You may or may not know this about me, but I spent over 19 months as a singalong piano bar entertainer on cruise ships. It was an absolutely wild experience and one that made me the musician and person I am. In this blog post, I'm going to share all about my cruise ship life. LOTS of stories to share!
How my cruise ship came to pass
A couple of years after graduating from York University, my life had hit a bit of a standstill. I was making a nice living as a ballet pianist, accompanying classes 6 days a week and doing a ton of local and regional gigs in Toronto. I felt like I wanted some adventure, but I wasn't sure exactly what I was going to do.
All of that changed when my boyfriend broke up with me. He was going to move to New York City to make it big and he didn't want to "do long distance." I was heartbroken and I knew this was the exact kick in the pants I needed to make a big change.
Getting the Gig
A ton of my friends had done cruise ship gigs, but they had all done the show band. The show band plays for cocktail parties, plays the MainStage musical theater shows, the variety shows and plays jazz and ragtime sets. It sounded like a pretty easy gig, but I heard you could make REAL money doing singalong piano bar. Why would I settle for $500 a week if I could DOUBLE that by playing and singing solo?
I went into my friend's home recording studio and assembled what I thought was a sweet demo. I did a few jazz standards like Fly Me to the Moon and pop hits like It's Too Late by Carole King and New York State of Mind. I sent them off with a headshot and a song list and hoped for the best.
Rejection: Is this going to happen??
I immediately got rejected from one of the main cruise ship booking agencies and didn't even get a response from some, but I did get a phone call from the booking agent at Norwegian Cruise Lines. "You look really young in your photo," he said. "Are you sure you can do a gig like this?"
I told him I'd been doing piano bar gigs for YEARS and knew a ton of songs. Was this true? Um...not exactly. I had been doing a bunch of restaurant and background gig, but I hadn't ever really hosted a true singalong.
How hard could it be??
Setting Sail: My Cruise Ship Gig Begins
Trouble in Paradise
I had brought with me several hundred CD in one of those old CD Albums, plus a couple of all purpose fake books, so I at least has something to work with to cover all of the potential song requests.
**NOTE TO YOUNG PEOPLE - Spotify didn't exist yet. Neither did all of those websites like Ultimate Guitar where the chords and lyrics are written out for you.**
I had to "old school" this problem AND FAST. I was worried that the booking agent would find out how few actual pop songs I knew and would send me home. I DIDN'T HAVE A HOME - all of my stuff was in storage. I got really serious, really fast.
Every night when guests would request songs I didn't know, I would write them down and tell the guest to come back to tomorrow and I would play their song for them. Every day I would sit in my bunk bed in my tiny cabin listening to songs, writing the lyrics down in a spiral notebook. I didn't have a keyboard in my room, so I would use a pitch pipe to figure out the bass notes and then guess what the chords were.
Whenever the ship was in port, I would sneak into one of the lounges while the passengers were off the ship and go over the songs to see if my transcriptions were right.
The first couple of weeks were ROUGH - it was very challenging to try and hear the chords, especially since I'd never transcribed anything but jazz solos!
The incredible improvement I achieved showed me that YOU CAN LEARN TO PLAY BY EAR!
How I exploded my repertoire in 11 weeks
I was learning 10+ songs a DAY this way and I would play the new songs several times a night, so I could master them. I would repeat them at different times during the evening: solo piano versions during cocktail hour where I didn't sing as much, as part of singalong medleys and randomly during the night when new people cam into the lounge or people left. The more I played the new songs, the faster I would memorize the lyrics and chords.
I was becoming a better musician every day and was making $400-500 a WEEK in tips! (on top of my weekly salary!)
I learned over 700 songs in the first eleven week contract, most of which I could play from memory.
It was a super bonus that I didn't have any other life responsibilities - all of our food was provided for us, someone cleaned the cabins for us and we sent our laundry out. Nothing for me to do but learn songs and work on my tan!
My Cruise Ship Gig Changed My Life
Up until this point in my life, I was really focused on being an amazing musician, but I hadn't really thought about being an entertainer.
My Cruise Ship experience forced me to learn to engage audiences, to be funny, to share stories about the music and to really focus on what it mean to put on a real show. I had a blast with some wonderful people from all over the world and still keep in email contact with old piano bar guests.
I also met a lot of jerks who would demand I play Free Bird and Feelings and leave me a $1 tip, and there was that guy who got super drunk and puked all over the piano, but I'll save those stories for another time.
My cruise ship life was a wild ride and taught me to be A Versatile Musician. It also enabled me to pay for my fancy Master's Degree in cash.
Want to explode your repertoire like I did?
Check out Let's Learn Songs - my incredible resource with over 70 top-requested songs!
Want to learn great piano arrangements to a ton of songs?
In this course, you'll have access to dozens of song tutorials in different styles and accompaniments, from jazz to pop to holiday songs.
Expand your repertoire, work on your new skills and get more confident on the piano!
Learning a wide range of songs is the best way to become a truly versatile musician. In Let's Learn Songs, you will have access to songs from a myriad of styles, from jazz to pop, from rock to holiday classics.
10 Jazz Pianists That Will Make You Fall in Love with Jazz