Take 5, jazz standards and my celestial set

From a music theory point of view, "Take 5," composed in 1959 by Paul Desmond and performed by the Dave Brubeck Quartet is pure genius. Take a short break (also called take five) and give it a listen. For one thing, it's not in common time, it's in five (quintuple time or 5 beats per measure, hence the name). For another, it has a playing time of about five minutes. Out of everything I've listened to, and everything I play -which is a lot - this song really stands out as something special. It's in the Grammy Hall of Fame for a reason. If you're looking for a piece that's catchy and inventive from any genre, something that broke ground historically and still holds up today, "Take 5" is right up there. I say this as someone who likes rock and jazz, big band/swing, the blues, country, classical, music from movies, from video games and on and on. That's a lot of genres this competes with.

When I was taking composition classes in college, I was taught that all meter is either duple or triple and everything has a feel of two or three. So when a meter like five is encountered, it has either a three-two or a two-three feel. "Take 5" has a wonderful three-two lilt that keeps it moving forward.

So of course I arranged a version of "Take 5" for myself to play as a cello soloist.  It was a challenge at first, but now it's just really fun to play this piece. I play lots of jazz standards, and this is as much a jazz standard as "Fly Me To The Moon."

Speaking of the moon, I am continuing to add to what I call my celestial set, where I give you the moon and the stars. "Walking on the Moon" by the Police is a song I've been obsessed with lately, and it's in that set along with "Blue Moon" and many others. Contact me if you're interested. I regularly work up custom sets for clients, and this is just one example.

Add a touch of class to your event

 With over 24 hours of repertoire, your guests won't hear the same song twice. Over 20 years of making hosts look like geniuses. Amazing cellist plays everything from Bach to the Beatles, Great American Songbook jazz standards, classic rock and more. Serving the greater Shelton-Olympia area. Available to hire for parties, weddings, birthdays, anniversaries, business events, celebrations of life and other events. Shows up, sets up in minutes, makes your event the one people talk about. Call cello soloist Dave "Cellodad" Pierik now to schedule and add a touch of class to your event.

Three-six-oh 490-4695

Too busy to post for a while there -

I'm returning to Blogger after posting my cello solo gigs info elsewhere (or not posting at all) for quite a while. Sorry about the entry gap! 

During that un-blogged-about time, I've still been playing here and there at events in the South Puget Sound area, including OysterFest, the Lucky Dog Casino, weddings, at least one birthday, one anniversary celebration, and some others.

Also, I've done some more composing and arranging, including putting together cello solo versions of music originally composed for other instruments, and a few originals, including solos and duets. I keep gravitating to using staff paper and a pencil, but I've also tried MuseScore and a couple of others for writing sheet music. "Onion Rings Incidental" was one of my first originals that I performed a few years back.

Lucky Dog Casino Valentine's

Thank you to Lucky Dog Casino for your wonderful hospitality, and happy Valentine's Day to everyone who heard me play 4-9 Saturday, you were a wonderful audience!

If any of the romantic melodies I added to your experience made it an even better night for you than it already was, please let me know. I welcome your comments and testimonials. You can email me at davepierik at gmail dot com.

just for fun

Peninsula College

Peninsula College

2013 Cello Gigs

This summer I played a couple of longer gigs.

4 hours each, repeating no material.

The first was a benefit tea party held at Heaths & Heathers, with proceeds going to the food bank. As I've mentioned earlier I try to play one "Karma" gig a year and this was the one.

The second was a wedding and wedding reception in Mossy Rock.

Thank you for the opportunities!

Dave

Wedding Gig at Tacoma Art Museum

Thank you Don G. for hiring me to play in such a wonderful setting. Thank you also to everyone at the Tacoma Art Museum for being such a terrific audience. If there were ever such a thing as a perfect wedding reception, this could very well be it.

Peninsula Youth Orchestra

Saw PYO's Winter Concert today up at Gig Harbor this afternoon and I was impressed.

They have four different groups and each was better than the one before. Every group had a performance skill level that seemed beyond what you would expect for each group of kids. I'm not kidding, the beginners sounded like 2nd-years, the 2nd year group sounded like Jr. High, the Jr. High kids sounded like high school students, and the high school group sounded like a college orchestra.

I would recommend Peninsula Youth Orchestra to the parents and families of my students who are looking for a youth orchestra. In fact, I saw a few of them there today! Even though it's a bit longer drive, most likely my daughter will be joining soon.

The Peninsula High School Auditorium is pretty large and it was almost at capacity. Yes the concert was free, but it was of a quality that draws people from the community in, not just the parents.

Here's a link: www.harborpyo.org

Shelton Christmas

There is YouTube video of me playing cello at Old Town Hobby for the Downtown Merchant's First Friday event. That's me in the red sweater at the end. You'll have to Google Shelton Christmas 2009 until I find the link and put it here.

Hire Cellodad for your special event!

If you have an upcoming event (large or small) in Western Washington that requires entertainment, please contact me at:

davepierik at gmail dot com

to see if I might be available.

I have been playing unaccompanied cello solos for several years now. My rates are reasonable for live entertainment, I require very little space and can play any type of music (jazz, oldies, pop, classical, swing etc.), with or without amplification, in virtually any venue.

Whether you are you planning a wedding, anniversary, holiday party, celebration of life or even a big event such as a fair or festival, I have probably provided music for something like it before.

This blog is for you, but it is also for me - a personal record and journal of some of my performances. Specific song requests should be made in advance, and among other things I keep track of them here -- as well as using the blog to thank my customers. I don't have time to make entries for every gig I play, but please tell me if you have a preference about whether you do or don't want me to mention your event on this blog following your special event. Thank you!

Upcoming Public Performances

I will be playing Alpine Way Retirement Apartments in Shelton
on Wednesday, February 10, 2010 starting at 4 pm and also Sunday, February 14 at 4:30 pm

I will also be at Shelton Health & Rehabilitation Center on Friday, February 12 from 12-1 and at Maple Glen Sunday February 14 from 2 to 3.

I will be playing for Mother's Day at the Lucky Dog Casino on May 11, 2008. It is located on Highway 101 north of Shelton.

Recent Performances

Thank you again Everett, for having me play your After Hours celebration again this year (Jan. 27, 2009). Ditto as all the comments in the following paragraph! I would also like to thank Ron at Alpine Way for continuing to hire me come play there. He tells me the residents keep asking for more.

Thank you to Leanne of Shelton Health & Rehabilitation Center for hiring me to play for your Valentine's party February 13 2009. Thank you also to Gail at Maple Glen for the gig on the 14th. To each of you, and to everyone who showed so much gratitude for my performances, thank you.

I would like to thank Everett Hughes, E.A. for hiring me to perform for his Mason County Chamber After Hours celebration of 26 years as an Enrolled Agent and tax accountant. Everett is one of the most intellegent, interesting people that I know. The fact that his little office filled up with so many well-wishers so quickly is a tribute to the real following he has developed over time.
--Dave 3/26/08

Congratulations to Deborah on her retirement after a 30 year career with the State of Washington. I would like to thank Pete Chakos for hiring me to play cello for Deborah's party, and for all the wonderful refreshments and cake. The Capital House Apartments in Olympia had a wonderful recreation room, carpeted, about 40' square with an elevated stage and stained glass windows. The acoustics were great, so I didn't need to bring my amplifier. I played mostly classical the first half or so, and a '40s-'70s/Beatles mix the second half. There were a couple of requests I will be adding to my repertoire in the near future. Thank you for all the great feedback!
--Dave (Nov. '07)

Cello at Oysterfest

I would like to thank Janis Byrd Hunter for hiring me to play cello solos for Oysterfest ’07 patrons on Sunday, October 7. The sound guys were wonderful and so was the audience. That day, I felt like a lot of things went just right; from the songs that I picked to the crowd itself, everything seemed to be energized. Despite the rain, people came in great numbers anyway. Because of the rain, even more people heard me playing inside little Building 13 as they ducked inside to get dry. I’m happy to report that all the feedback I’m getting is absolutely wonderful.

Harmony Hill Summerfest Xinh's Dinner

Harmony Hill Retreat Center in Union, WA www.HarmonyHill.org provides cancer patients a rare opportunity to deal with their emotional and psychological challenges together, free of charge. I have known many people who have suffered from cancer who could have benefitted from this invaluable service. Without donations, it would be impossible to offer this service. Certainly not for free.

So it was my privilege to be invited to donate my time to play acoustic cello solos at the Summerfest '07 Dinner and Auction with Xinh. I would like to thank Xinh for the dinner, Pam and Gary Hanson of Cameo Boutique for the opportunity and the Harmony staff for helping set up the sound. I played contemporary popular music from 1915 to about 1980 and received a great number of compliments and gratitude. That feels good, and so does knowing that event raised $30,000 that night which was matched by the William and Melinda Gates Foundation. Thank you again to everyone involved.

Mason County Fair '07

I played all three days of the Mason County Fair again this year, finishing up today. It was great to be back and I want to thank Mark the sound guy and everyone on the Fair staff, and also everyone who came to hear me.
As I have done previously, I included some of my new compositions and arrangements and some classical. But mostly, I played romantic pop melodies from about 1920 to 1990, with an emphasis on the older stuff. I played different stuff all three days so that no one could possibly hear the same song twice. And yes, I played a lot of Beatles songs. It's always great for me to see some of the other acts. I love the Fair and I look forward to next time!

Shelton Farmer's Market

It rained Saturday, June 9 2007 at Shelton Farmer's Market downtown, but that didn't seem to dampen people's spirits that much. I played nonstop from about 10:15 am to 12:30 pm or so. Thank you to Katrinka Hibler for having me come and play, and to whoever arranged for there to be an Easy-Up to keep me dry. So yes, it rained. But so what, this is the Northwest and it is to be expected. To match the weather, I included some old standards like "I Don't Care If The Sun Don't Shine," "Hazy Shade of Winter" by Paul Simon, "What A Day For A Daydream" and plenty of songs from Bach to the Beatles. I also performed the Romberg Sonata, a personal favorite of mine. Around lunchtime, I played Henry Mancini's "Moon River" and an older one, "Moonlight Bay." People really appreciated my music, and that makes me feel good, I feel like I did my part to boost morale.
It was fun, and I look forward to next time. Thanks again!

I played at Shelton Farmer's Market again yesterday, Sat. Aug. 4th from about 10 to noon. The weather was wonderful and foot traffic was pretty good. I brought a vintage chair a friend gave me and I had recently repaired. I played pretty much without stopping and had a great time. On most of my songs, I felt like I was right on, in my groove though strangely I made a couple of slips where I never have before (nothing major though). Everyone really enjoyed my playing and I feel great to have become a positive part of the atmosphere by bringing a full program of historic to modern romantic pop melodies, all filtered through my acoustic cello. What a pleasure.

Alpine Way Performances

I play cello regularly at Alpine's Elegant Dinners (usually on a Wednesday), Evening Concerts (usually on a Monday) and Open House Lunches (usually on a Sunday). See previous entries for program notes; I pretty much focus on music from 1930-1950 for this very appreciative group of listeners. These are wonderful jazz standards that I continue to expand my repertoire with. It's their music, so that's what I play for them. But the more I play it, the more it becomes my music too...

I will be playing another Open House from about 12-1 pm on Sunday, December 9, 2007, which is free and open to the public.

My next Elegant Dinner performance should be the second Wednesday in January 2008 from 4:15-5:15 pm in the Willow Room.

I would like to thank Beth Johnston, RN, Manager and Ron Wilkes, Activities Director for hiring me to help keep the residents entertained.

WEDDINGS

If you look at some of my web logs over the past few years, you will find that I have played live cello solos for quite a few wedding services, and some receptions as well.
In my classified ad in the Shelton-Mason County Journal (WA, USA), I have described what I play as "From Bach to the Beatles." That is to say, I have a good program of classical repertoire as well as a lot of light rock and jazz standards that I play. Each time someone makes a request, I tend to add one or more related pieces to what I can offer everyone from then on. So my songlist of performance-ready pieces now totals more than eight hours of music. That is a LOT of 5-minute songs. Yes, I play Mendelsohn's WEDDING MARCH and all the other common classical wedding pieces. Yes, I play them as unaccompanied cello solos. Yes, I worked up my own arrangements for a lot of the songs that I play. Yes, I have a lot of songs by Bach and the Beatles in my repertoire. Yes, I do play modern pop and rock & roll melodies from the '70s, '80s and '90s up the present day. I don't discriminate against musical styles, so I have a bit of everything available, including country, Celtic, and originals too. It all depends on what you want me to play.
Instead of adding one or two songs from a given genre or style when I get a request, oftentimes I can now offer a whole program if I need to in some styles and genres. For example, I play over three hours of great songs written from about 1920 to 1960, the "greatest generation" music from before, during and after the WWII years.
Do you want to know what the really fun part is for me? The fun part is that I know enough music now that a lot of the time, when someone requests that I perform a certain piece, I already know it. And if I don't have it in my existing repertoire, I can usually find it and work it up to performance level in less than a week if I need to (though I prefer having more time whenever possible).

It was an honor for me to perform the wedding music for Angela at Steven's Fine Dining at the restaurant on December 29, 2007. It was packed and very beautiful in every way possible (all chairs and no tables that day). Thank you and congratulations Angela!
Since it was the Fifth Day of Christmas, wedding rings were certainly appropriate. I mostly played Christmas music, including "White Christmas," quite a few standards and several beautiful melodies from The Nutcracker. Of course, I played plenty of traditional, classical wedding music also.

Throughout this web log are many more wedding entries. These notes are for my personal reference as well as to provide examples of how I customize music according to the individual needs of people for each event I play at. For those of you who live in or near Mason County, WA, please e-mail me at cellodad@juno.com if you are planning a wedding (or other event) and would like to hire me to perform for you, so we can work out the details. --Dave

Maple Glen Performances

I would like to thank Gail Strozyk for hiring me to play cello solos in the main hall at Maple Glen regularly. The room is pretty large, and is carpeted so I bring my amplifier. I perform a program of music familiar to the residents, who are very appreciative. They applaud nearly every song, and continue arriving the longer I play until there are 50 or so, including staff. Several members of the audience always ask when I will be back.

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My next performance at Maple Glen is:


FEBRUARY 14, 2008, 2-3 P.M.

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December 31, 2007
From about 7-8 pm on New Year's Eve I played a mix of Bing Crosby-era holiday and non-holiday music, including "White Christmas" a lot of golden oldie standards, and of course "Auld Lang Sine" for New Year '08 (which we celebrated at about 8:15 or so). The residents listened very intently and everyone showered me in compliments.

Maple Glen Saturday, May 12 2-3 pm
Ditto the March 3 entry. Most of what I play is from the era of about 1920-1950. This very appreciative group of listeners is now getting much more familiar to me, and I'm developing a better instinct to play even more of what they enjoy most. Thank you so much for all of your compliments.
This was basically a Mother's Day performance, see other web log entries for more notes.