They tap the keys on their trombones, trumpets, piano and saxophones, strum electric guitars and bang  drums in a cacophonous noise familiar to young aspiring musicians around the world. But how they’re playing is not the point: this kids’ jazz ensemble has resurrected itself after a devastating tsunami swept away their instruments and nearly stole their musical dreams. 

They’re the Swing Dolphins, an outfit of 23 girls and one boy in Kesennuma that regaled visitors with their renditions of jazz and rock standards “Mack the Knife” and “Route 66,” and Japanese songs like “Hometown” during a practice on Saturday.

Jim Seida / msnbc.com

Conductor Shinsuke Onodera works with saxophone players Waka Kikuta, left, and Takako Onodera, both 14, during a practice session on Saturday in Kesennuma, Japan..

It was just the band's fifth practice since a 9.0-magnitude quake jolted their city on March 11 and triggered a deadly tsunami that slammed Japan’s northeast coast.

Despite the recent down time, their bespectacled leader, Joichi Suto, wasn’t tolerating any sloppiness. 

“We have to perform well no matter what happened to us,” said the 52-year-old Suto. “Otherwise, it’s disrespectful to the audience. … Because this is what we love, we should practice hard, so that we can improve.”

 Suto founded the junior jazz orchestra for elementary and junior high students in 1993. “Before March 11, it could have been OK if we kept doing so-so ... but now we have lots of challenges,” he said. “We have to work hard. We have to be people who can help the community.” 

When the churning waves roared through Kesennuma, they hit Suto’s home, where he had stored many of the band’s instruments -- drums, a keyboard, trombones, trumpets and saxophone -- as well as amps and music books. The city hall where they practiced also was flooded, leaving them without a place to rehearse. 

Jinichi Nishimura, father of 13-year-old electric guitarist, Yumi, said he believed that “all the kids, including my daughter, were almost giving up that they could play again.” 

“I thought the Dolphins will disappear after the tsunami, naturally. It would meet its end,” said Nishimura, 50, who is living with his family in an emergency shelter at a school. “But then it was reborn.” 

The rebirth was helped along by a U.S. midwife: After Hurricane Katrina, the Swing Dolphins raised $125 at fundraising concert and donated it to the Red Cross. So when the Dolphins were down and out, Tipitina’s Foundation, a New Orleans nonprofit focused on supporting Louisiana’s music community, donated about $11,200 to the Japan-based Wonderful World Jazz Foundation, which bought four trumpets, four trombones and six saxophones for the Swing Dolphins. Suto received the instruments on April 16. 

“Jazz lovers in Japan have been bringing musical instruments and cash support to New Orleans area schools for years,” Tipitina’s Foundation said in a statement. 

“People in Southeast Louisiana can genuinely understand the suffering and anguish caused by this tsunami, and naturally want to reach out and help,” said the foundation’s co-founder, Mary von Kurnatowski. “We’re also mindful of the generosity and support we received, from Japan and elsewhere, after our own catastrophe. It’s time to pay that forward.” 

Jim Seida/msnbc.com

Swing Dolphin Kyosuke Yonekura, 13, holds a baritone sax at Kujo Elementary School in Kesennuma, Japan, on Saturday. The band lost many of its instruments in the March 11 tsunami, but is back in business with the assistance of a New Orleans nonprofit that returned the favor for a post-Hurricane Katrina donation.

The Swing Dolphins clearly appreciate the gesture. At the practice, a trombone player jumped at the chance to do a solo, the musicians scribbled notes when Suto gave them direction, and many giggles erupted as their leader joked and exhorted them to improve. 

“It was the first joy for a long time,” when we got to play again, said 12-year-old trumpet player Kanako Oyama, who won praise from Suto for her skillful playing. “It (the practice) was more fun than it is usually ... I got the sounds I wanted out of my instrument.” 

The orchestra played its first concert with the new instruments on April 24 for 500 people at the shelter where some of them are still living. But the challenges remain. Some members have not returned due to health issues, while others are dealing with the stress that comes with a natural disaster, including living in new environments. 

Saxophonist Takako Onodera, 14, said she found it hard to practice at her grandmother’s house, while trumpet player Kanako’s father said he believed his daughter’s bout with diarrhea after the disaster was due to stress. 

“I’m sure everyone is feeling sad, but we try to act normal,” said Hinako Chiba, a 15-year-old pianist whose family’s home -- and her mother’s piano -- were washed away. The Chibas, who we profiled earlier in this series, moved out of a school shelter last week. 

Nearly 1,000 people died and another 511 remain missing from Kesennuma, a warren of hamlets nestled amid forests, where families of farmers and fishermen have plied their trades for centuries. 

The Swing Dolphins next performance will be at the Jozenji Street Jazz Festival on Sept. 11 if they pass the video audition. Although Suto told them that they may not be up to par –a typical teacher’s attempt to motivate them to improve – he clearly thinks highly of his students. 

“This activity can give them a will to live and each kid has their own goals and the reasons to play. But now, after this tsunami, I’m sure they will have the power to overcome any challenges,” said Suto, who is living in a shelter. He added that this work is giving him a “will to live,” too.

“I’m not an expert,” he said, “but through music I want to teach them so that they can be a driving force of the reconstruction.”