Small man, big drums: David Nüßlein at his first appearance with the town band. The seven year old has a love for music in his blood.
© Rainer Habermann
“I have to give an interview first.” Self-confidently, the seven-year-old David Nüßlein tears himself away from his fellow musicians during the break of the first Stadtkapellen concert after a long Corona abstinence and appears beaming at the reporter’s table. The little blond looks almost as serious and professional as an old hand in the music business.
Hanau – But his career is only just beginning. And it is also a result of the excellent youth work of the Hanau City Band. But one after the other. Sunday afternoon in the “Mainwiesen” stand-up beer garden at Philippsruhe Castle: In bright sunshine and summer temperatures, a number of guests celebrate there with the Hanau City Chapel, their first appearance since the beginning of 2020.
Gerhardt Bernath, the new conductor of the wind orchestra since 2019, gets his troupe in the mood for the concert under the motto “Music is trump”. The town band inspires the audience at the beer table sets with polyphonic songs from polka to pop, from waltz to big band jazz. The 18 seasoned musicians, mostly of retirement age, play “Diana” by Paul Anka as well as “Sweet Caroline” by Neil Diamond or the “Annen-Polka” by Johann Strauss Sohn. Drummer Norbert Rieger humorously moderates the songs, then the audience listens: “Now I’m handing the sticks over to the youngest in our team. Look forward to David! “
The steppe sits on the stool of the “shooting gallery” like a professional, counts four and rocks his first polka like a big guy. No trace of nervousness or stage fright, with a serious sideways glance he knocks his orchestra through the score in time, Bernath hardly has any work with conducting. Whoever hits the “Mainwiesen” now, might think: “Yikes? What is the little boy doing behind the huge drum kit? ”But anyone who knows the history of the town band knows that it has always attached great importance to young talent from its own ranks and their musical training. Trumpeter Erik Osthoff is just 18 years old.
“David conducted ‘Pata Pata’ for me as early as 2019 when he was five years old,” says Gerhardt Bernath. “Today he plays the song by Miriam Makeba on the drums.” And David’s father, clarinetist and saxophonist Johannes Nüßlein, has significantly reduced the average age of the town band.
“I’ve been making music since I was very little,” beams the little drummer. After the holidays he goes to the second grade of the Geschwister-Scholl-Schule in Steinheim and is obviously the offspring of a family of musicians. “His grandfather was already a wind musician, he has it in his blood,” says father Johannes proudly. “Music is kind of my life,” grins David. And you absolutely buy the saying from the boy, even if he may have heard it on television somewhere. “By the way, he doesn’t always look so serious when he’s behind the drums,” said mother Bettina Nüßlein, commenting on the son’s appearance. She does the public relations work in the Musikverein Stadtkapelle Hanau. “Then I’m just totally focused,” adds David. A typical seven-year-old.
But he doesn’t only have brass music in his head, but also likes rock musically. “I really like the Toten Hosen,” he says. “And I think Mark Foster is also totally awesome,” he enthuses. “When I was five, I put an air guitar around my neck and rocked in front of the mirror.”
In addition to his training in the town band, David also takes drum lessons in Steinheim’s “House of Music”. And as far as the age difference in the big band is concerned, the youngest member of the orchestra is very relaxed and pragmatic: “I have a lot of fun playing with the greats. And I also learn a lot from it. “
From Rainer Habermann
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