Dear Musicians, Tim Redman, bandleader of his band “Retrospect” has put together a library of backing tracks for songs that him and his band have been performing on cruise ships for a number of years. Tim is offering to sell these backing tracks to those that are interested in adding relevant songs to their repertoire. [...]
Dear Musicians, In this 21st episode of our podcast “Music on cruise ships” I’ll discuss the details of a cover bands’ job with bandleader Tim Redman. You’ll get insider tips on repertoire, equipment, life on a ship and much more. Feel free to contact us with questions via email at info@oceanbound.ca or via phone at [...]
Dear Musicians, One way in which gigs on cruise ships are different from gigs on land is that you’ll have to travel far with your gear. If you take lots of it, you will almost certainly be charged big bucks by the airlines and you’ll run the risk that they’ll damage it. Regardless of the [...]
Dear Musicians, Today’s pick is from one of my all-time favorite albums. Al Jarreau recorded “This Time” in 1980 with producer Jay Graydon. Nothing but the best of the best musicians on this album. A lot of the songs are really “funky” and performed with a lot of taste and soul. Do yourself a favor [...]
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Dear musicians, You might be on a ship during the christmas holidays and you might be asking yourself if there’s any specific repertoire you might need during those days. Well, the answer is yes, you should definitely be prepared to play some christmas songs and you should definitely have a version of Auld Lang Syne [...]
Dear Musicians, We get many demos from artists that have a bit of a false sense of entitlement when it comes to cruise ship jobs. Often, this entitlement comes from the fact that these entertainers have already worked on ships before and thus think that what was good enough once will always be good enough. [...]
Dear Musicians, This is an article I was hoping I would never have to write. But here I am, typing away, because common sense is, apparently, a lot less common than you’d think. Wikipedia says: “common sense” equates to the knowledge and experience which most people allegedly have, or which the person using the term [...]
Dear Musicians, Memorizing repertoire is an important part of your performance and can be the deciding factor for cruise lines to, or not to, hire you. This affects literally all lounge entertainers, whether you’re a classical ensemble, cover band, cocktail pianist, piano vocalist, guitar vocalist etc. Now, for some of the above-mentioned entertainers this has [...]
Dear Musicians, You’ll love this one, I know it… A friend passed this along. Funny. You can learn more about the artist on his site. Artist: David Tull Album: I just want to get paid Song: The minutes pass like hours when you sing [Audio clip: view full post to listen]
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Dear Musicians, I have another real gem for you today. I’ve already posted a song by the unique Belgian band Aka Moon before but I had to post this one as well. I just came upon this live recording today and thought it was just too good to pass up. Band: Aka Moon Album: Aka [...]
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Dear Musicians, In episode 15 of our podcast “Music on Cruise Ships” we’ll talk about the audition for bass players looking to be a part of the orchestras on ships. Episode 11 – General remarks about auditions Episode 12 – Solo Entertainers and Bands Episode 13 – Piano (orchestra auditions) Episode 14 – Guitar (orchestra [...]
This is making me wanna learn a new instrument…
