We’ve been running a lot of auditions lately for musicians hoping to secure gigs on cruise ships so we thought we’d put together a quick post with some advice on how to prepare properly for a cruise ship musician audition.
Here’s the thing, we want you do to well on the audition. We don’t want you to be stressed and nervous. We want you to simply show us what you can do and will give you every opportunity to do that.
As most auditions are conducted remotely via Skype or Facetime, the first bit of advice is not musical at all. Be in a well lit room and make sure whatever device your using is capturing good quality audio and video. This is critical! We need to be able to see and hear you effectively. On the same subject, be sure to have sufficient internet bandwidth for good quality audio and video streaming.
OK – so that’s the dull technical stuff out of the way.
Now the musical stuff. When we audition people online, we send the charts and tracks to them around 30 mins prior too the audition. We want you to have the chance to have a quick look over them but the audition is intended in part to test your reading skills so we don’t want you practising them for 3 hours before we meet online. However, whatever instrument you play, you should be properly warmed up well before the charts arrive. As I said above, we want to see you at your best. So if you’re applying for a lead trumpet gig it’s not going to make much sense to get the charts, panic, grab the horn and start blasting through them for 30 minutes and then blow the audition because you’ve hammered your chops cold.
Mistakes happen and are not the end of the world. Nobody ever failed one of our auditions because of a wrong note here or there. If you clam something, forget it and move on. We use a wide range of charts to test a variety of aspects of your playing and will always be considering your overall performance.
Be sure that your instrument and equipment are in good working order. A sticking valve or pad might not ruin your audition but it’s not going to look good!
Relax! As I said above, there is absolutely no point at all getting stressed about it. We aren’t looking catch you out or make it difficult for you. But as an agency, we need to make sure you can handle the cruise ship gig. They’re challenging – often a lot more so than people realise – and we need to make sure you’re able to do it. If you’re relaxed and confident on the audition, you’re much more likely to play better.
Ask questions! We’ve put together some of the most frequently asked questions from musicians which you can read by clicking here but if there’s anything else you’d like to know, just ask! Make a list of anything you’d like to know and there’ll be time at the end of your audition to talk through everything.
If you’d like to arrange an audition, we’re always on the look out for trumpet (lead and soloists), trombone, saxophone, drums, bass, guitar and piano players to join the showbands of some of the world’s biggest cruise lines. Get in touch today to arrange an audition, and remember, unlike lots of other agencies, we have no commissions or fees. What you earn is yours – not ours!