April 25, 2012
In this episode I’ll talk a little bit about what it means to be professional. It’s an important topic and I would love to hear from you if you have any comments. Below is a link to the PDF I mentioned during the podcast.
April 23, 2012
Dear musicians,
As we’re always looking to get better, I thought I’d point out an iPhone/iPad app that lets you do just that.
FunkyDrumTutor, is an app that explores the rhythms of Bata drumming which you can then apply to many musical situations. For each of the rhythms, there is a historical overview, video and audio recordings, as well as the music notation, complete with variations.
The app is simple to use and they have a companion website from which you can download a PDF booklet of the rhythms and view some videos with suggestions on how to make the most of the app.
Here’s one of the videos.
April 12, 2012
Dear Musicians,
Since a lot of people are interested in short contracts rather than longer ones, I thought I’d elaborate on that topic a bit.
It’s important to understand that cruise lines prefer for people to go for longer contracts simply because it reduces cost. Flying people around the globe is not cheap. Goes without saying that longer contracts are a lot easier to be had.
However, some musicians do get signed off the ship for medical or disciplinary reasons and this often results in cruise lines needing to replace this person in a hurry. That’s when they’re more willing to negotiate shorter contracts.
Since these “emergency” contracts pop up sporadically and at the last minute, only those that already have a medical exam completed and have their passport (C1D visas and seaman’s book in some cases) ready, can be considered for these gigs since you wouldn’t have time to get this done on such a short notice. This is one of the main reasons that re-hires that have already a full contract under their belt are usually approached first to fill these short gigs.
In some cases there’s also more room to negotiate better salaries for these short contracts which is why we prefer to offer them to our loyal clients that do longer contracts as well simply because they deserve a pay raise. Often cruise lines raise your salary only for a specific “emergency” contract and put you back to your regular salary for consecutive contracts.
Short contract or long, the thing that gets the ball rolling is the audition. So don’t hesitate, set up your audition as soon as possible.
April 5, 2012
Dear Musicians,
Some cruise ship contracts can be 6 months long (or more if you decide to extend). Staying motivated throughout your contract is very important and will help to leave a good impression of your overall performance.
I had already touched on this subject with the topic “What to do with your free time“, which talks about some of the things you can do when you’re not on stage. This topic, however, is about your actual performance; making sure you don’t let your performance slip because of monotony.more info
