When and What Does the Show Band Play?

Chris is leaving to play in a show band soon and asks:

What I want to know is: when do we play. All I know is about the 8PM and 10PM shows. I am SURE though that there is more, and I’ve been trying to contact the Cruise line for more info. ProShip has given me some info to go by, but I still have questions.

Good question Chris.  This is one of the reasons I put up this site in the first place – because it was so hard to get straight answers about what would be expected of you when you got to your gig (or what to pack, what your room would be like, how to get the job in the first place, etc., etc., etc.).  I’ll never understand why Proship doesn’t do a better job of communicating with their musicians.

Chris, the show band plays back-up for each ship’s nightly entertainment, which usually hits at 8pm and 10pm.  But – you may not play for every show.  If a comedian comes in, or a juggler, or a solo pianist – they may not need the backing band, in which case you could have the night off.  You may not know if the band is needed or not until the guest performer is actually on the ship and tells you.

When I worked in the show band we played shows 2-5 times a week.  My band didn’t play for the dancers production shows (the music was all pre-recorded), so we knew we’d have those nights off.

The show schedule can be really light on some ships (on my last ship the show band only played 1 show a week!), and perhaps because of that, the show band is given other responsibilities on the ship.

Pianists and guitarist in particular are sometimes given solo sets to cover in lounges around the ship.  For instance, I played cocktail piano sets at least once a day while working in the show band.  The schedule for these sets varied widely.  Sometimes I would work 30 minutes in the coffee and tea lounge, sometimes 2 fifteen minutes sets (literally) in the jazz lounge, and sometimes a 2 hour set in the top deck lounge.  These sets were invariably during the day sometimes between noon and 7pm.  Sometimes these sets would be on show days, so I would play a set, then go play the shows.

On average, even on days I would have solo sets and shows, I would only work about 3 hours a day.

For the rest of the band – drummer, sax, bass – the schedule was lighter.  3-4 times a week we would have jazz combo sets in various lounges – again always during the day between noon and 7pm.  Sometimes we would play after lunch on the pool deck, sometimes late afternoon in the jazz lounge.  I don’t remember entirely, but I think they were maybe two 45 minute sets or something like that.

The show band is also sometimes used to give the lounge acts a night or set off if needed.  Sometimes the jazz combo would have a player sick (often the singer) or some other problem, and we would come sit in for the night and play standards out of the Real Book.

The show band would also play for special occasions – New Year’s Eve we would play for the pool party.  I’ve always seen show bands play for Christmas and 4th of July.  As GhostWriter has been mentioning lately, the show band also plays for the welcome aboard show and the captain’s cocktail party (expect maybe 30-45 minutes each).

Again, on average I worked about 3 hours a day, and usually had at least a few full days off a month.  GhostWriter has been sending reports that he’s working considerably more than that, but his MD sounds like a fascist prison guard and his schedule is pretty unusual.