March 28, 2025 marks the third anniversary of director Ryuichi Sakamoto's death.

The rest of the world calls him the professor, but we call him the director.
We'd like to share what we know about Sakamoto Ryuichi as a director, as only we can call him.

[What is the Tohoku Youth Orchestra?]

The Tohoku Youth Orchestra was established in March 2014, taking over from the Children's Music Revival Fund. Since then, in addition to a regular concert every March, the orchestra has been working to promote emotional recovery through music and to pass on memories of the disaster through volunteer performances and commissioned performances. Members range from elementary school students to university students, mainly from Iwate, Miyagi, and Fukushima prefectures.

What does Ryuichi Sakamoto mean to us?

What does Ryuichi Sakamoto mean to us, the members of TYO?

A world-famous musician? A Japanese-born composer? A music producer?

None of these would be wrong, but
to us, Sakamoto was not only a director, but also a close figure, like a grandfather.

In preparation for our March concert, we members would hold joint rehearsals once a month starting around July.
Sakamoto didn't come to every practice, but we would always see each other at the December practice and the training camp just before March.

The December practice usually fell on Christmas, so Sakamoto would bring us a cake.
He was very much like a grandpa relative.

But actually, I've never eaten a cake from Sakamoto-san.

For some reason, I always get sick every December.

Now that I think about it, I wish I could have tried a cake from Sakamoto-san.

Coach Sakamoto also participated in the 5th summer training camp (Kawaguchiko).

We had BBQs and set off fireworks together.

This, too, is very much like a grandfatherly relative.

However, once the performance begins, Sakamoto becomes the director.

Through our conductor, Mr. Yanagisawa, Director Sakamoto gives us feedback on our performance.

We respond with sound.

As our performance improves, Director Sakamoto smiles.

And so our performance gets closer and closer to the sound Director Sakamoto is looking for.

The music that Director Sakamoto creates often seems very difficult for us little kids. But as we practiced with Director Sakamoto at the final training camp, we miraculously began to be able to play well.

Then we high-fived Director Sakamoto as we went up on stage.

What Director Sakamoto taught us.

I feel like Director Sakamoto taught us a lot of things while working as TYO.

Director Sakamoto always wanted us to have our "favorite sounds."

By favorite sounds, he didn't just mean the sounds of instruments, but all the sounds around us.

The sound of water, the sound of air, the sound of paper rustling...
It feels like Director Sakamoto was conscious of all the sounds around him.

So, one of the members made a piece in a composition workshop where he just turned over the pages of the music. He turned them slowly, he turned them quickly. It was just turning over the pages of the music, but it was fun to try it.

When I think of music, I think of something with melody and rhythm, but I feel like I learned from Director Sakamoto that it's also possible to enjoy all the sounds around you.
Perhaps that is enjoying sound, in other words, music.

Director Sakamoto also said this.

It's not about skill, it's about feeling.

Of course, if you can play well, that's fine, but if you don't have feeling, it's not a good performance. On the other hand, he may have been telling me that it's important to play with feeling even if it's a little clumsy.

There is a tendency in the world to think that you have to play well in order to pass a school brass band competition, and some people may have had the experience of being yelled at by their teacher during ensemble practice.

I don't deny that such a world of music exists, but I feel that it is different from the world of music that Director Sakamoto was aiming for.

Before I joined TYO, I myself thought that being able to play well = justice. That's why I get depressed when I fail to play and I'm afraid of what others think.

To make music, you have to put your feelings into the sound, and in order to do that, you have to enjoy the sound. I feel like I learned that from Director Sakamoto.

The end of Tohoku Youth and Director Sakamoto.

As you all know, the Tohoku Youth Orchestra Concert 2023 was held on March 26, 2023, and Coach Sakamoto passed away two days later.

Of course, Director Sakamoto wasn't there for the training camp or the actual performance that year. But we had no idea that Mr. Sakamoto's condition had worsened, and we thought that he might surprise us on the day of the Tokyo performance.

And that was because Director Sakamoto had been watching the rehearsals and the performance via live broadcast, and during the rehearsals he gave us feedback through Yanagisawa as usual, and we responded with sound, and after the performance we received a message from Director Sakamoto.

Message from Director Sakamoto after the show: "Superb! Bravissimo (5 applause) It was amazing! It was great. Thank you everyone (3 applause) Good job."

Although Yanagisawa-san knew about Director Sakamoto's condition, he kept it a secret from us. If he had known, I don't think he would have been able to perform properly.

We also learned of Director Sakamoto's death on the news on April 2, 2023.

Later, we were shown a video of Director Sakamoto watching the performance on his iPhone, and I will never forget that sight. He would probably have been smiling during rehearsals like he had done in the past.