Listening to the Sounds of Music

While many adults have trouble identifying the sound of a French horn, Valley Alternative Magnet School kindergartners- through fifth-graders can pick out each of the brass instruments in the orchestra.

Thanks to the Valley Cultural Center’s Music-in-the-School program, the Van Nuys students and those at half a dozen other local schools are developing listening and music-appreciation skills while learning about instruments and musical genres.

The Guardian Brass Ensemble, one of four musical groups that will visit Valley Alternative in the next four weeks, captivated its young audience Monday. It performed familiar musical themes from “Star Wars,” “Star Trek” and other popular movies to highlight the brass instruments’ individual sounds.

Students also learned that a tuba, if rolled out flat, would create a 50-foot carpet of brass.

In addition to the brass group, percussion, wind and string ensembles are scheduled to perform in the school’s amphitheater, where students will experience the differences among the orchestra’s four musical groups. They will also attend a Cal State Northridge concert featuring the full orchestra May 11.

“This program allows the kids to see the instruments and get some fundamentals of music that most schools can’t provide anymore,” said Valley Alternative Magnet Coordinator Rhona Feldman. “The goal is to bring the basics of music to the children in a way that’s educational and entertaining at the same time.”

KUDOS

Checkmate: Reseda High School’s chess team recently won the Southern California Chess Federation’s annual competition, intermediate division, held at Monroe High School in North Hills. The two-time champs bested eight top Southern California high school teams. They were declared the winners after a nail-biting, tie-breaking round against North High School of Torrance. Robert Mickelson took first place in the overall standings in the 10th-grade division, while teammate Jan Gernade took fourth place in the 11th-grade division.

Making History: Rather than just reading about history, four Lindero Canyon Middle School students are making their own after winning top prizes in their division at the National History Day competition held at USC recently.

Eighth-graders Alex Balkin and Corey Rubinstein won the junior group exhibit prize for their project, “History and Impact of the Automobile Assembly Line,” while Philip Isbouts and Jeremy Slome won the junior group documentary prize for “Apollo: Mission to the Moon.”

All four Agoura Hills students will head to Anaheim on May 9 for the state-level competition.

History Day--a national organization--was created 30 years ago by University of Maryland educators who wanted to make history exciting for middle and high school students through creative projects.

This year’s theme for group and individual projects was “Science, Inventions and Technology: Impact, Influence, Change.”

END NOTE

Glendale Community College’s theater arts, music and dance departments will present the Tony Award-winning musical “A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum” Friday through April 18 in the Mainstage Theatre.

For ticket information, call (818) 240-1000, Ext. 5618 . . . Burbank Adult School will offer a four-week series of financial-planning workshops beginning April 19 at 6 p.m. For information, call (818) 558-4611.

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Class Notes appears every Wednesday. Send news about schools to the Valley Edition, Los Angeles Times, 20000 Prairie St., Chatsworth 91311. Or fax it to (818) 772-3338. Or e-mail them to diane.wedner@latimes.com.