Broadway Favorites For Strings

Drums Cruises

Cruise drumming is a very unique action and fun to have. I worked for Royal Caribbean Cruises from June 2001 to January 2003; doing over 800 shows and working with more than a dozen Grammy Award winners.

Get the Gig

I auditioned for an agency who came to Berklee. The audition was to play a tempo jazz groove means, a ballad w / brushes, samba, bossa nova, rumba, and then play with great graphics band w / drums, music less and a rhythm track. The emphasis was on good time keeping and chart reading.

Later I learned that I could have an audition directly for Royal Caribbean instead of going through an agency that wanted 12% of my salary. I recommend contacting the cruise of "specialist" musician, human resources, directly.

Arrival

I was assigned to the Voyager of the Seas, RCCL's flagship at the time. I met the ship in Miami, Florida. the home port of daylight. That is the day / passenger port old and new leaves of your trip. I brought a suitcase full of summer clothes and a Tux, my stick bag and cymbal case. The first sight of the ship was incredible. It was huge! If you put the Voyager in that part would be as tall as the Empire State Building.

After getting on, log in and get my wardrobe, I mean the room, I started looking through the music given to me for the next week. Tony, the music director, gave me books of music for the board of welcome, farewell shows, two programs of action and more than 300 pages of Big Band charts …. deep breathing.

Day 1: Welcome on board entertainment.

It's a show with short fragments of entertainment be seen throughout the cruise. As the new drummer I had to learn quickly review the piece and play music for Firefox. The test piece was parts of the sample of values that play all the cruises with the cast on board.

Play-ons are 5-10 second sections of songs used as a kind the theme music to introduce someone who comes on stage. The brass sections of I Wish and Jungle Boogie are two commonly used examples.

The review piece was relatively easy on the drum part went. What was difficult was to quickly get comfortable with playing live to a click track and canned horns, strings and percussion that enhances the already ten piece band. It was a real rush playing in a theater of 1,500 people with a million-dollar sound and light system for the first time. Two shows in one night over 3,000 people a day. No stage fright! In these situations, just hold on and believe in yourself.

Day 2: The big show in the first place.

On a cruise of a week there are usually two music review shows performed with the cast. Demonstrations are almost 50 minutes of music without stopping. The show on Monday was a mixture of R & B, Top 40, and the Cirque du Soleil. I spent a couple of hours in the day the study of cards while listening to the CD that Tony gave me. Also, I played a run through of the exhibition during the trial of the cast.

Stage crew sites for drums, all I had to do was give me enough time to refine the design, make sure that my letters were in order, and adjust my headphones. Ready to go. We received our signal 1 min and ……., click click, click, click Off we go. See you in an hour! It can be a blast to be on the bench and have to concentrate for 50 minutes straight. The first time you nail an entire show, I mean every little thing, is an achievement!

Day 3: My First Star Act

A Star Act is a guest artist. They come and rehearse with the band for about 1 1 / 2 hours in the afternoon for the show that night. You deleted all the songs once, twice at most. You are trying to ensure that the band is together with transitions and bit hard. If there was anything difficult, it is better to look on their own before the show.

Star Acts range from famous older groups like The Drifters and Bowz (Sha Na Na) to Sinatra impersonators, magicians and Broadway singers, among many others.

Sometimes a click is performed, but most of the time the song was the account for any music director or artist. There was only a short essay, so it is important to keep an eye on the table and the other on the artist in case you want to set the tempo a bit.

Side Story. On these cruises a week, the Star Act does a show on Friday for a cruise and a program Tuesday for the next cruise. Seeing that arrived on Sunday, this artist had a different drummer last Thursday. Apparently Tony had fired three drummers in a row when I got there. Being at the right of the school and only twenty two, I had to prove myself to Tony, the band, and the Law Every night was different and it's own test.

Day 4: Big Band

Very good. N Law of the star. No review sample to study. I got out and went to the beach in Jamaica. This was amazing! Especially after spending the winter in Boston.

That night we created for Big Band in one of the many rooms of the ship. Tony shouted melodies of more than 300 numbered cards. They ranged from Take The "A" Train to Love For Sale. Are all standards and above all original arrangements. Easy day.

Day 5: The Hard One

Thursday's show was made second review of the cruise. This was mostly musical theater. There were lots of abrupt tempo changes and changing meters. The high concentration is needed. Once again, I spent a couple of hours reading and listening and I played the race through with the cast. I just celebrated during the race through it, I did some more studying before the show. It worked.

I do not "own it", but I have through it very well and that's what it took for Tony and the band to approve my stay in the band. The rest of the journey was quite easy after that.

Friday was another Star Act and Saturday was the farewell show. First journey complete.

After a few months really starts to feel like you can read anything put in front of you and your confidence grows. The review shows become second nature after a while. It is important to be able play with energy and concentration the first and 101 times to touch anything. Tony once told me that the best way to keep your concentration level is to pretend that every show is recording. Want to finish a show and be able to say "that's a shot."

I try to do that with everything I play now. It is the same as the legendary drummers who advise us to "Play with purpose."

Life Boat

Click OK If the cabins are small but have cable TV and a dorm size refrigerator. But who wants to stay in the room anyway? It is a place to sleep, shower, and change. You have to go out and see the world.

I've been around the Caribbean, the east coast of Canada in the fall, and northern Europe in the summer. I spent a week in Amsterdam, many nights in St. Petersburg, and had my favorite bars and Cafe in La Harve France, Stockholm Sweden, Copenhagen and Denmark, among others. All this was while getting PAID, rent-free life, and all my free meals on board the ship if I chose.

The ships staff are very unique. 1,500 members of the crew, only 50 were American us! You can not beat the experience of living next to and learn about people around the world. You see very quickly that we are all people. We all have the same dreams, no matter where we grew up. Priceless.

In conclusion, my time on cruise ships was incredible both musically and personally. From music to people and places you experience, I recommend trying this exciting job.

About the Author

My name is A. Gabriel Giannelli and I have played close to 2000 gigs in the last decade. After attending Berklee College of Music, I did two years on cruise ships and am currently in the Navy band.
http://www.Gigging-Drum-Charts.com

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