Mr. Kamida’s Opus
By Jordan Ikeda
Rafu Staff Writer
Saturday, Mar. 22, 2008

The North Torrance Youth Symphony Orchestra to Perform at Carnegie Hall

Members of NTSO play the violin. From left, Michelle Yazawa, Sydney Parham, Nicole Fujimori, Samantha Tsumaki, and Kendric Choi.

Glen Kamida conducts the North Torrance Symphony Orchestra in preparation for their performance at Carnegie Hall.

They gather twice a week. Been doing it for nearly two years. The students don’t get any school credit, let alone relief from homework. The parents don’t receive tax breaks or parent-of-the-year awards. And, no, the director doesn’t get an extra bonus. He doesn’t even get paid.
But twice a week the same group of people, whose numbers have since swelled to nearly a hundred, continue to meet at Arlington Elementary School in Torrance. Girls and boys, seniors and grade-schoolers, parents and teachers.
They gather for friends and fellowship, for fun and enjoyment. More recently, for New York. But in the end, their common bond all goes back to one thing: music.
“We all do it because we love music,” Glen Kamida, director of the North Torrance Youth Symphony Orchestra (NTSO) told The Rafu Shimpo. “It’s basically everybody here wants to be here. We all love what we’re doing.” 
When schools begin to lose funding, when budgets are cut, the first programs trimmed away are the arts. Enter the North Torrance Youth Musicians Ensemble (nTyme). Founded by parents who don’t want to see their kids or future generations of kids miss out on the world of rhythm, meter and melody, the purpose of the non-profit organization is to preserve, support and build music in the North Torrance area.
NTSO is the manifestation of countless hours of hard work, dedication and passion that nTyme envisioned when it first began. The youth orchestra’s 90 plus members range from seniors in high school to 8-year-olds in third grade from schools all over the Torrance Unified School District.
Having received the “Gold” level of achievement at last year’s Forum Music Festival’s Judges Invitational competition, the NTSO, after a successful audition, have earned the opportunity to perform at the most prestigious venue in America.
On March 23, 81 members of the orchestra along with 100 of their family members will embark on a trip out east to New York. There they will perform at Carnegie Hall.
“I was stunned,” said Naomi Schurr who plays the viola and is a 10th grader at the California Academy of Math and Science. “I wasn’t even thinking of Carnegie Hall ever.”
This trip is a culmination of a multitude of people working together for a common goal. Massive amounts of money were raised through donations and fundraising in order that all 81 players were able to go.
“The support has been tremendous,” said Hiroko Eddow, the first president of nTyme whose 10-year-old daughter Keili plays the cello in the orchestra. “We were able to get this organization going within a matter of weeks. Everyone came in and said, ‘Okay, let’s get this going.’”
This genuine buzz of excitement hovering around everyone involved with the trip has amplified to stadium-level noise. It began with and continues to spring life from the man who will be standing front and center leading the orchestra next week.
Kamida has been teaching music both at the public school level as well as privately for more than 20 years and currently has over 170 string musicians under his wings. He started the North Torrance String Program as well as the NTSO and the list of musical endeavors he is involved with continues to grow.
He is many things to those who know him: teacher, conductor, mentor and friend. 
“I’ve learned for sure that music can be fun because he’s just a fun guy,” Naomi said about Kamida. “If you want to learn than you do learn. It’s really based on what you put in is what you get out. He’s always there, he’s always ready to help.”
Many of the kids traveling to New York met Kamida through one of his teaching and instructing positions throughout the Torrance area. Most of them he personally asked, or, in some cases “told” them to join the orchestra.
“What Glen does with the kids is awe-inspiring,” said Steven Thorsen who organized the trip for some 180 people and whose daughter Jasmine plays the flute in the orchestra. ”He doesn’t get paid a cent to do what he does and he does phenomenal work.”
And that work is soon to be recognized in a big way.
Justin Murobayashi a freshman at North High School who plays taiko knows just how big. “I’m going to be pretty nervous. It’s just that it’s Carnegie Hall, the pinnacle of music anywhere.”
The originally named “Music Hall” has seen performances by the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra, the New York Philharmonic, Duke Ellington, Judy Garland, Frank Sinatra, Yo-Yo Ma, and the Beatles. Performances and world premieres have featured pieces written and composed by the likes of Schoenberg, Tchaikovsky and Gershwin.
Soon to be added to that list is Pancho Burgos, the producer of the musical composition “Kaeru” that NTSO will debut at Carnegie Hall. Asked by Kamida to create something new, Burgos wrote the piece knowing the strengths and weakness of an orchestra that featured kids as young as 8 years old. The piece is unique because it features the use of taiko and shamisen and was created specifically for the Carnegie Hall performance.    
“I had never written for Japanese traditional music,” Burgos said. “So I went and researched it. I decided that I didn’t want to do what is traditionally done and I didn’t want to sound Hollywood or base it on stereotypes of what people think Japanese music is supposed to sound like. So I kind of made a mash of everything. The music is not your typical Beethoven, classical piece. It’s more 21st century. So the harmonies are very, very funky.”
Despite a minor period of adjusting to the subtle and not-so-subtle differences between the new and the old, the kids have taken a liking to Burgos’ composition.
“I like the new song,” said Dariel Louie a 5th grader at Lincoln Elementary who plays the violin. “It has a lot of cymbal crashes. The other pieces are not as loud.”
The other pieces Dariel is referring to include a movement from Beethoven’s 5th Symphony and a piece from Mendelssohn that the kids will perform along with “Kaeru” in an afternoon concert in Central Park. 
For most of the kids, this will be their first time on an airplane, let alone a city some 3,000 miles away on the
East Coast. They will have an opportunity to see Broadway shows, the Statue of Liberty and visit Ground Zero.
This trip represents the hard work and dedication of countless people. It is about cultivating and harvesting talent. About perseverance and exhilaration. But in the end it all boils down to the music and why they do it.
Some, like 7th grader Nathan Buck, play for the attention. Others, like 6th grader Liam Lacey, play because listening to what he is doing feels good. And there are those who do so because of each other.
“I love music,” said Kevin Isomoto, a senior at North High School who plays the drums. “But I think it’s the whole playing with the group. It adds to it because I can be with my friends. I get the experience of playing with them.”
This tight-knit group of musically inclined has been together for only a short time. They are young. They are still getting better. And yet, they have already accomplished a great many things. Added to that list next week will be Carnegie Hall.
“I think the most important lesson for them to get out of this experience is the process,” said Kamida. “Working hard, taking advantage of opportunity where it is presented to you, and continue to be driven to master whatever craft they are doing. Not stopping, not just being satisfied with going on the trip itself, but going up on that stage and excelling to the best of their abilities.” 
When asked what she wants to accomplish in New York, Jasmine said, “I want to leave Carnegie Hall as a better player.”
It is obvious Mr. Kamida’s students are indeed listening. 
For more information on nTyme visit www.ntyme.org.