A dented tuba, now used by Torez McRae at Dillon County’s J.V. Martin Junior High, spawned a drive by Batesburg-Leesville High School to donate instruments. The band collected 82 instruments, which have been refurbished.
J.V. Martin Junior High has come to symbolize the gap in how South Carolina underwrites education for its students based on where they live, especially in poor, rural communities such as Dillon County.
DILLON — A simple, powerful photo of a student playing an old, dented tuba ran in The State newspaper before Christmas.
Lots of people saw it.
Some of them stepped forward.
Today, student-musicians from Batesburg-Leesville High School bring a new symphony of hope to Dillon’s J.V. Martin Junior High.
The 82 instruments, including one shiny tuba, are fruits of a donation drive born from kind gestures of people who want to make a difference.
This is a story about the tuba, and those who helped it start a movement.
TOREZ AND THE TUBA
Torez McRae holds the old tuba in his lap as though it were a baby — a little tentative but careful not to let it fall.
If the battered instrument did tumble to the floor, it would not matter. Finding Waldo is easier than locating a new dent or scratch on the pockmarked brass.
A gash on the bore a few inches below where it flares into a crumpled bell has been patched. A spit release valve is held in place with a twist of duct tape.
Torez, 12, seems not to care a hoot that the three-valve tuba belongs on a scrap heap.
“It’s got an old-fashioned look,” said Torez, a seventh-grader at Dillon’s J.V. Martin Junior High. “I like the way it sounds.”
His classmates avoided the beaten-up tuba when they picked their instruments.
“They didn’t want this, the way it looked, and I told them I’d play it.”
And play it he has. With gusto.
“I’ve been working on it ... practicing ... getting better.”
He concedes the tuba is “raggedy.” But it’s familiar. Loved, even.
“When I play it, it doesn’t mess up.”
Last year, Torez’ tuba belonged to an eighth grade student at J.V. Martin, who was pictured with it.. That photo struck a chord with people who wanted to help.
THE BAND DIRECTOR
Chaz Paxton leads a marching band that has great community support.
Roughly half of his 40 students at Batesberg-Leesville High have their own instruments. And the school’s impressive percussion section “can compete with any school in the state,” Paxton said.
But when he saw the photo of what he called J.V. Martin’s “beat-up” tuba, he wanted to help the Dillon students — and his own.
“We’re not a rich community by any means. Our kids are good, hard-working kids.”
His reaction, and that of his students, was basic. They wanted to put instruments in the hands of those kids 145 miles away.
“It was beyond their belief that there were band students who didn’t have instruments to play.”Paxton told them about Music Replay, a band booster idea to collect and recondition instruments for budding musicians.
“I want this to be an eye-opening experience for them. I don’t want them to forget where they came from.”
At least seven Batesburg-Leesville students donated “beginner” instruments they no longer play.
Such gestures, and Midlands’ support for the school project that gathered 82 instruments, have left him humbled and amazed.
“We’re very fortunate here.”
THE MUSIC DOCTOR
Erik Lifchez of Lexington was reading the morning paper when his wife pointed out the tuba.
He knew what he had to do.
For years, the owner of Musician Supply sent donations from his stores in Irmo and Lexington to the Mr. Holland’s Opus Foundation. That group, inspired by the 1995 movie, “Mr. Holland’s Opus,” assists educators teaching underprivileged children to play music.
“After giving so many instruments (to that foundation), I knew I could do more,” Lifchez said. “I knew the need was great here in South Carolina.”
His customers noticed, too. One, a Batesburg-Leesville band booster, helped compose a plan that became Music Replay: Round up used instruments, fix them and pass them on.
Lifchez’s stores became drop-off points for the school’s effort to collect old, unwanted musical instruments for children in Dillon.
Most donations came from former musicians who played in high school or college and had a spare instrument. Occasionally, a parent with a child who stopped playing would drop off an instrument, too.
The oldest was a cool 1937 King cornet, a small trumpet.
“It’s very well made (and) was in great condition,” he said.
Most wanted their instruments to be put to good use. “Send this to the people in Dillon,” they said.
Lifchez and his staff breathed new life into each instrument — inspecting and making them playable.
Between new cases, mouthpieces, pads, corking, “time, energy and effort,” Lifchez estimates his business’ investment is about $8,000.
“I hope it will help a lot of children have a better life.”
THE REPLACEMENT
Frank DeFoor doesn’t know where the tuba came from.
The once-shiny baritone tuba sat silent in a storage room at St. Andrews Baptist Church on Bush River Road, where DeFoor is music minister.
When he saw the photo of the tuba from Dillon, he knew he had to donate the storage room tuba.
“It was a poignant picture,” the third-generation clergyman recalled. “I come from a long line of educators. That kind of story spoke to my heart.”
He immediately thought of the tuba tucked away in the church’s music library.
“It wasn’t in good shape.”He took it to Musician Supply in a woefully tattered case.
“Oh Lord, here comes another one,” he expected to hear.
But no. They were thankful.
“This is a great one,” they told him. It just might relegate one of J.V. Martin’s four tubas to retirement, they said.
“You know it’s going to end up in the hands of a young man or young woman who is going to make it come back to life.”
THE TEACHER
Kevin McLellan will always remember walking into the classroom after being hired as J.V. Martin’s music teacher.
There were only a handful of instruments, including the patched-up tuba that appeared in the photograph.
“Are they serious?” he thought.
Being from Dillon, he knew most of his 84 students would come from families of modest means. Buying, or even renting, a musical instrument wouldn’t be in their monthly budget.
He set out to get as many instruments as he could find.
And he brought his own four-valve tuba from home.
The tuba, it turns out, was one of the first instruments McLellan learned to play as a sophomore at Dillon High.
“I decided to give it to the school.” Then in December, he saw the photo — not of his old tuba, but the dinged up one owned by the school.
“It was a chance to hear our cry for instruments.”A month later, the principal told McLellan about the “Music Replay” movement.
“I began to tear up,” he said, calling the gesture “Christmas in January.”
McLellan is a believer. That’s why he’s back home in Dillon. He wanted to make a difference.
Music, he said, helps teens “stay out of trouble. It keeps them busy all year round.”
Music, he said, “opens many doors for people who want to go to college.”
Music, he said, did it for him.
So today, he’ll stand tall. He’ll thank the people of Batesburg-Leesville for their generosity, although it might be hard.
“I don’t have words.”He won’t need them. He’ll have music.
Reach Robinson at (803) 771-8482.
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