Harlem Boys Choir to Make County Debut : Music: The 22-year-old group, which helps give youths direction in life, has put Irvine on its tour tonight.

“We don’t just teach a child to sing,” says Dr. Walter Turnbull, founder of the 22-year-old Boys Choir of Harlem, which makes its first Orange County appearance tonight at 8 at the South Coast Community Church in Irvine.

“Our effort,” said Turnbull on the phone from Fresno, one of 14 stops on the group’s current western tour, “is to help that child have a better lifestyle, to help navigate a very difficult period of growing up in a major urban environment. Many of these children--90% of them--are from single-parent homes. They have lots of family and personal problems. It is extremely important for them to be part of something positive and exciting.”

And that goes beyond singing. Operating out of an old school building on West 127th Street in New York, the choir provides tutoring six days a week in subjects ranging from music theory to English and math (members are required to maintain at least a B average in school) and year-round individual, family and career counseling. During the summer, the kids can frolic at a day camp in the city or at a live-away camp in Connecticut.

Taken together, the choir’s offerings help give its members “the support they need,” Turnbull said, “a sense of belonging, a family and something positive to do.”

While “Harlem” features prominently in the name, the choir actually draws from all over New York City. About 3,000 boys between the ages of 8 and 18 audition each year; about 100 are accepted. Turnbull says 98% graduate from high school and go on to college--in an area where 85% of students reportedly read below grade level.

A native of Greenville, Miss., who has sung with the Houston Grand Opera, the Philadelphia Orchestra and the New York Philharmonic, Turnbull remembers that the choir “was very difficult to begin.” For one thing, he had no budget at all.

“However,” he added, “people are not aware of the level of professionalism that children can attain, in terms of the amount of time and energy (they) put into it. They rehearse five days a week, two hours a day. . . .

“I’m sure they’re teased by their friends. But how many kids can look at their friends and say, ‘Have you ever been to Japan, to the Caribbean, or California?’ Most kids in our city don’t even have a chance to get out of the borough, even in a lifetime. . . .

“I can tell you, we have 150 boys coming every day after school. Something must be right. They must be motivated.”

The choir has played Lincoln Center, Radio City Music Hall, the White House--more than 70 concerts a year. It has been on television, sang on the soundtrack of the film “Glory,” has released two albums and has toured Europe five times and Japan three times. It heads out to Hong Kong and Singapore in June. Tri-Star Pictures is developing a movie on the choir. Its current budget is $1.5 million.

More than 70% of its money is earned from performances or comes from private sources, Turnbull said. “Only about 20% from government sources such as the New York State Council on the Arts and the National Endowment for the Arts.”

A program for about 40 girls was established in 1979. “As much as possible,” Turnbull said, “I would like for all children to take advantage of this opportunity for development. (Choir singing) is a centuries-old art that is equally important today as in the 14th Century, for the discipline and all that.

“Children should not be deprived of that art. We need it particularly in our inner city. If we can have a boys choir, we can have a girls choir as well.”

The current tour, by bus, involves about 35 boys--”and no,” Turnbull says, “the kids are not necessarily well-behaved at all times. They are regular kids in every sense of the word.

“But we are finding that all over the country, in every major city, we are asked: ‘Give us some idea how you do this. Can you help us do this? . . .’

“This is not the only way to reach kids. It is just one way. But we are reaching a significant number of children.”

The Boys Choir of Harlem, under the direction of founder Walter Turnbull, will sing Bach’s Cantata No. 4 (“Christ lag in Todesbanden”), several movements of Mozart’s Vesperae Solennes de Confessore, K. 339, a portion of the score for the film “Glory” and works by Ellington and Gershwin tonight at 8 at the South Coast Community Church, 5120 Bonita Canyon R oa d , Irvine. The program is being sponsored by UC Irvine Arts and Lectures. Tickets: $12. Information: (714) 856-5000.