Vocal About Chorus : A teacher sets high standards for a choir of L.A. children, and they sing her praises in return.

The 55 kids who assemble Wednesday night at Callahan Street Elementary could have been playing softball, Nintendo or any of the things children 10 to 15 like to do in their spare time.

Instead, they are singing, beautifully and with all their might, their attention raptly focused on conductor Brenda Mohr as she leads them through a two-hour rehearsal that’s not exactly “fun-and-games-with-Brenda.”

“Drop that jaw!” she instructs. “I want a full sound and big phrases. Maybe your school choir lets you sing like that. Maybe your church choir lets you sing like that. Here we don’t sing like that.”

This is the weekly rehearsal of the Angeles Chorale Children’s Chorus, a group that brings together youngsters with a love for music and singing and the commitment to doing it right. Formed three years ago under the auspices of the well-known Angeles Chorale, the chorus was conceived as a place for children to get quality musical experience that they were increasingly denied in their schools.

“I’ve been concerned for years that in the schools there are less and less music programs occurring,” says John Alexander, artistic director and conductor of the Angeles Chorale. Fearing that the chorus art form would “go away in the next generation,” Alexander came up with the idea of a children’s chorus that would perform alone and with the Angeles Chorale and in doing so, would “train the singers of the future and provide the audience of the future.”

In Mohr, a former student of his at Cal State Northridge, Alexander found the perfect conductor.

Mohr, 32, petite and seven months pregnant, cuts her choir no slack as she coaxes from them the kind of dynamic subtleness that could be expected from an adult chorus.

“Sopranos!” she shouts, stopping the choir in mid-phrase. “I feel like I’m in a church choir. You have more support than those old ladies.” As Mohr imitates her errant sopranos, the chorus dissolves in giggles.

A music teacher who has worked 10 years with children’s voices, Mohr knows how to handle her choir, blending strict discipline with doses of humor and encouragement.

“The kids like me to crack the whip,” she explains. “They like quality. They like being in the spotlight and looking good, and they trust me to get them there. I suppose if they wanted to be in a group that didn’t crack the whip they wouldn’t be here.”

In fact, Mohr enforces a “three absences, you’re out” policy, whereby children have to re-audition to get back in the choir.

But this discipline hasn’t deterred 13-year-old Sarah Parry, who has been coming to rehearsal every Wednesday for the past two years.

“Everyone here really wants to be here,” she says. “So, if you get invited to a movie the same night, well, you go to choir. I love it. I don’t care what I miss.”

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For 15-year-old Amalia Hernandez, the chorus is a way to hone her singing technique (she wants to be a Broadway actress) and get performance experience. And as a budding professional, she doesn’t find the rehearsals demanding.

“They aren’t demanding, because (Mohr) wants you to do your best, and she’s there to help you do your best. And it’s not as if you’re going to get tested on it afterward.”

Amalia, like Sarah, is staying after rehearsal tonight to audition for one of the solo slots for the choir’s Sunday concert, which will feature a mix of folk, pop and classical pieces. It’s the choir’s yearly solo concert (the other three are with the Angeles Chorale), and parents and children mill around nervously, waiting to be called in to sing.

Jenny Fuller, like many other mothers, has juggled her schedule to be here tonight with her children. Although she herself is a volunteer music teacher in the public school system, she acknowledges this choir is leagues beyond what she sees in school.

“The standard of excellence is much, much higher, and it is done with such a positive attitude. You couldn’t ask for a better musical environment for your children.”

Mohr is a bit more modest when asked to assess her chorus.

“We are more like an intermediate choir,” she says. “We’ve been around only three years, but compared with other intermediate choirs we’re right up there.” She does agree, however, that she coaches her kids like professionals, a necessity, considering they’ve sung in venues as prestigious as the Hollywood Bowl and the Pasadena Civic Auditorium.

“I want them to know that they are in a different choir than their school choir. That this is special and we are expected to be professional when we go out and sing with the Angeles Chorale,” Mohr says.

The children themselves are acutely aware of the difference between this choir and what they sing in at school.

“In my school choir there’s kids that aren’t as talented and don’t like to be there,” says 11-year-old Hallie Silverston. “I think in this chorus kids like it a lot better because of the instructor and because other kids know how to sing. So there’s also competition. That’s most of the reasons why I like it.”

Acceptance into the Children’s Chorus is based on how well applicants sing in tune, how well they match pitch and if they have a musical background or participate in other musical activities.

Knowing how to read music, although helpful, is not a requirement, but singing everything by heart is.

For Joan Montez, a private voice teacher in the San Fernando Valley, the merits of the chorus are manifest in four of her students who sing in the ensemble.

“I’ve seen a real growth in these particular children,” she says. “I see it in their self-esteem and in their vocal technique. . . . It’s very important for children to have avenues for expression. That’s why I think the Children’s Chorus is just phenomenal and I hope it continues.”

Although Mohr is retiring from the chorus at the end of the season to devote herself to motherhood, she and Alexander have clear-cut plans for the ensemble, which will continue under a new director.

Top on their list is establishing a training choir where new members can come in and learn the basics, including harmony and sight-singing. This beginners’ group would allow the more advanced singers, who have been in the chorus longer, to sing at a higher level and improve continuously.

More important, Mohr says, is to foster a love for singing that remains alive forever.

“There’s so much potential in children, because that’s where it all starts. . . . I see their expressions at the performances, when the audience applauds and they hear their parents praise them. . . . I think they feel better about themselves. The excitement of performing, of being under the lights, it’s just a thrill. They think it’s the greatest thing.”

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WHERE AND WHEN

What: The Angeles Chorale Children’s Chorus.

Location: Northridge United Methodist Church, 9650 Reseda Blvd.

Hours: 7 p.m. Sunday.

Price: $6 general, $3 children 12 and younger.

Call: (818) 760-7449.