Mary M. Knight Teacher Appreciation Banquet 5/26/05

I used one of my saved holidays from my day job as an ad guy at the local paper for today's gig, since it was from about 3:45 to almost 5 pm, and a 40 minute drive from Shelton. The drive was pleasant, the school was wonderful and the staff were outstanding. Every detail of the food and decor were top class, and I really enjoyed the restaurant-grade chocolate cake with raspberry filling. The teachers really enjoyed hearing me play as they took in the banquet; one teacher told me that it was so nice and relaxing that hearing me every day would be just great if that were possible. After the performance, I was given three pieces of cake to bring home for my wife, my daughter and myself. I would like to thank Terri Frost, Linda Black and the entire staff of Mary M. Knight for hiring me to perform cello solos, it was a wonderful experience.

I performed selections of classical from Bach, Mozart, etc. and contemporary from Duke Ellington and the Beatles to Phil Collins and Elton John. The latter two compositions were selections from "Tarzan" and "The Lion King" that were particularly well-suited for the occasion.

What a great idea to hold this banquet event to show some recognition and appreciation to the hard working teachers and staff. Other schools and organizations could learn a valuable lesson from the classy people at Mary M. Knight High School, even if they already do something like this.

Aleiha (Tobey) & Michael Dennis Wedding, May 14, 2005

The little Allyn Historic Chapel was the perfect setting for an intimate wedding, and I was delighted with how wonderfully my Bach cello solos filled the chapel with beautiful music from my corner up front as everyone came in and sat down, starting at about 12:30. Pastor Terry Oliver of the New Community Church of Union did an excellent job and I felt the ceremony was inspirational without being too long. The photographer, Amber Williamson of Sunlight Photography, took lots of pictures from every possible angle and I am sure they are going to be absolutely beautiful. It was a simple, short ceremony led by the pastor from the Community Church of Union. After the beautiful young bride and handsome groom kissed, I played them out with the ever-present Wedding March, then the Trumpet Voluntary as everyone headed out to the reception.

For the reception at the Victor Community Hall, I played my non-classical program from the small, well-lit stage. A girl about my daughter's age who I think was a niece of the bride danced on the stage as I played everything from The Beatles to Phil Collins' music from Tarzan, and the dancing just delighted me, because my daughter does the same thing. It did come as a pleasant surprise to me to see a few of people I know at the reception, and we had a nice visit when I took my break and enjoyed some of the wonderful food (I especially liked the chips and fresh guacamole). Gilbert and Howard and Angela told me they had been playing "name that tune" as they listened to my cello solos. A wonderful lady told me she enjoyed my version of Five Foot Two, Eyes of Blue and had not expected to hear music from that long ago. I took another short break for the wedding toast, then played until about 4 pm.

Robin Hood Gig, Mother's Day '05

The Robin Hood Restaurant is a wonderful place in Union, Washington on Hood Canal. Not only did I enjoy performing there, I was impressed by the friendly staff, the beauty of the restaurant and its setting, and of course, the excellent food. For Mother's Day, I played from 11am-2pm, with the first half of the time in the restaurant and the rest in the pub area, so that I could be where the people were for their breakfast and lunch buffets. I alternated my program between classical and contemporary throughout, and everyone enjoyed it very much. I would like to thank Kerry for having me perform, and Chet London for his wonderful compliments on my unaccompanied solo cello performance. You may be familiar with Chet London's Special Delivery jazz, featuring Lucy Mitchell on vocal and keyboards, with Mr. London on trumpet. I have heard him perform, and also met with him and spoken with him a few times. He has been a professional musician for a long time, and one of the nicest guys you could ever meet. I certainly look forward to playing at the Robin Hood again soon.

50's Diner Performance

Last night I had the honor of being the first live act to play at the 50's Diner and Smokehouse, which has excellent food and service, yet reasonable prices and an unpretentious atmosphere that is clean, bright and new, with lots of neon and 1950's decor. Everyone loved hearing me play my non-classical set, which is currently about one and a half hours long. When a Beatles song is only about two minutes, it takes a lot of music to fill that amount of time, but I had enough advance notice to prepare, and I did a lot of searching and arranging, and I also bought a bunch of sheet music. To be honest, my contemporary set of cello solos probably has more music from the 1960's than any other period, though it ranges from the 1920's to 2003. I now have my own cello arrangements of classic rock/jazz ballads such as The Girl From Ipanema and Mona Lisa, as well as the obvious choices like Blue Suede Shoes and Peggy Sue. There was a capacity croud at the restaurant (probably about 50 in the room) when I started, and I was told later that a couple of the larger reservations (for something like 14 and 11) had come specifically to hear me play. Applause came for A Day In The Life (Beatles), I'll Have to Say I Love You In A Song (Jim Croce) and Puttin' On The Ritz (Irving Berlin). The applause always makes me smile, and though I have some regret that I didn't have the courage to start performing as a cello soloist earlier in my life, everything feels like it is as it should be. Next time I play at the 50's Diner, I'm going to bring a camera, and begin a collection of "gig shots."

Tomorrow (Sunday May 8) I am playing at the Robin Hood Restaurant for Mother's Day brunch 11-2. For that one, I'm going back to my old format of classical (Bach, etc.) mixed right in with contemporary songs. Depending on how I feel, I will take either one or two breaks.

Today I am going to spend some time putting some original songs I wrote for vocal in college into cello arrangements for myself. Next Saturday, I'm playing for a wedding in Allyn.

Stand Light

For my 39th birthday, my mom picked up a couple of cool things for my avocation as a cello soloist. The Mighty Bright Sight Reader is a battery operated music stand light (with AC adaptor input also). It's small, but bright enough to really do the job well, with a pivoting arm to aim the light where needed most. Also, she picked up some new sheet music, Vivaldi's "6 Sonaten" for Cello solo with basso continuo. The music even includes CDs of just the accomp. parts. Working it all up to speed should keep me busy for quite a while, and I look forward to playing it. Thank you again, mom!

Rates

Hourly performance rate: $100 per hour (1 hour minimum)

Instruction: $12.50 per half-hour (half-hour minimum; :45 minute lesson $17.50, 1 hour $25)

Subject to availability; 1 week notice requested.

Local and/or repeat business discounts may be available, e-mail cellodad@juno.com for details.

New strings

P. bought me a new set of Jargar medium strings for Valentines. My old set sounded okay, but except for the "A" string, had all been on there for about 20 years or so. New strings really do sound great. A set retails for $135 on average, but Jargar mediums (with the blue windings) are well worth it. Thank you P., I love you!

Xinh's Valentine's Day Gig

After a week of rehearsing three hours of music a day, Monday came. I went to work as normal (I am not quitting my day job) then put on my tuxedo with my red bow tie (I also have a black one and a blue one), grabbed my cello, music stand and music folder, walked over and set up. I started playing at 4:57 by my watch. I played for about an hour, took a five minute break, played for another hour and took a half-hour dinner break. Xinh's salmon is absolutely the best I've ever eaten; unlike anything I have ever eaten, it actually caused me to cry it was so good. I played for another hour, took five, and then played until about 9:22, when most of the couples had finished.

All of the feedback coming back to me about my Valentine's program is very positive, everyone enjoyed my playing. I could get used to this. Xinh and her staff seem to be as pleased with my performance as I was with her salmon, and that's saying a lot. Personally, I thought I sounded pretty good that night. Not perfect mind you--I made my share of mistakes. But I just kept on going. I am my own worst critic, and I know the areas that I need to work on.

Alpine Way Gig, Thursday January 27, 2005

On Thursdays I take a long lunch and work late, so that P. can go to her knitting group while I watch B. That has been the routine for a very long time. It just so happened that I had the good fortune to be asked to play at Alpine Way from 2-3 pm last Thursday. Honestly, I couldn't be much happier with how everything worked out. I came home, had lunch, changed into my tuxedo (P. chose the red bow tie), grabbed my cello, music and stand and drove the 2-3 miles across town to the gig, where my one request was a chair with no arms. I began playing about 1:58 in the carpeted dining room, which has very live acoustics. At first, just a few residents were there to listen, but as I kept playing, more and more filed in. Some of them hummed along to tunes that were familiar to them, and out of the corner of my eye I saw a couple of them leaning close with their ears to listen. Everyone applauded after every song (even every movement, in the case of the Bach). And I smiled each time they did. My head felt like it was 5' around--what a great, appreciative audience.
My program included It Might As Well Be Spring (Rogers/Hammerstein) , Java (Freddy Friday, Allen Tousaint, Alvin Tyler), Nina (G. B. Pergolese), Blue Skies (from "Betsy," by Irving Berlin), Sonata for Cello (by R. Romberg), Spanish Eyes (Bert Kaempfert), La Cinquantaine (Air in the olden Style, by G. Marie), Five Foot Two, Eyes of Blue (Has anybody seen my girl? by Ray Henderson), Georgia On My Mind (Stuart Gorrell, Hoagy Carmichael), I've Got The World On A String (Ted Koehler, Harold Arlen), Suite No. 1 (six movements, Johann Sebastian Bach), I've Got You Under My Skin (Cole Porter), Canon in D (Johann Pachelbel), Too Darn Hot (Cole Porter. Though I can't remember whether I cut this one out for time or not), Star Dust (Mitchell Parish, Hoagy Carmichael. What a great song), Moon River (My arrangement, from Johnny Mercer and Henry Mancini), I Love Paris (Cole Porter, my arrangement), Puttin' On The Ritz (Irving Berlin).
When I finished, I put my cello back in its case, and my check with my music.

Works in Progress

Well, as I noted before, this is going to take a while. I have been transposing about a song a day from treble clef to bass clef, all in pencil by hand. Sure, there's probably a better way. Over the weekend, I practiced about 4 hours Saturday and 3 or so on Sunday. I've been working on some popular love songs as noted earlier. Also, P. bought me a book of Scottish and Celtic cello tunes. I spent a lot of time working on some of that. Tonight (Monday) I really need to practice some more. I transcribed most of "If I Fall" (Beatles, 1964) while I waited to take B. home from her ballet class. I feel like I'm on the verge of breaking through to another level of performance. I have worked so hard on flashy classical solos, I forgot the reason people listen to live music. The Burt Bacharach is promising and I am looking forward to learning the other songs too.

I resolve to be better than just gig-ready. I want to be part of elevating cello on par with guitar.

When we watched Master and Commander I was pleasantly surprised to see cello featured.

Love Songs

My boss used to be keyboardist in a band, and he lent me his WP and EM1 fake books, plus Beatles Complete. I looked it all over, marked down some notes and handed them to my wife, who has fantastic taste when it comes to music and movies. Out of all of the collection, she chose 12 Beatles songs and about 10 total from the other two books. That's just the perfect number of songs to add to my program for the future (though I plan to add more classical and more '70s - '80s songs). With a Valentine's gig coming (and a lot of wedding-related gigs a normal part of life for any musician), I was happy to see she picked out a lot of love songs, many of which I would have overlooked, but now I can see how well they will fit in. Here are some of the titles I plan to start working on soon:

* So Far Away * You Light Up My Life * Look Of Love * You've Got A Friend * Spanish Eyes * Strangers In The Night * The Way We Were (I added the last three; Spanish Eyes was a request, though I don't know if I've got the right version)
* I'll Have To Say I Love You In A Song * Time In A Bottle * Could I Have This Dance * Woman * Waiting For A Girl Like You (I added the last one)
*The Long And Winding Road * Ringo's Theme (This Boy) * And I Love Her * If I Fell * I'm Looking Through You * In My Life * Here, There And Everywhere * Penny Lane * Across The Universe * Blackbird * I Will * Let It Be * Birthday (I added the last one)

Pretty much all of the songs date from about 1968 to 1982, with lots of early '70s stuff. What it all amounts to is a lot of music for me to transcribe (by hand) and arrange for cello solo, since the original melodies are in treble (not bass) clef. Also, I am arranging for a solo instrument, so I need to consider what elements to include from the other parts, to help capture the hook of each song. This should be fun, since my favorite songs are the kind that really emote, and I sense most of these do that. But oh boy do I have my work cut out for me!

Christmas Breakfast

This morning at 7 am we had our company Christmas Breakfast. We eat, exchange cheap gifts, gab and then go to work. My friend and co-worker Harvey and I played a couple of saxophone/cello duets this year, The Christmas Song and Jingle Bell Rock. Everyone applauded, happy to have some live entertainment and appreciative of our efforts. For the most part, I was happy with the part I had written to accompany Harvey's melodies, and with how I played today. Damn, a sax is loud compared to a cello (or almost anything else), but we sounded pretty cool, I think. Just a couple of songs, maybe five minutes total and everybody seemed to make a lot of fuss. None of it was needed. For that matter, we never needed to play in the first place. But it was fun. Maybe we'll do it again next year, maybe not. I guess we'll see if we are asked to again.

Cellodad's Musical background

I really don't want this to sound pretentious. I'm a real guy people just call Dave. But on paper, I have put together quite a list of accomplishments. But really, I drink my beer right out of the bottle (though I don't drink very often at all these days, got to keep sharp).

Professionally, I am an award winning advertising representative and a longtime family newspaper employee. I have been working in my chosen field since 1989. Newspaper ads sold and designed by me have won WNPA (Washington Newspaper Publisher's Association) awards, including a few third places, a couple of seconds and I recently won a first place (for use of color). More importantly, I make a living at newspaper advertising. My customers are happy, because most of the time, what I do helps them to make more money. I have a degree in Communications, Advertising Option from the University of Idaho, where I studied Public Relations, Journalism, Media Ethics, The Advertising Agency, and Media Planning among other things. I was also a member of Ad Club and PRSSA. I was a paid Arts & Entertainment writer for the college newspaper, the Argonaut. I was a volunteer for the college/community radio station KUOI FM Moscow, 89.3.

At the University of Idaho, I minored in music (cello performance). In my off-time, I was also the lead singer of a folk/comedy band (with my friend Dave Wascher) called The Forks (think of a toned-down Jack Black of Tenacious D, only circa 1988). We even played a wedding reception once. As a classical bassist, I played in the Washington-Idaho Symphony ("Eye Wash"). What about electric bass? I started playing bass in high school. My brother played drums and our friend John sang and played guitar. Man, we rocked hard. We played all our own songs too. We called ourselves a lot of things, from "Destiny" to "Black Velvet," but we didn't go anywhere. We didn't even try to, we were just playing for fun. I learned to play drums and guitar a bit too, because we used to trade off instruments. All of us had paper routes, which earned us money for our instruments (as well as BMX bikes, and skateboards).

Musically, I played cello with the Metropolitan Youth Symphony, then the Portland Youth Philharmonic Preparatory Orchestra (under Jacob Avshalomov), starting at an early age (I don't remember exactly). I took third place in a youth cello solo contest at Portland State University. While still in high school, I became a section cellist in the Mt. Hood Pops Orchestra, and was stand partner with one of my teachers, Karren Rhea. As a member of the Pops Players quartet as well as a family trio with my mom and brother, I played gigs at various businesses, restaurants and events. Once in college, I played with the Mt. Hood Community College Chamber Orchestra, which was a class also organized as a club by our instructor, Dr. Larry Zgonc (principal bassist with the Oregon Symphony). 

Dr. Zgonc also helped me locate and purchase the cello I own to this day. I sold my German Roth student cello and bought an old one in two pieces, the neck had separated from the body. The lady who had it had kept it in her attic. I had it repaired at Kerr Violin in Portland. Once it was repaired, it was appraised for ten times what I had paid for it. It's a Stradivarius Faciabat (a Strad copy) that was built by a Czech family in NY in the 1920s. It sounds great! I named my cello Celise.

As a club, the MHCC Chamber Orchestra performed locally to raise money, which we used to tour ("TUR!") to Vancouver BC, where we played at the World Pavillion of Expo '86. It was Dr. Zgonc who recommended I study under cellist Dr. William Wharton at the University of Idaho (where I minored in music, cello performance). I played cello in the U of I orchestra as well as chamber music in the Dorian and Syringa festivals held there in Moscow, Idaho. I also played bass viol in the Washington-Idaho Symphony, which we called I-Wash on the Idaho side of the border .

After graduation, I continued to play with the Mt. Hood Pops Orchestra, helping transform the advertising and printing of the programs as a board member and VP of Marketing at one point, and becoming co-principal cellist for a short time. Now an adult and a graduate, I still wanted to learn more, and spent my own money (something like $40 an hour, which was a heck of a lot at the time, but I was actually getting a deal and paying too little) to take private lessons from Jerry Bobbe, former cello prodigy and soloist for the WGN Symphony in Chicago (I hope I got that right). As a cellist, I learned a great deal from Jerry, in part because I paid such close attention to get my money's worth. It was Jerry who really turned me on to Bach's Six Suites for the cello, and gave me the courage to develop my solo skills.

When we first moved to Shelton, I played in the pit orchestra for a couple of high school productions, and began teaching cello, bass and violin lessons with ear training, music theory and advanced techniques. Over time, I developed a program of cello solos for a few local gigs (Tea & Crumpets, Hoodsport Marina Cafe, a wedding rehearsal dinner reception, Shelton and Harstine Farmer's Markets, Alpine Way Retirement Center, Old Town Hobby). My first paid unaccompanied cello solo gig was in 1996. I will be playing at Alpine Way again in January, and at the Robin Hood Restaurant & Pub on February 12 from 6-9 p.m.

The idea of being a professional musician (or artist, or writer, or game store assistant for that matter) seems crazy to me. I am definitely keeping my day job. But I am excited about music right now, especially cello.

Archives of cello deeds past

I am 38 years old. What I tell people who compliment my cello playing may sound humble, but it is true. I say, "I started playing the cello when I was in the fourth grade. I was never greatly talented, and I wasn't one of those people who practiced eight hours a day. My mom had started teaching me piano before I even started school, and gave me Hot Wheels to reward me (I think she started me at 4 or so). She also paid for private piano, cello and clarinet lessons for me all the way through high school, even when I didn't practice. The only reason I play well is really because I just never quit. I wasn't great. I didn't work hard. But I started music early, and I never quit."

I had a paper route in Gresham, Oregon for about six or seven years, back in the early eighties, when newspaper carriers still personally collected from their customers each month. I met a lot of people, and learned a lot of things talking to people on my route. Being somewhat interested in music, I would talk to people about that. Often I would hear people say things like, "I used to play the bassoon (or the ____, fill in the blank), but when I got a job (had a kid, was broke, again, fill in the blank) I had to quit." It was so sad. Here is an area of beauty in people's lives, and our society cares nothing about its demise. Art and music seem to be almost taboo in American society, or so it would seem. The same seems to be true for other creative endeavors too. For me, I came out of my experiences with an early inner resolve not to quit, no matter what happened.

It all happened.

I went to college, got a job, got a house, lost a job, got a new job, rented a tiny house, got married, sold my half of the first house and bought a big house, bought things, became so broke we almost lost the big house, worked our way out of trouble, partnered in a game store that failed, lost relatives, gained a daughter.

Throughout everything, I have always kept playing cello on a regular basis (admittedly less regularly at some times than others, but I've never sold my cello or quit entirely). I have always told myself, "I have too much time and money invested in this to throw it away." It's true, and also I have been able to make a small amount of money teaching and performing. After all these years, playing the cello is fun for me again, maybe more fun than it ever has been for me. I wonder now, whether if I had tried harder when I was younger, if I would play at a higher level now. But I know, too, that many of my peers who pushed themselves (or were pushed) extra hard, quit. They were better cellists than me then, but now I'm a lot better than they were. Certainly if any of them picked up a cello now, they wouldn't be able to play very well, if at all. What a waste.

So that's my secret. Don't worry about being perfect at what you do. Just don't quit.

Who is cellodad?

I am happily married, with a beautiful wife and daughter. Also, I am a cellist (that is I play the cello, which is like a big violin that you sit down to play).