I'm Ernest Nussbaum and I designed the instrument that's now called the Practicello.
Every cellist, or just about, sooner or later wishes there were something a little more
easily transportable, especially nowadays with air travel where if you want to take
a regular cello on a flight you have two options. One is to check it into baggage. The other
alternative is to buy a seat. So the idea is to have a practice instrument which is
carry on luggage and fits into an overhead compartment.
I had studied civil engineering, which has very little to do with building instruments.
It's just that about 30 years ago for some reason or other I started thinking it would
be good if something like that existed.
So I made several prototypes, eventually came up with the instrument which has changed very
little. It still looks pretty much like it did 30 years ago, just some slight modifications.
I took my regular cello, laid it on a piece of packing paper, and you probably may have
noticed the only place a cello touches you when you're playing it is a small part touches
you on the chest, and there's a part that touches the knees. And then I figured out
ways of making those detachable and reattachable, and after a while it more or less came together.
Even though there is not much of a body, it vibrates enough to have quite a difference
on the sound.
I do all of the woodworking in our garage, which is not heated, so when the weather is
like it is today I don't do anything out there.
My mother was a violinist. My father had been a conductor many years ago and was a very
good pianist. So I grew up hearing a lot of chamber music. We were living in Germany at
the time but left in '39 just in time before the war started. One day, I must have been
24 or 25, I thought that if I was ever going to learn the cello I shouldn't wait any longer.
I never intended to become a great musician. All I really wanted was to be able to play
chamber music, string quartets, that sort of thing. And after a few years I was able
to start doing that.
I'm almost 83. I have to keep reminding myself that Stradivari was still making violins and
cellos when he was 90, which does not mean that I will still be doing it when I was 90
but he's a good example to show that you don't have to quit just because you're over 80.
And that's the gist of the story.