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daveflay@googlemail.com |
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daveflay@googlemail.com |
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BAND CHARTS FOR CRUISESHIPS Cruising has now become a major source of work for artists. A large percentage of my work is for cruiseship acts who are either seasoned perfomers in this field or acts who have been offered their first engagement. The usual requirement is for your arrangements to be written for keyboards, bass, drums, trumpet, trombone, alto & tenor saxes. This is the largest band you can be reasonably expected to have bandcharts for. Guitar is becoming more common these days. That's not to say that all bands will be as big as this, you may be asked to work with just rhythm section and 1 sax! My charts are written in such a way that they will sound well with most band lineups. I include a Bb part which covers all the main figures in the piece, to be used when you only have the one frontline instrument (Trumpet or, more usually, tenor sax.) In order to familiarise yourself with the arrangement before rehearsing with a band, I can supply an mp3 of the chart. This would be my computer's idea of how it will sound and computers are not known for their ability to "swing". These are not backing tracks but my clients find them invaluable for personal rehearsal. Click Tracks Most cruiseships have facilities for acts using click tracks. A click track is recorded music played through the front-of-house PA to accompany your performance. To keep the band in time with the track, a separate track of metronome clicks is fed to the band via headphones. Click tracks are used to augment the live band's sound and includes, if required, extra percussion, guitar, strings etc. These are particularly useful for classical artists who want a big orchestral sound. My experience of working with cruiseship acts is vast and varied, why not email me or call me with your requirements? |