So How Were Those Ship Production Shows?

There are two production shows you must play. Each is tracked, meaning there are all ready pre-recorded tracks of the parts the band is supposed to be playing. Depending on the cruise line, the ratio varies from ship to ship depending on the sound technician. I can think of no harder sound mixing situation than this. If the musicians can’t play the music, they use the tracks. The live musicians still attempt to play, but their efforts are not “in the house.” It appears that they are making the music, but in fact they are not. As the musicians begin to learn the music, the ratio of recorded track to live performance changes. On certain cruise lines they allow a live monitor feed of the tracks in the orchestra pit. This makes the sound technician’s job infinitely more difficult because of the potential feedback into the live microphones. The pre-recorded tracks are programmed with a computer. The piano track is MIDI track programmed by the arranger of the show (or one of his assistants). It uses a quantizing algorithm generated by the computer to simulate the rhythmic feel of pop music. It is rigid, unbreathing, and unmusical. When the rest of the musicians use it as the metronomic base of the band, the live piano player’s job is over. There is no way a live piano player can attempt to play like a computer. Most of the ship bands are brainwashed to believe this is what real music is. It is far easier than having to learn the various styles of music in each show. This concept creates havoc for the live piano player, because why would he be the only one in the band expected to play like a computer sequencer? It becomes a fight to the death most of the time with the piano players quitting. One particular cruise line lost all its piano players for this reason. The printed music provided for the piano players often is unplayable. They are again computer program extractions that have not been corrected. Spacing, accidentals, voiceleading, and key and time signatures are ignored. The scoring of the piano part is not musical and not musically related to any previously known style of music. They are exercises in ego and entertainment for the arranger. The piano player is viewed as a large puppet, and his playing amounts to gestures chosen by the arranger to entertain the audience and cast. They enjoy seeing him sweat trying to play music that is unpianistic. The basic requirements of music realization are abandoned in ship production shows. Instead of thinking about the musicians and their challenges trying to play a live show with track, the arranger uses smoke and mirrors to empower himself and make the cruise lines think he knows what he is doing. It is politics.