{"id":1096,"date":"2017-07-07T19:22:25","date_gmt":"2017-07-07T19:22:25","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.tntech.edu\/visions\/?p=1096"},"modified":"2018-02-07T21:57:12","modified_gmt":"2018-02-07T21:57:12","slug":"cruise-conductor","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.tntech.edu\/visions\/cruise-conductor\/","title":{"rendered":"Cruise conductor"},"content":{"rendered":"

President of Suman Entertainment Group returns to Tech for lectures and clinics for current students<\/h3>\n

by Kory Riemensperger<\/strong><\/em><\/h5>\n
\"\"
Michael Suman, center, leads a clinic for Tech music students.<\/strong><\/em><\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

If you\u2019ve enjoyed music on a cruise ship, there\u2019s a good chance Michael Suman, \u201983 music education, played a role in providing it.<\/p>\n

Suman is president of Suman Entertainment Group and former music director for Norwegian and Celebrity Cruise Lines. He has roughly 35 years of administrative and music experience.<\/p>\n

In April 2016, Suman visited Tennessee Tech University to speak with students about how to succeed as performers and administrators in today\u2019s entertainment and music industry. He delivered two lectures in Wattenbarger Auditorium and two clinics with students in the Haste Rehearsal Hall.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe most rewarding thing about coming back to Tech for me is getting to speak with all the music education majors,\u201d said Suman. \u201cThey\u2019re all heading in different directions. I just hope the advice I give them here helps them succeed out there.\u201d<\/p>\n

In his two days at Tech, Suman presented attendees with real-world knowledge on how to prosper in the music entertainment world, specifically on a cruise ship.<\/p>\n

Most contracts for musicians at sea are four to six months long. Typically, a workweek is performing four 50-minute sets a night, Monday through Sunday. It\u2019s rare that shows change, so once the selected compositions are rehearsed enough, preparation for a show becomes minimal.<\/p>\n

\u201cA strong ability to sight read music \u2013 to pick up a piece and play it right off the bat \u2013 is extremely important in this industry,\u201d said Suman. \u201cDon\u2019t be fooled by the number of sets a cruise ship musician has to perform. Even with its perks, it\u2019s still a demanding job.\u201d<\/p>\n

His senior year, Suman was a student leader of the Troubadours, a jazz ensemble formed at Tech in 1948. He remembers when the band would regularly perform lawn concerts. He also recalled living at the corner of W 12th St. and N. Dixie Ave., a lot that is now empty.<\/p>\n

He has personally backed up notable clients including Bob Hope, Ben Vereen, Davy Jones of the Monkees, Chuck Berry, Michael Feinstein, Diana Ross, Paul Anka and Rich Little. When the Miami Heat played their first game, musicians from Suman\u2019s group provided the entertainment. For three years after that, they provided music at every home game.<\/p>\n

Suman said his group has hired several TTU music graduates in the past, and a handful of students were invited to audition.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe look for younger musicians with musical maturity above all else. I\u2019m always happy to help a Tech musician break into the industry.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

President of Suman Entertainment Group returns to Tech for lectures and clinics for current students by Kory Riemensperger If you\u2019ve enjoyed music on a cruise ship, there\u2019s a good chance Michael Suman, \u201983 music education, played a role in providing it. Suman is president of Suman Entertainment Group and former music director for Norwegian and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":1097,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-1096","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-15"},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.tntech.edu\/visions\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1096","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.tntech.edu\/visions\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.tntech.edu\/visions\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.tntech.edu\/visions\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.tntech.edu\/visions\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1096"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.tntech.edu\/visions\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1096\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1126,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.tntech.edu\/visions\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1096\/revisions\/1126"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.tntech.edu\/visions\/wp-json\/"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.tntech.edu\/visions\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1096"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.tntech.edu\/visions\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1096"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.tntech.edu\/visions\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1096"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}