Advice to Future Musicians and Music Majors

Now that I am on vacation, I was asked to speak to a group of high school students about life as a professional musician and also what it took be to a music major in college.  It made me reflect back on my own experience and also the last several years of being a musical director and working with musicians from all over the world.  Here ten pieces of advice for anyone thinking about majoring in music or pursuing music as a career:

• Learn to read music as fluently as possible.  Music is a language and it is impossible to communicate professionally if you are not fluent in that language.   I know professional musicians who are able to earn a living and they don't read, but they admit they have been limited because of that fact.  In certain situations, like becoming a music major or certain professional settings such as an orchestra, learning to read is simply not an option, it is a fundamental requirement.  The most successful musicians I have worked with are great readers.  Having good ears is important as well, but being able to read sheet music gives common ground to all the musicians in the room.  I have worked with musicians who could not speak English and I could not speak their native language and we got by without a problem through the language of music.
• Play as much as you can and gain experience in as many genres as possible.  Audition for bands, find other musicians and play together.  Look for community groups (theater, orchestra, etc.) because those will help as well in the future.  When I was studying classical percussion, I was taught to be very particular about the sound I was creating; that drive continues to help me whenever I play drumset because I am more aware of the sound I am producing around the set.  When I was in high school I joined a reading band (meaning a band that rehearses but doesn't gig) that met once a week in the basement of an orthodontist's house.  For most of the time I was the youngest person there and one of the few that was pursuing music as a profession.  I didn't make any money from it since we didn't gig, but I did gain a lot of experience.  We read through 10-15 different charts each week and there are still times, 20 years later, that I am familiar with a song because of that band.
• Actively listen to as much music as possible. I hate when people ask me what is my favorite kind of music or who is my favorite artist because I don't really have an answer.  They assume that because I am a musician that it is easy to name one, but I think it is because I am a musician that it becomes impossible to chose one.  When I was in 8th grade, my band director gave me recordings of great drummers and that completely changed the way I looked at a drumset.  The first recording she gave me was Dave Weckl's solo album, "Masterplan," and I literally wore out the cassette tape from playing it so much.  That one little effort from my band director pushed me to find more good music.  I went from being a passive listener to being an active listener trying to break down the playing styles of world-class drummers.  Don't just throw on music in the background; instead, listen and analyze what it is you are hearing.  Listening to music kind of fills up this musical reserve that we all have and then we draw from it every time we play.  Learning to transcribe is a valuable skill.  I don't mean playing it back note for note, but I am a better funk drummer because I listened to David Garibaldi and Tower of Power and I am a better rock drummer because I listened to John Bonham and Led Zeppelin and so on.
• Learn how to practice.  Ok, this sound obvious, but it isn't always a skill that advanced younger musicians develop.  The problem lies in the fact that natural talent can only take a musician so far; eventually they will hit a wall.  Now when they hit that wall is different for each individual, some in high school, some in college, and some out in the working world.  But it will happen and if the musician hasn't learned how to practice at an earlier age then it will spell disaster.  Even if the music you are currently playing is easy for you, continue to develop the skills of how to practice because at some point they will be needed.
• Find information.  We live in a world inundated with information.  It's both a blessing and curse.   I wish I had access to so much information when I first started learning to play drums.  Must be nice to be able to pull up any drummer through a YouTube video.  But all of that information is nothing if we don't know how to use it.  I can't read a medical textbook and call myself a doctor just like I can't read a drum method book and call myself a professional drummer.  Find a private teacher, somebody who can guide you through books.  Plus, unless you are recording every single practice session, you need somebody to listen to and evaluate your progress.  Seek out people who are experts at what they do and have more experience than you.  I have been incredibly fortunate to be able to watch a lot of amazing drummers perform at shows, clinics, and conventions.  9 times out of 10, those famous musicians that younger musicians idolize are actually really nice people who remember what it was like to be starting out.  Chances are they will take a moment to answer questions.  Find professionally gigging musicians in your hometown and find out how they do what they do.
• Don't be afraid to try something new.  I remember being absolutely terrified of Latin styles when I was younger.  The independence required made me not even want to try.  It just seemed like something I wasn't meant to do!  Same goes when I enrolled in a basic jazz improvisation class and I had to play piano, an instrument I never had played before.  But I learned so much in both of those experiences and I am so glad I didn't let my fear stop me.  When I was in high school, I broke my foot which meant I couldn't play drumset, even though I was enrolled in my school's jazz band.  I took the opportunity to learn more about hand drums and starting playing congas when it fit.  Again, that drive to create a good tone made me think more critically about the sound I created on the set with sticks.
• Push Yourself.  You never know your true potential until you push yourself to your limits.  This is true about music and life in general.  How far can you run?  You never know until you run until you can't run any more.  I remember growing up in Cincinnati and thinking I would attend a local college because it was close to home and it was familiar.  But luckily my band director encouraged me to visit other programs and it turned out that I found a great music school at the University of North Texas.  The music school and percussion program greatly shaped me to what I am as a musician and I am so thankful that I made the decision to go there.  The program is demanding and it was never easy.  There are so many excellent musicians and it takes constant practice for lessons and rehearsals, but it all made me a better musician and a better person.
• Set goals and know what it is you are working towards.  This can always change as you are growing and developing as a musician, but continue to set goals and go after them.  Imagine just getting into your car and driving without any particular destination in mind.  Doesn't sound very efficient, right?  Same thing for wanting a particular career path but not setting goals on how to get there.  Goals don't have to be these lofty things that sound great but are next to impossible to reach.  You can have those as well, but make sure you have goals that you can reach; they can even be on the way to those bigger goals.  Going back to the driving metaphor, if you are taking a cross-country road trip from New York to Los Angeles, those aren't the only points on the map.  Instead, there are place in between, the points along the drive to make sure you are going to end up exactly where you want in the end.
• Learn when to take a break.  It is easy to get burnt out in music or in any career really.  Set aside time for other things.  Take up a hobby, and it is better if that hobby is something completely unrelated.  If you are a performance major and your hobbies include arranging music, listening to music, and attending music concerts, that's not really ever taking a break from music.  Instead, learn how to paint or write, watch a movie, attend a sporting event, or spend time with friends discussing things that aren't music.  Make friends that are outside of your professional or college major.  For me, my break is in getting out and visiting places, especially with my wife.  I like to take photos.  I also enjoy keeping up with my favorite sports teams and watching in person when I can.  Knowing when to get away is important.  There are times when spending more time practicing or more time writing starts to become counterproductive and a waste of your time and energy.  Instead, know when to walk away for a bit and take a breather.  That way when you go back to it, you come back refreshed and maybe with a different perspective.
• Always remember that music is a business.  Yes, it can be a fun and rewarding business, but it is still a business.  Return phone calls, emails, and texts and be professional.  Do not be late and have a good attitude while you are there.  The music world is a small one and word travels fast, both good and bad, so just because you think you will never play with a particular musician again, you never know who that person knows.  And just as with any other kind of job, there are probably little parts that you may not enjoy (paperwork, driving, setting up and tearing down equipment), but don't blow them off just because you don't enjoy it because it will come back to bite you later.  Whenever a bandleader is hiring, they will chose people they enjoy playing with, which may or may not be the most talented people.  Music is about interaction and collaboration on stage, in the studio, or wherever the music is happening, so don't make it a miserable experience for the other musicians.

This list is not meant to be an all-inclusive list, but just as a bit of advice.  Feel free to comment at the bottom and add your own pieces of advice!

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!

Back on a Ship

It’s been a little over a week since I signed on my new ship.  The travel to get to the ship was long and as always there were a few minor bumps along the way.  I was sitting in a 777 to fly from Detroit to Tokyo when the pilot asked everyone to exit the plane as the toilet system was broken and he would not attempt to fly over 14 hours with no working toilets.  Luckily maintenance fixed the issues quickly and we were on our way with only a minor delay.  Finally I arrived in Hong Kong after 11pm, went through immigration, and got to my hotel after 1am.  The following morning my alarm went off at 6am to get up, eat breakfast, check out, and get on a shuttle bus taking everyone to the ship.

All in all it is nice to be back.  Taking the last year and a half to two years off helped remove the burnout that most people being to suffer after a few years at sea.  I’ve found the little things don’t bother me as much as they used to.

I wish I had wonderful stories of getting out in port to share, but so far I have stayed on the ship.  There is new music to learn, new trainings to take, and a routine to settle into.   I did this same itinerary 2 years ago and we also have one more cruise with the same ports so I am not rushing myself to get off the ship.  After all, this is work even if in exotic places around the world.

It has been fun getting back into playing with the orchestra on the ship.  I have been onboard for 9 days and every single night has been playing style of show with different entertainers.  My very first day I had to play a production show with the orchestra and the production cast of singers and dancers.  So imagine traveling over 24 hours, going through 13 time zones, getting less than 5 hours of sleep, and then get up early and go through a day of meetings and then at night having to play a one hour show with click tracks, tempo changes, and style changes in front of the passengers.  Luckily I didn’t experience jet lag and I was able to play through the show with only one run through.

A couple of things that I have experienced in the past week and a half are worth noting.  Some of them I have written about before and some of them are new points.

1) Be organized when you pack.  Don’t pack any important documents in your checked luggage.  Get a folder and place all of your documents there so you know right where they will be when you need them.  I arrived after 24 hours of sitting on planes and was 13 hours ahead of my home time zone and I found myself having to pull out all my documents to present to port immigration authorities in the Hong Kong airport.  I was so exhausted, but it was easy because I had put all the documents together in one folder in a carry-on bag.  The tie spent organizing beforehand definitely paid off.

2)  When you first get to the ship, be friendly and introduce yourself to people.  First impressions are important and can last a long time, so if you make a bad impression on your first day it may take the entire length of your contract to overcome it.

3)  While the passengers may be there on vacation, the crew is not.  If you are joining a ship, make sure that you are settled into a routine before you go off the ship.  Make sure that you can play through all of your music and can handle all of your work responsibilities first.  Many musicians I am working with were shocked I was staying onboard when we were in some great ports.  But I am there to work and I do not want to let anybody else down just because I am new to the ship.  It is rather selfish to play poorly in the evening shows because you are too busy off the ship sightseeing around town.  The ports will still be there, and most of the time the ship goes to the same ports several times over so there is no rush.

4)  Always check with your supervisor and the training board for any upcoming training.  Due to port schedules, management meetings, and other reasons the trainings can get moved quite often.  I’ve had one particular training canceled three times just in my first week onboard.  I’ve had several moved to other locations or to other times so it is important to keep up with the latest information.

5)  Finally, learn to go with the flow.  This might not be easy to understand for some people, but the world does not revolved around you.  There are oftentimes other people and circumstances to take into consideration.  Whenever you are dealing with large groups of people there is always a need for flexibility.  The day I signed onto the ship, I woke up at 6am after just 4 hours of sleep and we were rushed to the ship.  Then we waited outside of the ship for 2 hours.  Yes, it was frustrating and we were all talking about the extra sleep that we could have all had after long travel days.  But there was nothing we could do about it.  In just one week we’ve had port times cut short, rehearsal times change, trainings changed and canceled, and even discussed about missing a port altogether (we are currently in Bangkok and due to the protests we almost had to skip it completely this cruise).  At that point you have a choice, either fight the change or learn to let it go and be flexible.  If I can give a little advice, the end result is going to be the same so there is no reason to fight it along the way.

Being back has brought back a lot of memories from earlier contracts.  It is like a little reunion because I am working with several people I have worked with before on different ships.  It’s also nice to work to meet new people and build new friendships.

So now this blog will start to incorporate some new stories and some new travels.  Each week is different so hopefully there will be some good material.  But in any case, I have some music to look over!