pole

Anna is now down to her last 3 weeks onboard; because I've been extended I still have 6 weeks to go.    It's not fair, I signed on 6 weeks before she did!  Before she leaves we will visit Iceland, Shetland Islands, and Faroe Islands and she will sign off in Copenhagen.  After she leaves I will be visiting Edinburgh, Dublin, Liverpool, Southampton, Orkney Islands, Wales, Dartmouth, Nantes, Bordeaux, and then I sign off in Lisbon.

That's about it for this update, but it won't be as long for the next update.

Tallinn, Estonia

Reindeer sausage in Norway

At the cliffside Uluwatu Temple in Bali

Learn from the Past, but Embrace the Present

 It's been a while since my last post.  We spent almost a week in the cold of Busan, South Korea as they repaired our damaged propeller.  Since then we started a new cruise in Hong Kong and have visited the Philippines, Malaysia, and Indonesia.  I'm sitting in my cabin right now still able to get the free wifi signal from the pier (always a nice and welcome surprise!).  Anyway, this topic is something that I continue to see from musicians, and all crewmembers, on every contract...

Learning from the past is an important part of life, but so is knowing when to let go of the past.  While this is kind of a deeper philosophical concept, I want to focus on this in terms of being a musician and work.  Hopefully as a musician and a human being you are learning something everyday.  A friend of mine had a saying that “every day is a school day,” meaning that you should never stop learning.  If this holds true, then you should be wiser now than you were a day ago, a week ago, a month ago, and definitely a year ago.  That knowledge gained from the past should be used in making decisions today.  But at the same time, that knowledge has to be adapted and may change along the way.

Why am I talking about this?  In working, and especially on ships, there is a tendency for people to cling to the past.  Many times do people do something only because that is the way it has always been done.  The world changes and there may be better and more efficient ways to do it now than compared to five years ago.  Or maybe the work settings and environment aren’t exactly the same, so what worked in the past might not work at present.

Experience is a valuable thing, but it can also get people in trouble.  I’ve heard so many people say “On (insert name of ship), we did it this way…”  or “But on my old ship we didn’t have to do that.”    While it may be true and some things might be universal, maybe there is a reason for the difference.  When working in a corporate environment, there will be things in different offices, or ships, that will remain the same everywhere.  But then there are a lot of things that will differ from location to location.

For instance, on ships of the same design and layout, the safety and security procedures will remain the same.  It would not be safe and would take too long to train crewmembers from scratch every time they went to a different ship.  But then for work procedures, many times it will be different on each ship.  And that’s OK because no 2 ships are exactly alike.  Even though the design may be the same there are still a lot of ways to be different.  Ships have different itineraries, home ports, demographics and nationalities of passengers and crew onboard, lengths of cruise, and much more.  Let’s take two hypothetical ships just to make a point.  Ship 1 is a brand new huge ship, it has all the latest and greatest technologies, it is based out of Fort Lauderdale doing 7-day Caribbean cruises and is full of families and 90% of passengers come from the Unites States.  Then Ship 2 is an older, smaller ship, it has basic amenities but not all of the latest and greatest, it changes home port every cruise and goes all over the world doing cruises lasting mostly 14 days and more and has passengers from all over the world but never more than a handful of children.  Ok, I said hypothetical but I have based my 2 examples on ships I have actually worked on.  Imagine working on Ship #1 for two years and then transferring to Ship #2, would you expect everything to be ran the same?  Would you expect to play the same music?  Of course not!

My last two ships were sister ships, meaning exact same layout.  The itineraries and demographics were nearly the same: doing world cruises with the average age being nearly the same and both were itinerary-driven ships meaning the passengers chose the ships usually based on their great itineraries.  However, there were many things different between the two ships.  For instance, on the first ship the orchestra wore a black suit every single night and the dress shirt and tie combination was left up to each person.  On the second ship, we wore black long-sleeved shirts and black pants almost every night and only wore suits about once a week.  Not a major change, but it didn’t help when I showed up not needing 75% of the clothes I brought and then having to ship for more black clothes in the next port.  In between the 2 contracts, the company cut 3 musicians, meaning my workload increased when I went to the second ship.  Even though the ships are owned by the same company and both ships are identical in layout and design, there were still many things different.  I had 2 choices: to either go kicking and screaming and complain it wasn’t like my previous ship, or just go with the flow and learn the new system.

Even on the same ship, the management will change and therefore so will some of the more minor rules.  For example, I was just working with a Hotel Director that allowed crewmembers to use passenger elevators.  In fact on a few occasions I even rode in a passenger elevator along with him.  Now we have a different Hotel Director onboard and she does not allow any crew to use the passenger elevators.  Could we complain that it’s not right to keep changing the rules?  Maybe, but the better option is just to adapt and learn the new system.  Another example, on several ships I had worked on, the staff mess (dining area for crewmembers) opened at 5:30pm.  Then on my last two ships, the mess opened at 6pm.  I could choose to get caught up and complain every time how I used to be able to eat at 5:30 and now I can’t, but instead I just plan my meal times differently and go with the flow.

Of course there will always be exemptions based on your personal ethics, morals, and beliefs.  If somebody is asking you to do something you know is either wrong or illegal then by all means say something to somebody.  If you work in the shops onboard and the other staff are taking items and giving them to friends, then you have the right not to go along with it.

If you find yourself in a new environment, try the new system.  You never know, over time you might like the new system even better.  Maybe it is more efficient and you will find yourself with an easier schedule, or maybe it will give you more time to go sightseeing off the ship.  But in any case, remember your past but also learn how to embrace the present.

Headed to Dry Dock

What a crazy week this has been.  One week ago we were docking in Tokyo for an overnight.  Because our ship is smaller, we were able to dock very close to downtown, only a 20-minute drive to the busy Ginza district.  But as we were docking, they received a few warning lights signaling unusual vibration on one of the ship’s propellers.  Unknown to even most of the crew, the company hired technical divers to assess the situation and take photographs of the propeller in question.  It turned out that the propeller sustained some heavy damage to the propeller shaft as well as several of the seals.  Their guess is that the ship struck some debris along the way, which caused the damage.  When the technical divers went to check the area, they found metal wire wrapped around the damaged propeller.

As we left Tokyo the following day, the Captain announced to everyone onboard that the damage was severe enough that the ship would be operating with just one propeller on our trip from Tokyo to Osaka.  Later that night it was announced that the cruise would have to be cut short, and instead would finish in Osaka instead of a few days later in Shanghai as scheduled.   The ship would also require going into dry dock for necessary repairs.  Our next voyage, scheduled for March 3 from Shanghai to Hong Kong would also be canceled.

The guests had 2 days in Osaka to stay onboard the ship and go on tours.  Many people, myself included, went on tours to historic Kyoto.  But then 2 days ago, all guests disembarked and the ship and crew left for Gwagyang Shipyard in Jeollanam-do, South Korea.  We are currently on our way and scheduled to arrive there sometime tomorrow.  The dry dock will take 4-5 days and then we will go slowly to arrive in Hong Kong on March 17 to start our next scheduled cruise.

Ending a cruise early and canceling a cruise is a last resort for a cruise line.  The logistics alone are staggering.  The company flew a “Go Team” of over 20 people from all over the world to help with the logistics.  The cruise line had to arrange and pay for all guests to fly from Osaka to Shanghai.  Because they would arrive one day earlier than scheduled, the cruise line also purchased 300 hotel rooms at the Hyatt Shanghai in the Bund district.  Guests were given a partial refund for missing the final 2 days of their cruise.  They were also given a gift certificate that can be applied for any future cruise, the amount was worth 25% of what they paid for the shortened cruise.

Canceling the next cruise will also prove costly for the company.  All guests were given a full refund and in addition were given a future cruise gift certificate worth 75% of what they had paid for the canceled cruise.  Because the cruise was to originate in China and was canceled only days before it was to begin, I would imagine there were a number of people who were already in Shanghai spending some time in the city before the cruise was to start.

This situation has been interesting and stressful for some members of the crew.  The day when one cruise ends and another begins is also a day with turnover for the crew.  Some finish their 6-9 month contracts, while others will begin theirs.  Flights had to be rescheduled and ground transportation would also have to be changed.

My wife and the next cast of singers and dancers were scheduled to arrive in the middle of the next cruise (the one that was canceled) in Busan, South Korea.  When they announced the cruise would be canceled and we would head to dry dock, we didn’t know what would happen.  We didn’t know where the dry dock would be, if new crewmembers could sign on while the ship was being repaired, or if they would just decide to keep the cast in Miami where they had been rehearsing.  Despite numerous rumors along the way their sign on will proceed as scheduled on March 6.  They will just be joining at a shipyard instead of a cruise terminal.

The dry dock experience will be interesting.  Most dry docks are scheduled years in advance and usually are set to revitalize and update the entire ship.  A lot of things from carpet to furniture are replaced.  But this was an emergency, unscheduled dry dock so they will only be focusing on the required propeller repairs.  This is important because the ship must be back to Hong Kong in less than 2 weeks to start the next cruise.  Every canceled cruise means a total loss of revenue so it is important to remain on schedule.  Because the propellers sit under the water line, it requires the ship to be out of water (which is why it is called “dry: dock).  The ship will enter a bay area, then the water will be drained out so that crews can reach the necessary areas without having to be underwater.  Once repairs are finished, the water will be added into the bay and the ship can exit and go on its way.

This has been my second emergency wet/dry dock experience.  2 years ago when we experienced the engine room fire, the ship had to go to a wet dock (the ship stayed in the water as usual because repairs were onboard, inside the ship) in Singapore.  The cruise line is under the umbrella of a much larger corporation, but this specific brand only has 2 ships.  Although this ship is not the ship where the fire occurred, there are a few of us who were onboard for both incidents.  Luckily this one was not life threatening.

So for now we are just awaiting our arrival to South Korea.  Me personally, I’m excited that I get to see my wife in less than 2 days.  I’ve already moved into our new room and I tried to claim a little bit of closet space before she arrives!

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!