Tune Buggy Hits Right Notes With Children

Tune Buggy has the pipes. Lamby, Birdy and Edgar the elephant are given the voices. All are part of a musical menagerie that David Pinto and Lois Young use to teach music to children through their puppet shows in which the characters sing original songs written by the pair.

“The whole thing started when David heard me singing lullabies I had written to my little girl,” says Young, a longtime singer and actress. At the time, about 4 years ago, she was taking a class from Pinto in music sight-reading.

“She just starting improvising,” Pinto says, “and I thought, ‘Wow, wouldn’t it be great to collaborate on a children’s album?’ Traditionally, you hear the banjo and harmonica type of sound, and I just think that kids might like something a little more sophisticated.”

Pinto has been a music educator and conductor for television and entertainers on the road, including Cher, Ann-Margret and Dolly Parton. He adds a modern sound to the music with a synthesizer.

“We do songs that really come from a child’s point of view. I believe in validating what a child is feeling, rather than trying to impose change. I think you get better results,” Young says.

Young likes to talk about the results she sees after singing the song “Mad, Sad, Glad,” about a little girl who isn’t getting her way. After a temper tantrum, the little girl makes up with her mother and they hug. “You should see all the kids in the audience run up to their parents to hug them.”

Young and Pinto originally started performing with puppets shortly after they finished recording their first project in 1986 called “Pancakes: A Batch of Fun Songs for Kids.” They’ve since completed another cassette called “Crack in the Door: Lullabies to Light the Night.”

During shows, Pinto hides in a contraption called Tune Buggy, which also hides his musical equipment. “It’s a car with wings and an antenna and a propeller nose--sort of part car and part bug,” Pinto says. “I can make it talk and animate it with my foot, and a joy stick moves its big headlight eyes. The kids love it.”

The puppet show, “Pancakes,” is at the Back Alley Theater, 15231 Burbank Blvd., Van Nuys. There are two shows at 1 and 3 p.m. every Tuesday through Saturday from tomorrow through Dec. 31. Tickets are $6.50. Call (818) 780-2240 for information.