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Latest reply from joshfossgreen

(6 posts) (5 people)

Cruise ship auditions

Posted 1 year ago by eik

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eik said 1 year ago

I'm sure this probably varies for the different agencies and lines, but what, in general might I expect in an audition (and I suppose, for that matter, on the ship) as a guitarist? I've been told by a recruiter to prepare one jazz standard, and the rest will be sight-reading. Do they ask you to read music that is comparable to what you'd be playing on ship? Also, how much might I expect to comp as opposed to reading lines? I'm preparing for an audition next month, and it would be nice to know what I'll be up against. Thanks for any info you might have!
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David J. Hahn said 1 year ago

In the audition, expect to have to read a bunch and comp a little. They don't make it easy on you. I remember I scored a 3 out of 5 or something, and even back then I was a pro, working a full-time schedule as a player.

The stuff they make you read is comparable to the hardest stuff you'd have to read on the ship. The majority of it on the ship is easier (but there's no reason to test you on the easy stuff...).

Personally, I thought the audition was a waste of everybody's time, and I think that to this day (I auditioned in 2004). The music they gave you was 8 measures of a style/tempo, then a sudden change to a different style/tempo, then a switch again, etc. It was just stupid and unmusical and I can't imagine what they could glean from anybody's performance of it. It sounded like a mess because it WAS a mess.

So the best thing you can do is go in to the audition clear and calm and do your absolute best. I scored a 3 and still got hired for a contract.

Also, try to just worry about the parts that you can control. Work up your jazz standard, wear something professional, treat the people there with respect - and try not to worry too much about what you can't control.

Best of luck!

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drivenn said 1 year ago

Hey David I'm Driven bassist from LA and new to the forum and been interested in traveling the world playing music and thought what a great way than to do it on a cruise ship. I've been reading up on your chronicles of a cruise ship musician, pretty interesting reads. Recently this week I did 2 auditions one with Proship and the other with landaumusic. Proship was over the phone and I pretty much nailed it, the guy wanted to ship me out in March immediately but I mentioned to him early that I already had future gigs coming up he just seemed to have an opening available. He got me set up in a couple months. Landaumusic was a live audition that was a total mess almost just like you described in your post. I arrived on time met the peeps the were totally good guys but it seemed they were more pressed for time than anything else. They plopped 3 pieces in front of me 2 showtunes with a couple of tempo/style changes and i thought ok I could handle this, the guy gave me quick instructions played the track for a few secs so i could hear it, stopped it, then said "ready". The guy didn't even give me 30 secs to even glance at the music! It came out decent. The last tune was a jazz standard which I skimmed through as fast as I could so I could beat the guy. Fortunately that came out the best which I nailed. Right after that the guy said nice to meet you and ran to the next room for the next audition. What a waste!
The Proship guy was totally pro he gave me instructions on what to do and definetely gave me time to skim through
each piece all I needed was 60 secs and I'll give you 90%. More time and I'll pretty much nail it. Which I did!
Anyways, If landau music would have given me just a bit of time it would've turned out much better. Just wondering if you were caught in a similar situation?
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David J. Hahn said 1 year ago

Yeah, that sounds about the same as mine - although my experience was with Proship. I believe Landau hadn't started as a business yet when I auditioned. Proship really had a monopoly.

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drummaman1 said 1 year ago

the sight reading with Landau is pretty much how it happens on ships. You pretty much have NO TIME, let alone 30 seconds...to look at any piece of music. The first time you play something, the basics have to be together. The roadmap has to make sense, any chord changes, time or key changes. The song has to be on, technically, by the second, usually by the third, performance. That's the show band beast.
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joshfossgreen said 1 year ago

Hey David, I really appreciated your articles about the audition process. I wrote my own about my experience with Proship and getting a contract with Regent Seven Seas.

http://joshfossgreen.com/2010/05/how-to-get-a-cruise-ship-gig/

I included a link to your site at the bottom. All of your articles were so helpful to me in getting to the point of setting up an audition. Thanks a bunch.