COASTAL OBSERVER

Before she could conduct the concert, Joanna Ross Hersey paused at the podium to let two more musicians make their way down the aisles at Pawleys Island Community Church.

It was worth the wait. By the time she gave them the downbeat, there were 35 tubas and euphoniums under her direction for the TubaChristmas performance. That was up from 24 last year.

“What was fun today was seeing them still coming,” said Hersey, an associate dean and professor at the University of North Carolina at Pembroke.

TubaChristmas began 50 years ago as a way to raise the profile of an instrument that, though often large, is largely overlooked because it’s usually consigned to the back of an orchestra or band. Pawleys Island was one of five places in South Carolina and nearly 300 in the U.S. and abroad that held the event this year.

“If you play a tuba in a band, it will be mostly oom-pahs and the long notes. It’s the whole foundation of the band, with the percussion, but it’s not the most exciting thing,” said Hersey, who was once the principal tubist with the Coast Guard Band. “Then we come here and we get to have ‘Good King Wenceslas’ all the way.”

This year’s TubaFest included one player who was visiting from New Jersey and one who plays for the Pawleys Island Concert Band. Carson Turner, who directs the band, watched the tuba players closely as they entered the church for rehearsal. His tubist, Dwayne Graham, was checking them in.

“I’m recruiting hard for tuba players. A band our size should have three or four,” Turner said.

TubaChristmas has the air of a family gathering as well as a holiday concert. Tubas, and the smaller euphoniums, are a family of instruments that come in an assortment of sizes and styles. The same can be said of the players.

One of this year’s players said he started in 1957. Another began a few months ago.

Joelie Propst of Surfside Beach was recognized for having the newest instrument. A sophomore at St. James High School, she was also one of the few female players.

“My dad plays the tuba, and I wanted to be like him,” she said.

Hersey hopes that TubaChristmas encourages students to broaden their range and explore the melody. “Sometimes tuba players can be shy,” she said.

Marko Moreno, who grew up in Los Angeles, started playing the tuba in high school. His tuba traveled with him to college in Utah. He played at TubaChristmas seven years ago in Salt Lake City. That’s where he met Sheena Kauppila.

Their first date was a concert by the Utah Symphony with a tuba soloist. Now married, they came to Pawleys Island from Conway, where Moreno works in sales and Kauppila teaches at Coastal Carolina University.

“I only play really at TubaChristmas,” Moreno said.

And that’s fine, Hersey said. “It’s the special thing they do when they allow some time for themselves, and I love that,” she said.