<Begin Segment 7>

RP: So did you immediately begin taking music lessons when you got to Manzanar?

YS: No, no, not immediately.

RP: 'Cause originally there wasn't, I believe there was a music hall in...

YS: Yeah, music hall.

RP: Right, in...

YS: Block 24, way at the top.

RP: That's when you started taking lessons up there?

YS: Yeah. And I think I started taking 'em probably like in my junior year in high school. Maybe midway though my junior year.

RP: Let's talk a little bit about the music hall. What do you remember about the building, the inside of it? How was it set up?

YS: Well, they had some, like practice rooms and then rooms for the instructor to give you lessons. And then they had one, at one end of the barracks they had, it was just open because that's where the band would practice, the concert band or the marching band would practice.

RP: So there were a number of rooms that were partitioned off?

YS: Yeah, yeah. Other than that, nothin' special about it other than one great big room for when the band got together to practice to rehearse.

RP: How did you obtain your saxophone while you were in camp?

YS: Well, I think they, the people at the music hall were dealing with a company in Los Angeles about music supplies or whatever they needed. And I think I asked them to find out if they had used instrument, a saxophone used instrument, and so they sent a list of 'em up and, and the brand name and the cost or whatever. And it happened to be a tenor saxophone. I wanted to try the tenor sax and if I remember it was, back then it was about a hundred dollars and of course a hundred dollars back then was a lot of money, like in '42, '43. And that's why I think my mother was a little reluctant.

RP: She invested in your musical career?

YS: Yeah, she did. Yeah, and, and of course she didn't have to tell me to practice at all. 'Cause I spent more time up at the music hall. And like I say, you start playing with a, in a group and you find out how much fun it is, and that's an incentive to start to practice more. And of course the more you practice you start to get a little better and whatnot.

RP: So who were your instructors or instructor?

YS: They were, they had two saxophone or, or reed instructors. One was a Nisei fellow, let's see, his name was Konishi, Mr. Konishi. I don't remember what his first name was. And I had, my instructor was Mr. Kodama. I think he was a first generation. He must have learned how to play clarinet, saxophone back in Japan, I think. And then you know, of course I got talkin' with Archie's dad...

RP: Toyo?

YS: Yeah. He played saxophone also. Because he only, he lived in the next block from me and so I'd go to Archie's place at night or whenever and, and somehow you get into a conversation of course with Toyo, his dad, and of course he says, "Yeah, I played saxophone." I bet nobody knew about it either.

RP: Did he play in Manzanar?

YS: No. He, no, he didn't play in... no he didn't play at all in Manzanar. But evidently he must have in his younger days he must have played the horn. 'Cause he told me he did.

RP: So you were practicing and then you got kind of stuck into these bands. What was the first band that you were actually part of?

YS: I think it was a band that played marches and, yeah, they had, let's see, they had the swing band like... they didn't, they had a swing band before this so-called Jive Bombers. And then all the younger kids, actually, formed this one. And, because the instructors didn't play in, with the Jive Bombers. We were all teenagers, whatever, and although I think Mr. Konishi played, played once with us on occasion when we were either short a man or somebody had to do somethin' or whatever. And that was the only thing I remember.

RP: So a bunch of you young guys just decided to organize --

YS: Yeah, yeah.

RP: -- your own band.

YS: That's right, yeah. And so we played for a few dances back there in the camp.

RP: Dances and did you play for specific clubs or would somebody come up and say, "Hey, our club wants to have a dance. Could you guys play for us?"

YS: Yeah, I can't remember how, who booked the band or what, or whether they just came up to the music hall and asked.

<End Segment 7> - Copyright © 2010 Manzanar National Historic Site and Densho. All Rights Reserved.