The importance of music in my life -- I grew up in the west, living on ranches. The nearest communities were small: Mt. Trumble, Arizona; Silver Lake Oregon; and Deeth, Nevada. My parents did not play musical instruments, but I somehow became interested in music as a child. It wasn't until the seventh grade that I had an opportunity to play an instrument. Although I asked for a Clarinet, my father misunderstood and bought a Coronet. I wasn't disappointed and enjoyed playing in Band. My parents were not educated and felt no need for me to go to school, and I would never have finished junior high school or high school if it were not for my involvement in music. Playing Trumpet and French Horn in bands and orchestras not only kept me in high school, but also provided full tuition scholarships for my university education.
Although I was a music major for most of my undergraduate education, I had to change my major to science to afford enrollment in graduate school. Although graduate school required a lot of time, music remained an important part of my life. While doing the research for my Ph.D. degree in Costa Rica, I learned to build classical guitars in a guitar shop in San Jose. I continued to build and play classical guitars while completing my graduate training at the Louisiana State University School of Medicine in New Orleans.
After completing postdoctoral training at the Harvard Medical School in Boston, I joined the faculty at LSU School of Medicine to study lung diseases caused by pulmonary immune responses. Having grown up in the mountain west, I was happy to leave the humid south and join the Lovelace Respiratory Research Institute in Albuquerque, New Mexico, to continue research in pulmonary immunity and asthma. Throughout my career as a scientist, I never lost my love of playing music and building and repairing string instruments. I rebuilt many ornate banjos from the late 1800s as well as cellos.
I never forgot that I would not have graduated from high school if I had not been active in music programs. I could never have attended universities and eventually become a scientist except for music. Music changed my life, and I want to repay my debt to music by building cellos and cello accessories in my retirement. My goal is to provide the best quality instruments and accessories at the lowest possible cost. I am especially interested in providing cellos to young musicians whose families cannot afford an instrument of the quality necessary for them to continue progressing in their music training.
Other activities important to cello building -- Another passion I have had for many years is aviation. In addition to building musical instruments, I have built or rebuilt six airplanes. These airplanes were antiques, a formula one race plane, as well as more contemporary light airplanes. I sold the formula one race plane I designed and built to Jon Sharp. Jon modified this airplane, making improvements necessary for competitive racing, and eventually won the National Championship Air Races at Reno, Nevada. Jon continued racing and designed and built a new formula one race plane named Nemisis (now in the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum). His next design, Nemisis NXT, set speed records over 400 MPH at the Reno Air Races. Jon has now become the most winning race pilot in the history of air racing. The experience I gained in the repair and design of aircraft, and participating on Jon's team, has provided me with engineering skills and a familiarity with aerospace materials.
Bice,David
