I recently had the pleasure of cruising South America and Antarctica on the Oosterdam, a Holland America ship. There were many long days at sea, and the folks who kept us entertained between ports were the cruise ship musicians.
One of these folks, Adam Stout, performs solo at the ship’s Billboard Onboard venue. Most days of the week, you’ll find him taking requests, singing pop hits, and accompanying himself on the piano. Peek behind the scenes of a ship musician’s life in this (condensed and edited) interview.
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Adam played his first ship in 2006. Other than an eight-year period when he was “completely land-based,” he’s been playing at sea ever since. As a freelancer, Adam has played weddings and funerals, private parties and corporate events. He’s also accompanied top high school choirs in Texas and describes himself as a pianist, conductor, arranger, and programmer of keyboards.
Adam’s main area of expertise is musical theater. He knows a lot about opera and has coached vocalists on Italian and German diction. A skilled sight-reader, he also fills in last-minute as a pianist and/or conductor for musical theater productions.
In terms of piano at sea, Adam has worked for Disney Cruise Lines, Holland America, and smaller companies like G Adventures.
I was supposed to be contracting for a theater for the next four months. But we had a disagreement, they let me go, and I was looking for work. So I sent a resume to Holland America. They called me six hours later and asked if I could fly out the next Tuesday.
I joined the HAL Cats, the ship band. We played the Crow’s Nest for the party sets, backed guest entertainers, and played sets by the pool.
I don’t! There’s a keyboard available here with very limited access. There are a couple of pianos I can get to in the middle of the night when no one’s around, but they’re really not accessible. And you know, part of why I’m out here is to not overwork! When I was freelancing, I’d often be behind a piano for 10-12 hours a day. It takes a physical toll, so that’s what I’m avoiding in this gig.
I know thousands of songs, absolutely. And I sight-read anything that is available on one of my subscription sites like Sheet Music Direct. So if a guest requests something, and I can find sheet music to it—even if I’ve never heard the song—I’ll sight-read it. People will tell me, “You sound just like the original! How have you never heard that song?” But that’s my sight-reading.
Ultimate Guitar is fine if I’m already familiar with the song because I’ll play off chord charts and improvise. But if I don’t already know the song, I won’t get the vocal melody right. And I’m a reader first.
When I’m sight-reading a pop song, I look at the notes on the page, but I improvise around them because a lot of those arrangements are so simplified; they don’t account for what the rest of the band does. So I improvise around those notes, I read both the lyrics and the actual written notes in the chord charts all at once, and my mind just processes all of it.
You should know a fair amount of Billy Joel, Elton John, and the Beatles. Now, the Billboard Onboard actually has a whole list of songs that you need to know, and I’m able to stray off those lists because of my experience (I’ve been given a little leeway there).
But you should really know the biggest hits of the 60s, 70s, 80s—especially 60s for this crowd (sidenote: Holland America typically caters to a 65+ clientele). You’ve got to know some John Lennon. And you should know some Herman’s Hermits and all those great old 60s groups.
Adam also recommends looking up lists people have made of the top requested songs at different piano bars. But most importantly…
I encourage people—as they’re learning songs, even if it’s just a simple Wikipedia read—to read about the background of the song. I probably share more information about songs than a lot of people who do these jobs. And that’s a big part of why guests enjoy my set.
The Lewis Capaldi song makes me think of that. Last night, Adam had played “Someone You Loved” by Lewis Capaldi. Because so many people think it’s a break-up song…but it wasn’t a song about that. It was about him feeling a little lost after his grandmother died. It had nothing to do with romance! And it changes the context of the song. That’s why I put it in “love songs”: it was a love song to his grandmother.
You can still interpret the song in your own way. That’s one of the great things about music, but knowing the original intent is something that can really make you think.
You meet so many people from all over the world, from different cultures. And if you take the time to go out and make sure you’re meeting people, especially among the crew, and getting to know people, it’s extremely rewarding. And you never know what kind of lifelong friendships you’ll develop.
Adam Stout
“Piano Man” and “Sweet Caroline” are the top two, hands down. With “Sweet Caroline” and “Piano Man,” the age group doesn’t really matter. Like, that’s young crowds, older crowds.
Now, when I was in Alaska and the crowds were slightly younger, I was with a duo and we had probably 25 Bob Seger songs requested a night. That kind of took me by surprise, honestly!
If I do parties and stuff on land, Taylor Swift is often requested. She’s not requested a lot here, but I put a couple of her songs into sets to help balance things out. And because she’s so relevant to Billboard (the actual Billboard).
“Living on a Prayer” is requested a lot too. “Bohemian Rhapsody” is requested a lot—the ones everyone thinks are really fun for us to play.
I don’t hate playing “Sweet Caroline” or “Piano Man;” I get tired of playing them. The one song I absolutely hate—and I honestly usually just skip it—is “Sweet Home Alabama.” I can’t stand that song!
Tom Jones’ “Delilah” is another one that I really don’t like to play. Well, I have one guest I’ll probably give in and play it for later because she keeps asking for it…
Personality-wise, the people who will succeed in this job are the ones who maintain high energy when they’re around people. One of the big challenges is that on some nights, even the same crowd that’s been high-energy on another night is very tired. And the instinct is to play down to the energy of the crowd, but you really want someone who can maintain that high energy, even when the crowd is not giving it back. Because that’s what keeps people coming back.
But also, I think you have to understand within yourself when you need your own time to be antisocial, which we all do. If you’re out and about on the ship, you need to pick a place where there’s not a lot of people around. You need to be prepared to talk to people if you’re out in areas where people are. Personality-wise, you have to be okay with that.
Oh, yeah. Absolutely.
These Billboard contracts are typically four months.
It’s interesting, because I’ve done five-month contracts and eight-month contracts, and it’s always that last month, when you’re almost home, that you start to feel it most. You look at the food and you’re like, “I can’t eat this anymore.” And you have to fight to find the energy to do the job.
But I’m not going to check out. Once I get up on Billboard—even if I walk up to that piano and I’m thinking to myself, “I really don’t want to be here”—I start playing, and I start interacting with my crowd…there’s nowhere else I want to be.
Adam gets a minimum of one day off every seven. His schedule can vary: on this voyage in particular, he had three days on and one off, four days on and one off, and then five days on and one off.
As for going ashore, Adam has “guest status,” which means he’s not a part of the in-port manning rotation (IPM). Most crew members are part of a rotation where they’re sometimes required to remain onboard on non-working days, in case of emergencies. “But I don’t have to worry about any of that,” Adam says. “The announcements still wake me up in the morning, but I don’t have a function or duty in those moments.” Which leads me to my next question…
I have several favorite places that are favorites for different reasons. I think the absolute most beautiful place I’ve ever seen in the world, just from a single view, is the Geirangerfjord in Norway. It’s magnificent.
Of course, Antarctica is unreal. My favorite architecture—cobblestone streets and everything—was in Ponta Delgada, Portugal. It was so different from anywhere else I’ve been.
Barcelona was a pretty great party city. I was younger than when I went there, more apt to go party than I am now! I’m old now…
Yeah, so many really wonderful places. But I’ve got a long list of places I still haven’t been to.
I think the absolute most beautiful place I’ve ever seen in the world, just from a single view, is the Geirangerfjord in Norway.
Adam Stout
Hmm. Some people might be surprised that the downtime can be boring. I will say that if you’re not happy in your life in general, all of the downtime can magnify loneliness.
But on the flip side, you meet so many people from all over the world, from different cultures. And if you take the time to go out and make sure you’re meeting people, especially among the crew, and getting to know people, it’s extremely rewarding. And you never know what kind of lifelong friendships you’ll develop.
Least favorite is just being away from my wife and my dogs. And not having Taco Bell available…
But my favorite part…there are a few for me. Obviously, seeing these incredible places is pretty wonderful. And I already mentioned all the wonderful people you meet from around the world. But aside from the obvious (because that’s obvious), it’s not having to deal with the grind of scheduling as a freelancer.
Not even the grind of the work itself, just the grind of figuring out the calendar, coordinating my rehearsal schedules, sending out contracts to my musicians, having to deal with organizations when they fail to pay my musicians or myself. Having to constantly negotiate for higher pay because everyone—especially in the theater world—almost always comes out with initial offers that are often insulting, frankly. And having to decide when to negotiate and when not to.
And when I’m home, I spend 20 hours a week easily figuring out my calendar and then driving so much in Houston traffic. So not having to do not having to do any of that while I’m here…it’s very freeing.
Thanks for chatting with us, Adam! Safe travels.
P.S. You can find Adam’s socials and website here.
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Charmaine Li is a Vancouver writer who has played piano for over 20 years. She holds an Associate diploma (ARCT) from the Royal Conservatory of Music and loves writing about the ways in which music—and music learning—affects the human experience. Charmaine manages The Note. Learn more about Charmaine here.
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