MUSIC NOTES : CHILDREN’S WORKSHOPS AT MUSEUM

The La Habra Children’s Museum will launch a summer-long series of weekend music and dance workshops at noon Saturday.

The free workshops are being offered in conjunction with the museum’s new exhibit, “Fame Is for Kids.”

“The exhibit allows children, 2 to 12, to perform on musical instruments, dance in ethnic and traditional ballet costumes and use props as well,” said Catherine Michaels, museum director.

“We have taped music that the children can dance to and music that they produce themselves on simple rhythmic instruments.”

The workshops, which also will give children hands-on experience in music and dance, have been funded by a $1,000 grant from Landmark Bank in La Habra. Local artists have either volunteered their services or agreed to perform on a reduced-fee basis, Michaels said.

Topics for the noon workshops are:

--June 28: “Hawaiian Dances,” including the hula, taught by Lulina Aramal.

--July 12: “Everyone Is a Star,” with folk musician John Yeiser leading audience participation.

--July 19: “Make Your Own Kind of Music,” with Jonell Cadman showing youngsters how to make musical instruments from everyday objects.

--July 26: “Dance Etc.,” featuring local dance troupes demonstrating techniques ranging from comedy to ballet.

--Aug. 2: “Huff N Puffs,” a performance by a senior citizen dance troupe.

--Aug. 9: Performance by composer-vocalist Richard Jennings, with electronic instruments.

--Aug. 16: “How Music Can Tell a Story,” with the Orange County Philharmonic Society’s Music Mobile (repeat performance at 2 p.m.).

--Aug. 23: Actor Dan Halkyard will present scenes from “Peter Pan.”

The museum, at 301 S. Euclid St. in La Habra, is housed in a renovated train depot built in 1923. It opened in 1977 and averages attendance of 300 children a day during the summer, Michaels said. Hours are Tuesday through Saturday, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Admission is $1 for children, ages 3 to 16, and seniors; $1.50 for adults.

For further information, call (714) 526-2227.

Speaking of kids: Nearly 200 members of the Huntington Youth Ballet, ages 3 1/2 to 19, will perform at 7:30 p.m. Saturday at the Donald R. Wash Auditorium in Garden Grove. The program will include tap, jazz and ballet. For further information, call (714) 847-6657.

Nearly 70 high school music students have signed up for performance and vocal technique workshops with Pulitzer Prize-winning American composer Norman Dello Joio, who will be guest artist-in-residence at UC Irvine from Saturday through Thursday. The composer’s residency is part of the university’s sixth annual “Summertime Music Workshop Festival.”

An all-Dello Joio concert will be given at 8 p.m Wednesday in the UCI Fine Arts Concert Hall by the California Chamber Singers, Festival Chorale and Music Now! Ensemble. Works will include “Song of the Open Road,” “A Jubilant Song,” selections from “The Tall Kentuckian” and the Trio for Flute, Cello and Piano.

Dello Joio, 73, won the Pulitzer Prize in 1957 for his “Meditations on Ecclesiastes,” a work for string orchestra. He also was the recipient of an Emmy Award in 1965 for music for the NBC television special “Scenes From the Louvre.”

His workshops will be held from 9 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. daily during his residency. He will coach chamber and vocal groups, wind ensembles and full orchestra in his own music. Openings are still available. For further information, contact the music department at (714) 856-6615 or (714) 856-4281.

The Seal Beach Chamber Music Festival, now in its 12th season, continues to offer free concerts on Wednesdays at 8 p.m. in the community room of the Mary Wilson Library, 707 Electric Ave.

An innovation this season is a regular pre-concert discussion of the evening’s repertory. Dates and programs for this season are:

--July 2: Lastravaganza Baroque Trio performing period music for violin, cello and theorbo (bass lute).

--July 9: Pianist Albert Dominguez performing music by Bach, Chopin and Prokofiev.

--July 16: Alan Parker conducting the Haydn Orchestra in four concertos by Vivaldi.

--July 23: Pianist Michael Zearott (program to be announced).

--July 30: Fullerton Consort presenting Bach’s “Wedding” Cantata and works by Handel and Telemann.

--Aug. 6: Pianist Virginia Mitchell and cellists Alayne Armstrong and Alan Parker performing music by Handel, Boccherini, Offenbach and Beethoven.

--Aug. 13: Alan Parker conducting the Haydn Orchestra in an all-Mozart program.