Cellists have to be extra committed to their instruments because of the complete hassle of lugging them around.

Two incidents, amusing in retrospect, though heartbreaking/anger inducing at the time, loom large in my mind.

On Travel Cases

The first happened about 12 years ago. I was travelling to London from my rural abode with ny beloved companion – this time, dressed in a sturdy padded case as a fortnight before she had been encased in a hard, black heavy affair which had nearly done my back in. I was crossing London on the tube, going from Paddington to Walthamstow via Oxford Circus.

We were nearing Oxford Circus when the train came to an abrupt stop. I had been standing with my cello near an upright pole when the train caught me off guard and I fell flat on top of my poor cello. Obviously, this prompted a flurry of fellow passengers generously offering me their seats – one of which I gratefully accepted. I sat down and resisted the temptation to have a peek inside but felt round the bridge and was mightily relieved to learn that I had got away with it – hurray! the bridge was still standing! I could begin to regain my equilibrium!

I finished my journey and was impatient to check on my beloved cello, so on arrival at the house of my friend, soon to become my significant other, I unpacked the instrument on the bed and was horrified to see two massive cracks which ran the full length of the cello either side of the bridge. This damage, despite the best efforts of one of the finest luthier/makers in the country, turned out to be beyond repair. I was devastated

This story does, however, have a silver lining. Because of this accident and the fact that the damaged instrument was adequately insured, and also, that I was blessed with lovely siblings and a Mum who all chipped in to enable me to get a better cello which I really love.

There are a couple of lessons to this story

1. Don’t travel on tube trains with a cello in a soft case if you can avoid it.
2. Make sure your cello is adequately insured.

I now have a super-lightweight carbon fibre case (Chinese) very reasonably priced, which has been a complete game-changer when travelling by public transport, and probably weighs even less than the original soft case that let me down so badly.

Cello vs Bus Driver

My second story happened more recently. I was in intending to travel by train home between Gloucester and Stroud when GWR, in their infinite wisdom, decided to put on a ‘Replacement Bus’ – the very sound of which is enough to initiate extreme anxiety in any cellist’s heart.

I was travelling with my significant other during off-peak hours and the replacement bus was half empty. Relieved, we clambered up the steps and sat conveniently near the front of the bus. My partner strapped the cello into the seat adjacent to him with the handily placed seat belt. All was well! We had timed our journey so that I could be back, smiling and composed for the first of a few pupils who were coming to the house for lessons later on.

The next thing was that the bus driver started shouting – ‘You can’t bring that guitar on the bus. ‘ We explained that the aforementioned ‘guitar’ was my means of livelihood – expensive, irreplaceable and strapped in. Moreover, it’s presence wasn’t bothering anyone.

Now that bus driver obviously had an over-active imagination as he seemed to have imbued my cello with the magical ability to extricate itself from the seat belt and to fly around the bus most likely coshing some poor fellow traveller on the head. ‘That instrument goes in the hold or you’re not travelling on my bus ‘. He was getting very agitated now. Suffice to say that there was no way I was prepared to agree to this and to wince, every time we went over the considerable number of potholes in the Gloucestershire roads only to unpack my new, improved beautiful cello quite possibly smashed up at the other end. We stood our ground and refused to budge.

The other passengers were keen to get moving and becoming impatient – no doubt they had hospital appointments or babies to be delivered etc. but I too had to get back and from my viewpoint, we were NOT the problem. A quick phone call from the aforementioned jobsworth bus driver summoned up some TRANSPORT POLICE. It was all getting alarmingly serious. We were told to get off the bus with the cello and it left without us. My frustration with the situation and the patronising attitude of the increasingly aggressive female police officers, led to a fruitless exchange which was in danger of landing me in some potentially hot water.

The upshot of all these stupid shenanigans was that we were forced to wait until the trains resumed normal service a couple of hours later. Several pupils missed their lessons that night and I felt thoroughly aggrieved.

Following this up with GWR by phone the next morning, it transpired that the bus driver had exceeded his remit and that we were entitled to have travelled along with the cello provided it was safely stowed beside one of us.

Cellists beware of the ‘Replacement Bus Service ‘!