Part of playing in a band on a cruise ship means that you will find yourself playing a lot of other people’s music. In fact, it’s rare to encounter a situation where you will actually be encouraged to play your own original pieces. Audiences on vacation are there to hear a familiar tune that they can groove, relax or get down to. As such, your set list is probably going to be filled with popular songs or old standards.

Now, some people might be discouraged by this reality. After all, many musicians are creative people who love to write as much as play. However, playing covers and standards doesn’t mean that you can’t inject your own creativity into each and every track.

It helps to think of each song that you are playing as a template. You know how the original artist approached the song, and it’s likely that the audience does too. Using that as a guideline, you can go in a number of directions while playing in terms of your own unique interpretation. Some band leaders like to keep things tight and faithful, capturing the same rhythm and general feel of the most famous version of a song. Yet that still leaves room for you to introduce ornamentation and differentiation in the solos and fills that can be squeezed through the cracks of the song’s verses and choruses.

While there might be a superfan of the band you are covering sitting in the front row who will notice that you are adding a little something to the mix, it’s unlikely anyone else will pick up on the difference other than you and your band mates. You might even be able to add an extended jam sequence in the middle of a track where you and your fellow musicians can engage in the kind of creative interplay that helps keep the mind and the fingers sharp – and hopefully, the audience entertained. If you go this route, try to keep your improvisation from becoming too self-indulgent. Remember, you are playing for the audience, not yourselves.

The other extreme when it comes to musical interpretation is to cast a familiar song in a brand new light by either switching up the genre, tempo or overall groove. Obviously, not everyone wants to hear the reggae version of a Frank Sinatra tune, but there are hundreds of songs out there that straddle the line between one musical style and another. Sometimes all it takes is a slight push in either direction in order to find a new, exciting take on an old standby. Arrangements are a great way to experiment with changing up a recognizable tune, particularly through assigning parts to new and different instruments than you are used to.

As long as you don’t go completely overboard in changing the song’s structure, chances are that the audience will be happy to come along for the ride with you and the band.