Classical, Yes; Stuffy, No Way

Children and music are a natural and happy mix, although that may seem a doubtful assertion to any harried parent who has had to exit a concert early with an audibly dissatisfied child. But performing and presenting organizations throughout Southern California have programs that can help bridge that awful gap between Billy and Beethoven and stimulate a relish for the arts that today so many parents want in their children’s lives.

Forget any dim memories you may have of “children’s concerts,” however. The repertory now is noticeably less bland, and surrounding it is a whole panoply of computer and video enhancements, crafts and activities. Talk to the people who run these programs--many of which are free or presented at discounted rates--and you know you are in the ‘90s. Words like “interactivity” and “hands-on” leap out.

“Our Musical Circus program gives children a chance to touch and make sounds on the instruments of the orchestra,” said Geoffrey Fontaine, executive director of the Pasadena Symphony. “Then they see some of our musicians and one of our soloists talking about themselves and their instruments and actually playing. It makes the kids feel more connected to the orchestra and the music.”

“The unique thing with Pacific Symphony is that there is a new level of interaction, not only during the performance but before and afterward,” said assistant conductor Elizabeth Stoyanovich, who leads her orchestra’s Mervyn’s Musical Mornings programs. These include a musical treasure hunt through the lobbies of the Orange County Performing Arts Center featuring an instrument “petting zoo,” a computer center and dance and theater activities.

Such user-friendly enticements can raise entertainment-vs.-art questions.

“I’ve talked to parents and kids after some of these concerts, and they never talk about the music; they talk about the costumes or the computers or something else,” said Sue Knussen, education director for the Los Angeles Philharmonic, which has been doing children’s concerts for more than 70 years. “But we have to face the fact that kids are visually biased. This year we’re hoping to have video enhancements, screens around the hall on which we can show close-ups of the instruments while they are being played.”

Actor John De Lancie--Q on “Star Trek: The Next Generation” and son of the Philadelphia Orchestra’s celebrated former principal oboist--will host the Philharmonic’s Toyota Symphonies for Youth this season. Not all of the expanded before-concert activities may be ready for the opening performance, but eventually they will include a four-panel “music wall” showing instruments and the basic physics of music, story-telling, crafts and strolling musicians.

In San Diego, the recently revived symphony is combining holiday themes with orchestral performances for its children’s programs--the first of which is a Halloween show that includes musicians in costumes and a haunted house. ‘

Despite such extras, the orchestras still push listening as the prime concern. “The orchestra is obviously the main tool, and our players are the stars,” Stoyanovich said.

Another strategy involves the outdoors. And although Symphony in the Glen offers special activities for children--coloring books, puzzles and introductions to conducting-- before its free concerts, it relies on natural magic rather than technological glitz to create a kid-friendly ambience: The concerts are outdoors on the grass at Griffith Park, where children can stretch and play while listening.

“I believe that the park environment--with other kids, parents, a picnic--increases the likelihood that it will all, somehow, enter the children’s memory banks. I suppose that’s because the whole experience is so visceral,” Symphony in the Glen music director Arthur Rubinstein said.

The final concert of the current season features Symphony in the Glen’s third annual “Peter and the Wolf,” with “Rush Hour” actress Elizabeth Pena handling the narration. Although this prototypic kids’ piece has been a regular for Symphony in the Glen, Rubinstein said he feels no obligation to program “children’s music”--indeed, the opening concert this season listed Beethoven’s 9th Symphony.

And that brings up another challenge for programmers: the fine line between “dumbing-down” and eluding children’s interest and attention altogether.

“One difference I’ve seen between the Pacific Symphony and other major orchestras is that we plan the whole season of family concerts. We don’t just put on a refurbished portion of a regular adult program and hope the kids will swallow it,” said Stoyanovich, who has two children. “It’s not dumbing-down; it’s making it accessible and creating something just for children.” Her programs do include occasional tunes from hit Disney films but also generous portions of major works by Beethoven, Stravinsky and Bartok, among others.

“I come down on the side of constructing a program that is paced well enough to keep kids’ attention,” said Knussen, whose Symphonies for Youth include colorful excerpts from regular programming and other works, such as Ravel’s “Mother Goose” Suite and Roberto Sierra’s Percussion Concerto, but no Disney. “Kids will listen to all kinds of music as long as the length is right.”

It’s not just the major orchestras in the Southland that have their eye on attracting a young audience--smaller ensembles, chamber series, venues and presenters all over the region also make special provisions for introducing children to classical music. Among the offerings: Chamber Music in Historic Sites has three spring kids’ programs in museums combining sounds and sights. In March at the Fowler Museum, for example, new music from Chinese composers mixes with an exhibit of Chinese embroidery. Also in March, the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra plans to inaugurate a kids series with Robert Kapilow’s musical version of the Dr. Seuss classic “Green Eggs & Ham.”

Among presenters, the Orange County Performing Arts Center hosts family-oriented Saturdays at the Center, which include music shows, as does its Imagination Celebration, a 10-day county-wide arts festival, in the spring.

UCLA Center for the Performing Arts, sponsors a “Meet the Instruments” event in March with the school’s Symphonic Band, and in May makes use of the out-of-doors strategy, starting kids off with a picnic before a UCLA Philharmonia Orchestra performance, narrated by Robert Winter.

The Friends of the Cerritos Center for the Performing Arts, the group that handles the center’s education programs, sponsored a Tchaikovsky Festival with a family component already this season and plans spring events with Wynton Marsalis with the Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra.

“If all of this works, we’ll be doing more of it,” said Center and Friends director Wayne Shillkret. “We’re trying to put together a larger audience for classical music, and there is a really good opportunity here to get families involved.”

So now you’re going to get your outer child in touch with his or her inner muse. What can you do before attending one of these programs to maximize its effect?

Ironically, the best preparation may be no preparation at all, at least not anything that makes the experience seem artificial and difficult. After all, removing stereotyped preconceptions about the stuffiness and complexity of classical music is what many of these programs are all about.

“It’s not the music that is elitist; it’s the packaging around it,” Knussen said. “We want to help parents as well as kids respond naturally to the music. Kids see right through having something imposed on them.”

“Special preparation is not necessary when coming to the arts,” said Greg Patterson, vice president of marketing and communications for the Orange County Performing Arts Center. “The arts are about what is on the stage; it’s about enjoyment.”

Of course, listening to recordings before a concert is never a mistake. In fact, having music and the arts in the home regularly is the best way to make them a part of your child’s life. “It’s about familiarity more than anything,” said Knussen.

And never more so than after the concert is over.

“Quite often there is no follow-through,” laments Fontaine, “and this bright moment may soon be forgotten. Parents need to remain interested, so kids realize that music is not something that only strange people in tuxedos do.”

Or as Stravinsky once said: “People are taught to have too much respect for music; they should be taught to love it instead.”

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Music for the Family

Pasadena Symphony--Musical Circus: this Saturday and Nov. 21, Feb. 27, March 20, May 8; 9 a.m., Pasadena Civic Auditorium, 300 E. Green St. Free. (626) 793-7172.

Symphony in the Glen--”Peter and the Wolf”: Oct. 25. Preconcert activities at 12:30 p.m., concert at 2 p.m., the Old Zoo, Griffith Park, Free. (213) 955-6976 or htpp://www.symphonyintheglen.org

Pacific Symphony Orchestra--Mervyn’s Musical Mornings: Oct. 24, Dec. 19, Feb. 13, March 6, April 17, May 8; preconcert, 9 a.m.; concert, 10 and 11:30 a.m.; post-concert, 12:15 p.m., Orange County Performing Arts Center, 600 Town Center Drive, Costa Mesa. $10-$12. Information: (714) 755-5799, ticket purchase: (714) 740-7878.

Orange County Performing Arts Center--Saturdays at the Center: Nov. 7, Jan. 16, March 27, June 5; 11 a.m., Orange County Performing Arts Center, 600 Town Center Drive, Costa Mesa. $6. Information: (714) 556-2787, Ext. 8421; tickets, Ext. 240.

Los Angeles Philharmonic--Toyota Symphonies for Youth: Nov. 28; Jan. 23, Feb. 20, April 24, May 15; preconcert, 10 a.m.; concert, 11 a.m., Dorothy Chandler Pavilion, 135 N. Grand Ave., downtown Los Angeles. $6-$10. (213) 850-2000.

San Diego Symphony--Family Festivals: Nov. 1, Dec. 13, Feb. 7; 2 p.m., Copley Symphony Hall, 750 B St., San Diego. $10-$15. (619) 235-0800.

Cerritos Center for the Performing Arts--Family performances; March 17, 4 p.m.; March 19, 5 p.m. (free); Family arts festival; May 16, all day (free). To receive a kids-and-music newsletter, write to Stacy Brightman, Education Director, Cerritos Center for the Performing Arts, 12700 Center Court Drive, Cerritos, 90703. (800) 300-4345.

UCLA Center for the Performing Arts--Meet the Instruments, UCLA Symphonic Band; Mar. 14, 1 p.m.; $5-$7; Schoenberg Hall. Picnic and concert, UCLA Philharmonia Orchestra; May 16, 12 p.m.; $5-$7; lawn and Schoenberg Hall. (310) 825-2101.

Chamber Music in Historic Sites--Music for Kids: February 27, 1:30 and 3 p.m., Museum of Latin American Art, Long Beach; March 27, 10 and 11:30 a.m., UCLA Fowler Museum of Cultural History, Los Angeles; April 24, 1:30 and 3 p.m., Skirball Cultural Center, Los Angeles. $12-$18. (310) 954-4300.

Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra--”Green Eggs & Ham,” March 20, 3 p.m., Alex Theatre, 216 N. Brand Blvd., Glendale. $5-$15. (213) 622-7001.