This short radio history explores a topic as obscure as it is absorbing ? ocean liner and cruise ship musical entertainment. Amber Edwards' story features interviews with a maritime historian and a cruise ship entertainment director, and she decks out the production with a rich array of musical selections that have been played aboard famous ocean liners over the past century.
The history is nice and the music is evocative, but I think my favorite element of this piece is its when it takes a turn to explore a modern-day cruise-ship dilemma: The industry is constantly working to make its cruises seem young and hip and vibrant, but they're not blind to the fact that their clientele tilts more toward the 'senior citizen' end of the spectrum. Edwards' story could have stood on its historical merits without the benefit of this extra avenue of analysis, but it?s these sorts of unexpected moments of insight that make a piece memorable in the long-run.
What a wonderful sound rich piece. Nicely done! I also learned so much listening to this story. The history of ship-board music is something I knew little about.
This piece would fit well in a magazine program, either in a local station program or a drop into Day to Day, Weekend Edition or Weekend America.
Great April 15 Anniversary Piece! With the 94th anniversary of the sinking of the Titantic coming up in the days ahead, here's a short segment that very well fits the day with historical facts and voices.
I respectfully disagree with an earlier evaluation. I felt the transitions all worked fine for what this piece has to say about the history of the music and the musicians aboard the Titanic's fatal voyage. The interview with the Captain who obviously knew his history well really grabs ear. This one just whet my appetite to hear a little more on this subject. -- a good way to leave an audience (wanting more!). Come again, my dear!
Does the captain greet you personally when you board a cruise ship? If you think yes, you may be taking LOVE BOAT a little too seriously. What style of music do you think is the popular on these ships? Not just an answer to factual tid bits on cruise ship music, but the piece is a short, concise, Encyclopedia-worthy, history of music on the liners. You wanna know what title the musicians really played when the Titanic sank? Why keep yourself in suspense? Take a listen. I have to, have to add one more thing...beautiful ending!
This is an engaging piece which begins in the present day with the music onboard the Cunard ocean liners and ends with the tragedy of the Titanic. Glenn Miller, TV's "Love Boat" and the Roaring Twenties are touched on. The piece's final minutes of words and music are beautiful. The music is lovely and leaves one with a wistful feeling. This piece would be appropriate in April, that wistful month when the Titanic sank so many years ago. Well done.
This is a solid feature that makes good use of musical clips without having them be obtrusive to the flow of the story. The people interviewed give both color and expertise and the narration keeps everything moving together.
However, the transition between the first half on the history of music on cruises and the second half about the musicians of the Titanic is a bit forced. The listener might ask himself how the two are related. In order to fix this, the piece would have to be introduced in a way that made clear that the brief history was to provide context for the story of the Titanic musicians. This is a good piece to broadcast on the anniversary of the sinking of the Titanic but could seem out of place if not time pegged.
This piece brought a ray of sunshine to a rainy Sunday morning. A breezy history of music played on ocean liners, simply told with a rich variety of interesting information about hired "dance hosts" for single ladies, Glenn Miller versus Disco and the grotesque inaccuracies of "Love Boat." The balance of narration, speakers and music is just right. It ends with a touching story of the musicians on the Titanic and the haunting melody they played as the ship went down (not "Nearer My God to Thee" as Hollywood and Google would have you believe.) Keep this piece in mind for the April 14 anniversary of the Titanic tragedy - it has broader appeal than just music or arts programming. And don't cut into the very slow fade of music at the end. It's deliberate and very effective!
Comments for Music At Sea
Produced by Amber Edwards
Other pieces by Amber Edwards
Rating Summary
7 comments
Aaron Henkin
Posted on August 16, 2006 at 10:25 AM | Permalink
Review of Music At Sea
This short radio history explores a topic as obscure as it is absorbing ? ocean liner and cruise ship musical entertainment. Amber Edwards' story features interviews with a maritime historian and a cruise ship entertainment director, and she decks out the production with a rich array of musical selections that have been played aboard famous ocean liners over the past century.
The history is nice and the music is evocative, but I think my favorite element of this piece is its when it takes a turn to explore a modern-day cruise-ship dilemma: The industry is constantly working to make its cruises seem young and hip and vibrant, but they're not blind to the fact that their clientele tilts more toward the 'senior citizen' end of the spectrum. Edwards' story could have stood on its historical merits without the benefit of this extra avenue of analysis, but it?s these sorts of unexpected moments of insight that make a piece memorable in the long-run.
Arvid Hokanson
Posted on April 28, 2006 at 08:12 AM | Permalink
Review of Music At Sea
What a wonderful sound rich piece. Nicely done! I also learned so much listening to this story. The history of ship-board music is something I knew little about.
This piece would fit well in a magazine program, either in a local station program or a drop into Day to Day, Weekend Edition or Weekend America.
Stephen L. Gilbreath
Posted on March 14, 2006 at 04:30 AM | Permalink
Review of Music At Sea
Great April 15 Anniversary Piece! With the 94th anniversary of the sinking of the Titantic coming up in the days ahead, here's a short segment that very well fits the day with historical facts and voices.
I respectfully disagree with an earlier evaluation. I felt the transitions all worked fine for what this piece has to say about the history of the music and the musicians aboard the Titanic's fatal voyage. The interview with the Captain who obviously knew his history well really grabs ear. This one just whet my appetite to hear a little more on this subject. -- a good way to leave an audience (wanting more!). Come again, my dear!
Emon Hassan
Posted on May 24, 2005 at 06:11 PM | Permalink
Review of Music At Sea
Does the captain greet you personally when you board a cruise ship? If you think yes, you may be taking LOVE BOAT a little too seriously. What style of music do you think is the popular on these ships? Not just an answer to factual tid bits on cruise ship music, but the piece is a short, concise, Encyclopedia-worthy, history of music on the liners. You wanna know what title the musicians really played when the Titanic sank? Why keep yourself in suspense? Take a listen. I have to, have to add one more thing...beautiful ending!
Deborah Astley
Posted on March 14, 2005 at 11:00 AM | Permalink
Review of Music At Sea
This is an engaging piece which begins in the present day with the music onboard the Cunard ocean liners and ends with the tragedy of the Titanic. Glenn Miller, TV's "Love Boat" and the Roaring Twenties are touched on. The piece's final minutes of words and music are beautiful. The music is lovely and leaves one with a wistful feeling. This piece would be appropriate in April, that wistful month when the Titanic sank so many years ago. Well done.
Nadia Oussayef
Posted on March 13, 2005 at 01:48 AM | Permalink
Review of Music At Sea
This is a solid feature that makes good use of musical clips without having them be obtrusive to the flow of the story. The people interviewed give both color and expertise and the narration keeps everything moving together.
However, the transition between the first half on the history of music on cruises and the second half about the musicians of the Titanic is a bit forced. The listener might ask himself how the two are related. In order to fix this, the piece would have to be introduced in a way that made clear that the brief history was to provide context for the story of the Titanic musicians. This is a good piece to broadcast on the anniversary of the sinking of the Titanic but could seem out of place if not time pegged.
David Swatling
Posted on March 13, 2005 at 12:35 AM | Permalink
Review of Music At Sea
This piece brought a ray of sunshine to a rainy Sunday morning. A breezy history of music played on ocean liners, simply told with a rich variety of interesting information about hired "dance hosts" for single ladies, Glenn Miller versus Disco and the grotesque inaccuracies of "Love Boat." The balance of narration, speakers and music is just right. It ends with a touching story of the musicians on the Titanic and the haunting melody they played as the ship went down (not "Nearer My God to Thee" as Hollywood and Google would have you believe.) Keep this piece in mind for the April 14 anniversary of the Titanic tragedy - it has broader appeal than just music or arts programming. And don't cut into the very slow fade of music at the end. It's deliberate and very effective!