August 21, 2024 • 20 mins
Founded in 2009, the Inner City Youth Orchestra of Los Angeles (ICYOLA), is a nonprofit that transforms the lives and minds of young people in Inner City LA through high quality music education. They teach young people about the great music of the world and provide opportunities for them to perform that music in the most magnificent settings of our community. They prepare their members for advanced study and high caliber success in music and otherwise and do it through many programs they offer and ALL AT NO COST. They instill the ancillary benefits that music instruction provides: problem-solving skills, critical thinking, self-reliance, self-confidence, self-discipline, and the crystallization and pursuit of meaningful purpose. The ICYOLA is also the largest majority Black orchestra in America. They have are building a new, larger facility to offer their programs to evan more students. To get your child involved, to donate to help fund the new building and to find our more, click here: https://icyola.org/
In this podcast, Lisa Foxx talks to ICYOLA Founder, Executive Director & Conductor Charles Dickerson. They chat about the programs and how getting involved with ICYOLA can be inspiring and life changing. Aired August 18, 2024.
In this podcast, Lisa Foxx talks to ICYOLA Founder, Executive Director & Conductor Charles Dickerson. They chat about the programs and how getting involved with ICYOLA can be inspiring and life changing. Aired August 18, 2024.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hi is Lisa Fox and this is the iHeart So
Cal Show, our show that puts a spotlight on charitable organizations,
nonprofits and people giving back.
Speaker 2 (00:08):
And today we're going to talk about the powerful.
Speaker 1 (00:10):
Gift of music and how the gift of making music
can transform a life. The Inner City Youth Orchestra of
Los Angeles founded back in two thousand and nine. It's
a nonprofit organization that transforms the lives and minds of
young people in Inner City LA through their high quality
music education programs. No a young person who wants to
(00:30):
master learn how to play the piano or clarinet or
violin and so on and be part of a magical
orchestra and all for free. Well, they're looking to expand
and they're looking for more young people to be a
part of this incredible program and it's all for free.
Intercity Youth Orchestra of Los Angeles their website, I see
why Ola dot org. I Seeyola dot org. And the
(00:54):
man behind it all is their founder. He's their music
director and the conductor of the Inner City Youth Orchestra
of Los Angeles. Hello Charles Dickerson or Charles can I
call you Chuck Well?
Speaker 3 (01:05):
Either one. My friends call me check. So if you're
my friend, you can call me check.
Speaker 2 (01:08):
I would love to be your friend. Okay, Chuck, how
are you today?
Speaker 3 (01:12):
I'm good? How about you?
Speaker 2 (01:13):
I'm wonderful. Thank you.
Speaker 1 (01:15):
So you've been a music guy pretty much your whole life. Huh,
this is kind of your calling, this is your thing.
Speaker 3 (01:20):
Well it might be, I guess, you know, yeah, I'll
accept that. Sure.
Speaker 1 (01:26):
Well, tell us about your background, you know, kind of
share your story and then you know what led you
to starting this organization.
Speaker 3 (01:32):
I am now a senior citizen. I'm seventy one years old.
But I began my music questions when I was three
years old on the piano, and I've been playing the
piano ever since. So I've been playing the piano for
sixty eight years, which is, you know, a little bit
of time. But I don't consider myself a pianist because
I don't play with a great proficiency of the great
(01:53):
you know, pianist of our age in our time. So
as I was born into a family, very very musical family.
My father was a church choir director. My mother sang
in the church a choir. Both of them were pianists.
Both of them were singers. And I have a brother
who's eight years my senior, who is a professional jazz pianist.
(02:14):
So when I was and came into the home, I
was coming into a home that was always infused with
just a whole lot of music. My parents were always
preparing music for church services, my brother was always practicing
on the piano, and so I came into a home
where music was kind of like an expectation for all
(02:34):
of us in the home. Like I said, I began
piano lessons while I was three. I continued piano lessons
until I was in my early teens. But when I
started in the fifth grade, some music teachers came to
our school, to our elementary school, and they began a
school band, and so they asked if there was anybody
in any of our classes who would be interested in
(02:56):
joining the band. So I took up the trumpet at
that point. I can still play a little bit. I
don't call myself a trumpeter either. While I was still
in high school, my high school choral director oftentimes would
call on me to come forward and conduct the corral,
particularly when she was going to be a way for
music conference or just couldn't conduct class for a day
(03:17):
or two, she would have me conduct a class, and
that was the first real conducting experience that I got.
And then by the time I was finishing my college work,
and my college work was not in music. I started
in music, but got distracted from music to do something else.
What happened was I got my first request to actually
(03:38):
become the church choir director at a church, much like
my father had been doing most of his life. I
started directing at that point, directing church choirs, and we
had a pretty large and substantial and significant choir such
that every Christmas in Easter we would put on special
performances like things like Handle's Messiah, particularly the Christmas portion
(03:58):
of that work during Christmas season and the Eastern portion
of that work during Easter, and we would always call
an orchestra to come and perform with us. So this
was the first time that I had an opportunity to
conduct an orchestra. I was about twenty two years old,
and I was conducting the orchestra in connection with the
choirs performing these seasonal concerts.
Speaker 1 (04:17):
Now, Chuck, can I ask you we're all with mister
Chuck Dickerson. By the way, he's the founder music director
and conductor of the Inner City Youth Orchestra of Los Angeles.
What is it about conducting the kind of drew you
in more so than playing instruments. You know, it's like
we watched the conductor with the Li Philharmonic at the
Hollywood Bowl.
Speaker 2 (04:34):
You know, that's the person.
Speaker 1 (04:35):
In charge of the ebb and flow of the music
and all the magic of the music that's being made
on that stage.
Speaker 3 (04:42):
Well, and that's what's appealing to it. You have the
opportunity to shape the music that the great composers have
provided to us to perform. You have the opportunity, the privilege,
that's what I call it, the privilege of leading other
musicians as they are seeking to make the best possible
found as we create you know Tchaikowsky's music or nowadays
(05:03):
John Williams music, or you know Bosart's music, Beethoven's music,
all that kind of stuff, Gershwin's music. So yeah, when
you stand in front, when you're given the opportunity to lead,
it's a heavy responsibility because for musicians, all of our
lives up until we begin conducting, our objective is to
make the best possible sound that we can, whether it's
(05:26):
by vocal sound by singing or by instrumental sound. By
playing an instrument we are encouraged and our whole objective
is to play or sing as best as we can.
When you conduct, you're not making a sound at all.
You are leading others in their objective and their attempt
to make music together. And of course when you're conducting,
(05:46):
you're always conducting an ensemble, and so what you're doing
is you're bringing together a group of musicians as opposed
to just one or two. You're bringing together, you know,
in my case, I'm an orchestra. About a month ago
we did our season finale at one hundred and thirty
nine young people playing on the stage. So bringing together
one hundred and thirty nine young people to make one,
(06:08):
one coherent and beautiful sound. That's kind of what draws
you into wanting to be a conductor. You hear all
this stuff and you get to be the one to
pull it together. You know. It's much like in some ways,
it's like coaching in a sports team. You're bringing together
you're bringing together the baseball players and you're helping them
(06:28):
learn how to field the ground balls and where to
throw the ball, and how to throw the ball and
what it's your turn to hit. You know, you're teaching
them how to hit, and then you take them out,
you hopefully play a game and hopefully you win. Well,
there's a real similarity between that experience and the experience
of conducting.
Speaker 1 (06:46):
Sure, and then when did you feel compelled to create
a need for young people to be a part of
this and you know, and start the inner city youth Orchestra.
Speaker 3 (06:54):
Well, what happened was in two thousand and four I
was invited to become the conduct of a professional orchestra
here in Los Angeles and Southeast Symphony, and I conducted
that orchestra from two thousand and four to twenty eleven.
In the year two thousand and nine, a group of
young people, nine African American high school aged instrumentalists, came
(07:17):
to me. They knew of me because of my work
with the Southeast Symphony, and they essentially said to me,
mister Dickerson, we really need a place where we can
play our instruments, because you know, we play a little
bit in school. There are all these youth orchestras that
are all around town, but none of them are in
the community where we live. We'd like to have one
in our community, would you help us do this? And
(07:38):
honestly and truthfully, I really was not not that excited
about doing it, but I figured, Okay, a summer program.
I guess I can tolerate six weeks of this. Let's
try it. So I old these kids, Okay, you bring,
I'm not doing any recruiting. You bring, you know your friends,
and we'll see how it goes. We started with that nine.
By the end of the summer we had grown to
(07:58):
twenty four, and I thought that was going to be
the end of it. But two weeks after we kind
of finished our summer program in two thousand and nine,
one of the young people in the ensemble had a
birthday party. She invited me to the party, and when
I got there, it was an ambush. All twenty four
of these young people were in the backyard waiting for
(08:20):
me to get there because they said, we want to
keep this going and we want you to be the
one to help us keep it going.
Speaker 2 (08:26):
I love that.
Speaker 1 (08:27):
And then when you kind of made it all official,
what was the first building? What part of town did
you start the Inner City Youth Orchestra of la In.
Speaker 3 (08:34):
Well, when we first started, we were over in Englewood
on the Brea Avenue, right across the street from KJLH.
That's where we started, and then we moved to the
place where we are currently and have been since twenty eleventh.
We are blessed to have availability of the rehearsal hall,
the fellowship hall at Knox Presbyterian Church in the Ladera
(08:55):
area of Los Angeles. Got it now, that's where we've been,
but you know we've worshiped. Recently, they purchased a building
and we're renovating it now for the purpose of having
our rehearsals and offering opportunities in the community for young
people to learn to play instruments and use music as
it means to learn how to be excellent people.
Speaker 2 (09:14):
I love it.
Speaker 1 (09:15):
This is all going to take place at the new
home base, then the new home base for the Inner
City Youth Orchestra of Los Angeles.
Speaker 3 (09:20):
That's correct, twenty forty five West Martin Luther King Boulevard.
Speaker 1 (09:25):
Look at that now, are these I had to google
do a little googling because I don't know the names
of all the instruments in an orchestra. But are these
kids playing all these things? Are you teaching young people
to play the clarinet, the violin, the cello, the bass, flute, trumpet, piano.
Speaker 2 (09:41):
Are they doing all this stuff? Saxophone, timpani, tuba, What
do you got?
Speaker 3 (09:46):
You're doing pretty good in terms of naming the instruments. Basically,
let me give you a quick little lesson. In an orchestra,
there are four families of instruments. There's the woodwinds, the brasses,
the percussion, and the strings. And the woodwinds, there's usually
two flutes to two clarinets and two bassoons. We usually
have more than that because we have more than that
number of kids who want to participate in our organization.
(10:10):
And then, of course, in the brasses, you have the
French orange, you have the trumpets, you have the trombones,
you have the tubas, and the percussion you have all
kinds of stuff including you know, snare drums and bass
drums and drum sets and xylophones and marembas and stuff
like that. And then the strings you have four family
four strings. Basically, in an orchestra you have violins, viola's, cellos,
(10:30):
and vases. And the answer to your question is yes,
we are working with young people who are playing and learning.
How to play all of these various instruments.
Speaker 1 (10:40):
Wow, and all of it for free, teaching young people
how to use all of these instruments for free. I
know we're going to touch on your programs in just
a second, but what's the age range for kids to
get involved in all this?
Speaker 3 (10:51):
Generally they come in with us when they're about twelve.
We have one or two that in this last year,
we're ten and we usually play. They stay with us
until many of them untill they're in their young to
mid twenties. And some of these young people they go
off to college, finish their college education, and when they
come home they want to play and they come back
and join it. Yeah, there's one more thing I need
(11:13):
to tell you about the age. We now also have
a very strong education program. And with regard to that program,
and by that, I mean we're actually taking young people
who've never played an instrument before, putting an instrument in
their hands and teaching them how to play. We have
young people as young as four years old in that program.
Speaker 2 (11:30):
Wow.
Speaker 1 (11:31):
What a blessing, because you know, like we know, with
sports and any kind of activity, music, what a great
way to you know, keep us too busy to get
in trouble.
Speaker 2 (11:40):
I know that was always sports sports for me.
Speaker 3 (11:42):
It was sports for me too. Yeah, those sports means
for me. Yeah, so yeah, I understand the sports is
actually a very good way to not just you know,
keep out of trouble, but also to learn the disciplines
of what it takes to be, you know, a good citizen.
You know when you when you play on a sports team,
or you played an orchestra and musical ensemble. You know,
you learn when it's your turn to be at bad
(12:04):
or your turn to throw the past, or your turn
to catch the past, and you have got to be
prepared to play the instrument.
Speaker 2 (12:11):
You have to put in the work, got to put
in the work.
Speaker 3 (12:13):
You have to put it to work. And that's what
you learn in both music and in sports. You got
to put in the work. You have to practice, you
have to be you have to strive for excellence. And
when you do that in these aspects of your lives,
like music and sports, you tend to adopt the very
same attitudes about all aspects of your life. And that's
(12:34):
the real value of good music education and.
Speaker 1 (12:36):
Even just the introduction to a whole new path in life.
Something pretty cool to to strive towards to master those
instruments and maybe one day be a conductor like yourself,
or conducting at the Hollywood Bowler, or conducting at events
for orchestras all over the world. I mean, where this
could take a young person. It is just sky's a limit,
(12:57):
right absolutely, And mister conductor, are you always actively looking
for more students to play? I mean, once you get
that new home base, the new building, do we need
more kids to fill it up? Are we looking to
teach kids how to play these instruments and do music
year round and all your programs.
Speaker 3 (13:12):
The door is open to all. And we actually we
don't have to recruit all we are we have so
many people running to be a part of us. Now,
sure you don't do any recruitment at all, And yes,
we are open to all. So you know, if there's
a young person out there who is interested in doing
and learning how to play an instrument, come see you.
Speaker 2 (13:31):
Inter City Youth Orchestra of Los Angeles.
Speaker 1 (13:33):
So it's ICYOLA dot org is the website for all
the information. You're actively raising money for the new headquarters
and you've got these programs in place, right Obviously it
costs money to get these instruments. Do you have partners
that donate instruments to you or how is that you
have to purchase them? How does that work?
Speaker 3 (13:51):
We do have partners. One such partner as the Guitar Center.
You know, even though they're called the Guitar Center, you
can get any instrument there that you want or need.
They specialize the guitar in a percussion. But you know,
when we need anything, our good friend who runs there
philanthropy program, Michael Miller, sees to it that we have
whatever we need from the young people in the community
that need an instrument. It was a violent prumpet regardless
(14:13):
of what it is. Yes, we do have partners who
do these, who do provide instruments for us, but also
we have partners who really are helping us with regard
to our building program. We have purchased this building at
twenty forty five West martin other King Boulevard, but we're
doing renovations of it right now. And if you go
online to exactly the website you just enunciated, i Seyola
(14:35):
dot org, you can see what we're doing in terms
of redeveloping this old liquor store and market that was
in the middle of our community and making it into
a center where young people can come not just to
learn instruments, but also to have other after school activities,
learn how to add to and two the guys.
Speaker 1 (14:53):
And in addition to your orchestra program that we've been discussing,
you also have this drum Core program.
Speaker 2 (14:58):
What's not all about and again all free?
Speaker 3 (15:01):
Yes, well, we do two things with drum corps. We play.
We have a drunk Corp now with about forty young
people that are called to play at a variety of
different kinds of events. And we're very still going to
be applying to be participants in a lot of local
parades like Martin Luther King Day Parade or even the
Rose Bowl Parade, stuff like that. But also I want
(15:21):
you to know that with regard to our Drunk Court program,
we also have a program that is being operated in
Los Angeles County Juvenile BAOL. We're trying to give an
opportunity to young men and young women. So far as
this man, they haven't opened the doors to the women's
side of it yet, but we're trying to give an
opportunity just to perhaps young men who may have never
played a drum before, to learn how to play a
(15:43):
drum and hopefully infuse within them the very disciplines that
are required in order to be a good drummer. Well,
these are the very same disciplines that make you be
a productive citizen.
Speaker 1 (15:54):
And learn how exciting the exciting journey that doing that
can take you on and exciting, you know, away from
the trail that got you in Juvie, away from the troubles.
Speaker 2 (16:02):
There could be this other wonderful path you could be
on with the Drum Corps, with the Orchester program.
Speaker 1 (16:07):
Exactly all right, how are we raising money for the
building the new headquarters, the future headquarters of the Inner
City Youth Orchestra of Los Angeles? Are we doing fundraisers?
Are we just asking folks to go to the website
and make a donation?
Speaker 3 (16:18):
Go to our website. That would be our best request.
I see why ola dot org. And I think if
you open it up, you're going to be invited right
at the very top of the website, the very beginning
when you open it up, to get an opportunity to
understand what it is that we're doing, what it is
that we need. And we would be grateful to anyone
who would be willing to help us out.
Speaker 1 (16:40):
And I'm assuming that at some point after the new
building is up and running, that you'll be able to
invite the public there.
Speaker 2 (16:48):
For a show, a future show with your students.
Speaker 3 (16:50):
Yeah, well, have a huge grand opening. But also you
see what we do is we play about twelve to
fifteen concerts around the city every year, and we always
conclude our content season with a concert at the World
Disney Concert Hall. This new building that we're building that
we're renovating right now is really going to be more
for our rehearsals and for our administration. Got it. We
(17:10):
will present some smaller concerts there, but you know, with
one hundred and thirty nine kids, it's gonna be kind
of hard to build a facility on King Boulevard that
will accommodate that many plus you know, maybe a couple
of thousand people to come to a concert.
Speaker 1 (17:23):
Okay, Always looking for new young people to turn onto music,
especially at the classical level, the orchestral level. If you
know of someone, your kid, a neighborhood kid, a kid
that your kid goes to school with, whom this program
can be perfect for.
Speaker 2 (17:38):
It is all for free.
Speaker 1 (17:40):
They want to be part of the magic of music
via this incredible orchestra experience, playing bass, playing hard flute, trumpet, piano, percussion,
sax horns, timpani, tuba, trombone, clarinet, violin. It's all happening
with the Inner City Youth Orchestra of Los Angeles and
all for free.
Speaker 3 (17:59):
Well, you know it's not free because you have you
do have a commitment. Your commitment is you have to practice.
You got to put yourself you've got to put your
nose to the wheel, and you've got to actually make
something of the instrument that is put into your hands.
So that's but that's the cost. You don't have to
take any money out of your pocket to participate in
our program. And that's a big distinction between our Youth
(18:20):
Orchestra and many other and most other youth orchestras throughout
the United States. Our operations are free for all of
those who wish to take advantage of what we offer.
Speaker 1 (18:28):
And I bet when you all come together, when that
practice pays off and you all come together and put
on a big concert at the Walt Disney Concert Hall
or you know, wherever you perform around town, I bet
parents and friends who come are just in awe and
they're clapping and smiling so.
Speaker 3 (18:44):
Proud, very very much. So yes, yeah, look.
Speaker 1 (18:47):
At that and that could be your child or a
child in your neighborhood. If you know someone who would
be a great fit for this program, or you want
to find out more, if you're a music person and
you have love and passion for this and you want
to give and spread the word and help mister Pierson
raise that money and make this magic happen for even
more kids.
Speaker 2 (19:03):
All for free.
Speaker 1 (19:04):
All the information is right there on their website for
inter City Youth Orchestra of Los Angeles at Icyola dot org,
Icyola dot org.
Speaker 2 (19:14):
Now we can't wait to come to a show.
Speaker 3 (19:16):
Our season opening concert will be on November three at
four pm at St. Bridget Catholic Church on Western Avenue
about fifty second then Western. That will be our season opener.
We will have Christmas season concert, will do Martin Lister
Kingday concerts, We'll have Black History months of concerts, and
we will always end our season with a performance at
(19:38):
the Walt Disney Concert Hall, and that will be in July,
probably the second Sunday of July.
Speaker 2 (19:43):
Wonderful, yay, well, thank you so much.
Speaker 1 (19:46):
You sound wonderful. Now we're going to have to come
to a show. You sound wonderful, and thank you so
much for all that you do for the world of music,
but also especially for these young people, getting them on
the path and introducing them to such beauty and helping
to conduct them all along the way.
Speaker 2 (20:00):
And it's just wonderful.
Speaker 1 (20:01):
It sounds like a wonderful program, So thank you so
much for doing what you do, and we can't wait
to see it perform live.
Speaker 3 (20:06):
Thank you for having me on your show.
Hi is Lisa Fox and this is the iHeart So
Cal Show, our show that puts a spotlight on charitable organizations,
nonprofits and people giving back.
Speaker 2 (00:08):
And today we're going to talk about the powerful.
Speaker 1 (00:10):
Gift of music and how the gift of making music
can transform a life. The Inner City Youth Orchestra of
Los Angeles founded back in two thousand and nine. It's
a nonprofit organization that transforms the lives and minds of
young people in Inner City LA through their high quality
music education programs. No a young person who wants to
(00:30):
master learn how to play the piano or clarinet or
violin and so on and be part of a magical
orchestra and all for free. Well, they're looking to expand
and they're looking for more young people to be a
part of this incredible program and it's all for free.
Intercity Youth Orchestra of Los Angeles their website, I see
why Ola dot org. I Seeyola dot org. And the
(00:54):
man behind it all is their founder. He's their music
director and the conductor of the Inner City Youth Orchestra
of Los Angeles. Hello Charles Dickerson or Charles can I
call you Chuck Well?
Speaker 3 (01:05):
Either one. My friends call me check. So if you're
my friend, you can call me check.
Speaker 2 (01:08):
I would love to be your friend. Okay, Chuck, how
are you today?
Speaker 3 (01:12):
I'm good? How about you?
Speaker 2 (01:13):
I'm wonderful. Thank you.
Speaker 1 (01:15):
So you've been a music guy pretty much your whole life. Huh,
this is kind of your calling, this is your thing.
Speaker 3 (01:20):
Well it might be, I guess, you know, yeah, I'll
accept that. Sure.
Speaker 1 (01:26):
Well, tell us about your background, you know, kind of
share your story and then you know what led you
to starting this organization.
Speaker 3 (01:32):
I am now a senior citizen. I'm seventy one years old.
But I began my music questions when I was three
years old on the piano, and I've been playing the
piano ever since. So I've been playing the piano for
sixty eight years, which is, you know, a little bit
of time. But I don't consider myself a pianist because
I don't play with a great proficiency of the great
(01:53):
you know, pianist of our age in our time. So
as I was born into a family, very very musical family.
My father was a church choir director. My mother sang
in the church a choir. Both of them were pianists.
Both of them were singers. And I have a brother
who's eight years my senior, who is a professional jazz pianist.
(02:14):
So when I was and came into the home, I
was coming into a home that was always infused with
just a whole lot of music. My parents were always
preparing music for church services, my brother was always practicing
on the piano, and so I came into a home
where music was kind of like an expectation for all
(02:34):
of us in the home. Like I said, I began
piano lessons while I was three. I continued piano lessons
until I was in my early teens. But when I
started in the fifth grade, some music teachers came to
our school, to our elementary school, and they began a
school band, and so they asked if there was anybody
in any of our classes who would be interested in
(02:56):
joining the band. So I took up the trumpet at
that point. I can still play a little bit. I
don't call myself a trumpeter either. While I was still
in high school, my high school choral director oftentimes would
call on me to come forward and conduct the corral,
particularly when she was going to be a way for
music conference or just couldn't conduct class for a day
(03:17):
or two, she would have me conduct a class, and
that was the first real conducting experience that I got.
And then by the time I was finishing my college work,
and my college work was not in music. I started
in music, but got distracted from music to do something else.
What happened was I got my first request to actually
(03:38):
become the church choir director at a church, much like
my father had been doing most of his life. I
started directing at that point, directing church choirs, and we
had a pretty large and substantial and significant choir such
that every Christmas in Easter we would put on special
performances like things like Handle's Messiah, particularly the Christmas portion
(03:58):
of that work during Christmas season and the Eastern portion
of that work during Easter, and we would always call
an orchestra to come and perform with us. So this
was the first time that I had an opportunity to
conduct an orchestra. I was about twenty two years old,
and I was conducting the orchestra in connection with the
choirs performing these seasonal concerts.
Speaker 1 (04:17):
Now, Chuck, can I ask you we're all with mister
Chuck Dickerson. By the way, he's the founder music director
and conductor of the Inner City Youth Orchestra of Los Angeles.
What is it about conducting the kind of drew you
in more so than playing instruments. You know, it's like
we watched the conductor with the Li Philharmonic at the
Hollywood Bowl.
Speaker 2 (04:34):
You know, that's the person.
Speaker 1 (04:35):
In charge of the ebb and flow of the music
and all the magic of the music that's being made
on that stage.
Speaker 3 (04:42):
Well, and that's what's appealing to it. You have the
opportunity to shape the music that the great composers have
provided to us to perform. You have the opportunity, the privilege,
that's what I call it, the privilege of leading other
musicians as they are seeking to make the best possible
found as we create you know Tchaikowsky's music or nowadays
(05:03):
John Williams music, or you know Bosart's music, Beethoven's music,
all that kind of stuff, Gershwin's music. So yeah, when
you stand in front, when you're given the opportunity to lead,
it's a heavy responsibility because for musicians, all of our
lives up until we begin conducting, our objective is to
make the best possible sound that we can, whether it's
(05:26):
by vocal sound by singing or by instrumental sound. By
playing an instrument we are encouraged and our whole objective
is to play or sing as best as we can.
When you conduct, you're not making a sound at all.
You are leading others in their objective and their attempt
to make music together. And of course when you're conducting,
(05:46):
you're always conducting an ensemble, and so what you're doing
is you're bringing together a group of musicians as opposed
to just one or two. You're bringing together, you know,
in my case, I'm an orchestra. About a month ago
we did our season finale at one hundred and thirty
nine young people playing on the stage. So bringing together
one hundred and thirty nine young people to make one,
(06:08):
one coherent and beautiful sound. That's kind of what draws
you into wanting to be a conductor. You hear all
this stuff and you get to be the one to
pull it together. You know. It's much like in some ways,
it's like coaching in a sports team. You're bringing together
you're bringing together the baseball players and you're helping them
(06:28):
learn how to field the ground balls and where to
throw the ball, and how to throw the ball and
what it's your turn to hit. You know, you're teaching
them how to hit, and then you take them out,
you hopefully play a game and hopefully you win. Well,
there's a real similarity between that experience and the experience
of conducting.
Speaker 1 (06:46):
Sure, and then when did you feel compelled to create
a need for young people to be a part of
this and you know, and start the inner city youth Orchestra.
Speaker 3 (06:54):
Well, what happened was in two thousand and four I
was invited to become the conduct of a professional orchestra
here in Los Angeles and Southeast Symphony, and I conducted
that orchestra from two thousand and four to twenty eleven.
In the year two thousand and nine, a group of
young people, nine African American high school aged instrumentalists, came
(07:17):
to me. They knew of me because of my work
with the Southeast Symphony, and they essentially said to me,
mister Dickerson, we really need a place where we can
play our instruments, because you know, we play a little
bit in school. There are all these youth orchestras that
are all around town, but none of them are in
the community where we live. We'd like to have one
in our community, would you help us do this? And
(07:38):
honestly and truthfully, I really was not not that excited
about doing it, but I figured, Okay, a summer program.
I guess I can tolerate six weeks of this. Let's
try it. So I old these kids, Okay, you bring,
I'm not doing any recruiting. You bring, you know your friends,
and we'll see how it goes. We started with that nine.
By the end of the summer we had grown to
(07:58):
twenty four, and I thought that was going to be
the end of it. But two weeks after we kind
of finished our summer program in two thousand and nine,
one of the young people in the ensemble had a
birthday party. She invited me to the party, and when
I got there, it was an ambush. All twenty four
of these young people were in the backyard waiting for
(08:20):
me to get there because they said, we want to
keep this going and we want you to be the
one to help us keep it going.
Speaker 2 (08:26):
I love that.
Speaker 1 (08:27):
And then when you kind of made it all official,
what was the first building? What part of town did
you start the Inner City Youth Orchestra of la In.
Speaker 3 (08:34):
Well, when we first started, we were over in Englewood
on the Brea Avenue, right across the street from KJLH.
That's where we started, and then we moved to the
place where we are currently and have been since twenty eleventh.
We are blessed to have availability of the rehearsal hall,
the fellowship hall at Knox Presbyterian Church in the Ladera
(08:55):
area of Los Angeles. Got it now, that's where we've been,
but you know we've worshiped. Recently, they purchased a building
and we're renovating it now for the purpose of having
our rehearsals and offering opportunities in the community for young
people to learn to play instruments and use music as
it means to learn how to be excellent people.
Speaker 2 (09:14):
I love it.
Speaker 1 (09:15):
This is all going to take place at the new
home base, then the new home base for the Inner
City Youth Orchestra of Los Angeles.
Speaker 3 (09:20):
That's correct, twenty forty five West Martin Luther King Boulevard.
Speaker 1 (09:25):
Look at that now, are these I had to google
do a little googling because I don't know the names
of all the instruments in an orchestra. But are these
kids playing all these things? Are you teaching young people
to play the clarinet, the violin, the cello, the bass, flute, trumpet, piano.
Speaker 2 (09:41):
Are they doing all this stuff? Saxophone, timpani, tuba, What
do you got?
Speaker 3 (09:46):
You're doing pretty good in terms of naming the instruments. Basically,
let me give you a quick little lesson. In an orchestra,
there are four families of instruments. There's the woodwinds, the brasses,
the percussion, and the strings. And the woodwinds, there's usually
two flutes to two clarinets and two bassoons. We usually
have more than that because we have more than that
number of kids who want to participate in our organization.
(10:10):
And then, of course, in the brasses, you have the
French orange, you have the trumpets, you have the trombones,
you have the tubas, and the percussion you have all
kinds of stuff including you know, snare drums and bass
drums and drum sets and xylophones and marembas and stuff
like that. And then the strings you have four family
four strings. Basically, in an orchestra you have violins, viola's, cellos,
(10:30):
and vases. And the answer to your question is yes,
we are working with young people who are playing and learning.
How to play all of these various instruments.
Speaker 1 (10:40):
Wow, and all of it for free, teaching young people
how to use all of these instruments for free. I
know we're going to touch on your programs in just
a second, but what's the age range for kids to
get involved in all this?
Speaker 3 (10:51):
Generally they come in with us when they're about twelve.
We have one or two that in this last year,
we're ten and we usually play. They stay with us
until many of them untill they're in their young to
mid twenties. And some of these young people they go
off to college, finish their college education, and when they
come home they want to play and they come back
and join it. Yeah, there's one more thing I need
(11:13):
to tell you about the age. We now also have
a very strong education program. And with regard to that program,
and by that, I mean we're actually taking young people
who've never played an instrument before, putting an instrument in
their hands and teaching them how to play. We have
young people as young as four years old in that program.
Speaker 2 (11:30):
Wow.
Speaker 1 (11:31):
What a blessing, because you know, like we know, with
sports and any kind of activity, music, what a great
way to you know, keep us too busy to get
in trouble.
Speaker 2 (11:40):
I know that was always sports sports for me.
Speaker 3 (11:42):
It was sports for me too. Yeah, those sports means
for me. Yeah, so yeah, I understand the sports is
actually a very good way to not just you know,
keep out of trouble, but also to learn the disciplines
of what it takes to be, you know, a good citizen.
You know when you when you play on a sports team,
or you played an orchestra and musical ensemble. You know,
you learn when it's your turn to be at bad
(12:04):
or your turn to throw the past, or your turn
to catch the past, and you have got to be
prepared to play the instrument.
Speaker 2 (12:11):
You have to put in the work, got to put
in the work.
Speaker 3 (12:13):
You have to put it to work. And that's what
you learn in both music and in sports. You got
to put in the work. You have to practice, you
have to be you have to strive for excellence. And
when you do that in these aspects of your lives,
like music and sports, you tend to adopt the very
same attitudes about all aspects of your life. And that's
(12:34):
the real value of good music education and.
Speaker 1 (12:36):
Even just the introduction to a whole new path in life.
Something pretty cool to to strive towards to master those
instruments and maybe one day be a conductor like yourself,
or conducting at the Hollywood Bowler, or conducting at events
for orchestras all over the world. I mean, where this
could take a young person. It is just sky's a limit,
(12:57):
right absolutely, And mister conductor, are you always actively looking
for more students to play? I mean, once you get
that new home base, the new building, do we need
more kids to fill it up? Are we looking to
teach kids how to play these instruments and do music
year round and all your programs.
Speaker 3 (13:12):
The door is open to all. And we actually we
don't have to recruit all we are we have so
many people running to be a part of us. Now,
sure you don't do any recruitment at all, And yes,
we are open to all. So you know, if there's
a young person out there who is interested in doing
and learning how to play an instrument, come see you.
Speaker 2 (13:31):
Inter City Youth Orchestra of Los Angeles.
Speaker 1 (13:33):
So it's ICYOLA dot org is the website for all
the information. You're actively raising money for the new headquarters
and you've got these programs in place, right Obviously it
costs money to get these instruments. Do you have partners
that donate instruments to you or how is that you
have to purchase them? How does that work?
Speaker 3 (13:51):
We do have partners. One such partner as the Guitar Center.
You know, even though they're called the Guitar Center, you
can get any instrument there that you want or need.
They specialize the guitar in a percussion. But you know,
when we need anything, our good friend who runs there
philanthropy program, Michael Miller, sees to it that we have
whatever we need from the young people in the community
that need an instrument. It was a violent prumpet regardless
(14:13):
of what it is. Yes, we do have partners who
do these, who do provide instruments for us, but also
we have partners who really are helping us with regard
to our building program. We have purchased this building at
twenty forty five West martin other King Boulevard, but we're
doing renovations of it right now. And if you go
online to exactly the website you just enunciated, i Seyola
(14:35):
dot org, you can see what we're doing in terms
of redeveloping this old liquor store and market that was
in the middle of our community and making it into
a center where young people can come not just to
learn instruments, but also to have other after school activities,
learn how to add to and two the guys.
Speaker 1 (14:53):
And in addition to your orchestra program that we've been discussing,
you also have this drum Core program.
Speaker 2 (14:58):
What's not all about and again all free?
Speaker 3 (15:01):
Yes, well, we do two things with drum corps. We play.
We have a drunk Corp now with about forty young
people that are called to play at a variety of
different kinds of events. And we're very still going to
be applying to be participants in a lot of local
parades like Martin Luther King Day Parade or even the
Rose Bowl Parade, stuff like that. But also I want
(15:21):
you to know that with regard to our Drunk Court program,
we also have a program that is being operated in
Los Angeles County Juvenile BAOL. We're trying to give an
opportunity to young men and young women. So far as
this man, they haven't opened the doors to the women's
side of it yet, but we're trying to give an
opportunity just to perhaps young men who may have never
played a drum before, to learn how to play a
(15:43):
drum and hopefully infuse within them the very disciplines that
are required in order to be a good drummer. Well,
these are the very same disciplines that make you be
a productive citizen.
Speaker 1 (15:54):
And learn how exciting the exciting journey that doing that
can take you on and exciting, you know, away from
the trail that got you in Juvie, away from the troubles.
Speaker 2 (16:02):
There could be this other wonderful path you could be
on with the Drum Corps, with the Orchester program.
Speaker 1 (16:07):
Exactly all right, how are we raising money for the
building the new headquarters, the future headquarters of the Inner
City Youth Orchestra of Los Angeles? Are we doing fundraisers?
Are we just asking folks to go to the website
and make a donation?
Speaker 3 (16:18):
Go to our website. That would be our best request.
I see why ola dot org. And I think if
you open it up, you're going to be invited right
at the very top of the website, the very beginning
when you open it up, to get an opportunity to
understand what it is that we're doing, what it is
that we need. And we would be grateful to anyone
who would be willing to help us out.
Speaker 1 (16:40):
And I'm assuming that at some point after the new
building is up and running, that you'll be able to
invite the public there.
Speaker 2 (16:48):
For a show, a future show with your students.
Speaker 3 (16:50):
Yeah, well, have a huge grand opening. But also you
see what we do is we play about twelve to
fifteen concerts around the city every year, and we always
conclude our content season with a concert at the World
Disney Concert Hall. This new building that we're building that
we're renovating right now is really going to be more
for our rehearsals and for our administration. Got it. We
(17:10):
will present some smaller concerts there, but you know, with
one hundred and thirty nine kids, it's gonna be kind
of hard to build a facility on King Boulevard that
will accommodate that many plus you know, maybe a couple
of thousand people to come to a concert.
Speaker 1 (17:23):
Okay, Always looking for new young people to turn onto music,
especially at the classical level, the orchestral level. If you
know of someone, your kid, a neighborhood kid, a kid
that your kid goes to school with, whom this program
can be perfect for.
Speaker 2 (17:38):
It is all for free.
Speaker 1 (17:40):
They want to be part of the magic of music
via this incredible orchestra experience, playing bass, playing hard flute, trumpet, piano, percussion,
sax horns, timpani, tuba, trombone, clarinet, violin. It's all happening
with the Inner City Youth Orchestra of Los Angeles and
all for free.
Speaker 3 (17:59):
Well, you know it's not free because you have you
do have a commitment. Your commitment is you have to practice.
You got to put yourself you've got to put your
nose to the wheel, and you've got to actually make
something of the instrument that is put into your hands.
So that's but that's the cost. You don't have to
take any money out of your pocket to participate in
our program. And that's a big distinction between our Youth
(18:20):
Orchestra and many other and most other youth orchestras throughout
the United States. Our operations are free for all of
those who wish to take advantage of what we offer.
Speaker 1 (18:28):
And I bet when you all come together, when that
practice pays off and you all come together and put
on a big concert at the Walt Disney Concert Hall
or you know, wherever you perform around town, I bet
parents and friends who come are just in awe and
they're clapping and smiling so.
Speaker 3 (18:44):
Proud, very very much. So yes, yeah, look.
Speaker 1 (18:47):
At that and that could be your child or a
child in your neighborhood. If you know someone who would
be a great fit for this program, or you want
to find out more, if you're a music person and
you have love and passion for this and you want
to give and spread the word and help mister Pierson
raise that money and make this magic happen for even
more kids.
Speaker 2 (19:03):
All for free.
Speaker 1 (19:04):
All the information is right there on their website for
inter City Youth Orchestra of Los Angeles at Icyola dot org,
Icyola dot org.
Speaker 2 (19:14):
Now we can't wait to come to a show.
Speaker 3 (19:16):
Our season opening concert will be on November three at
four pm at St. Bridget Catholic Church on Western Avenue
about fifty second then Western. That will be our season opener.
We will have Christmas season concert, will do Martin Lister
Kingday concerts, We'll have Black History months of concerts, and
we will always end our season with a performance at
(19:38):
the Walt Disney Concert Hall, and that will be in July,
probably the second Sunday of July.
Speaker 2 (19:43):
Wonderful, yay, well, thank you so much.
Speaker 1 (19:46):
You sound wonderful. Now we're going to have to come
to a show. You sound wonderful, and thank you so
much for all that you do for the world of music,
but also especially for these young people, getting them on
the path and introducing them to such beauty and helping
to conduct them all along the way.
Speaker 2 (20:00):
And it's just wonderful.
Speaker 1 (20:01):
It sounds like a wonderful program, So thank you so
much for doing what you do, and we can't wait
to see it perform live.
Speaker 3 (20:06):
Thank you for having me on your show.
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