Kids Around the Bay

Lynn Douthit School of Dance ... and Joy

Lynn Douthit does it by herself, and has since 1979. “I like to be in control,” she told us the other day. In truth she does have helpers, mostly young dancers in high school or college. Classes run four days a week, for ages 3 to 70. And beyond.  Here are the specs: for preschool kids, combination classes include tumbling, Jazz, and tap. For older kids, from 5th grade on: Jazz and tap. Beyond high school, tap only. Average class size is 6 to 8 people; classes typically run one hour.

“I just want to give the same joy to people that I have gotten myself.” Among her students there is three generations in the same family. Few boys attend, except at the preschools levels. Down syndrome children are invited. Overall: some students are there just for that joy she described; others are seriously into dance, some graduates go on to such places as School of the Arts.

Sessions run from September to June. BUT there is another fall registration on Oct. 5, at 7 p.m. In addition, Lynn is flexible, which accounts for the rave reviews her school gets. But the truth is, you can tell she has a soft touch.

Call her before 2 p.m. Otherwise email: Lynndance@astound.net The cost is $540 for nine months, paid monthly. That’s one class a week. However, the door closes with a clank in another month. Classes start at 3:30 p.m., Monday through Thursday. Where you are placed depends on age, but also experience. Final show in June, at Lowell High School.

What about tap shoes? You ask. Pay $25 at Payless for little kids; or else Lynn’s bin where you can usually find 'previously owned' shoes for $5. For adults, you’re looking at about $70. Online or at Capezio’s. Nothing in the bin for adults.

Crowden Community Music Day

Community Music Day is a remarkable event, not least because it’s so appealing to small children. The celebrated “instrument petting zoo” is where you'll find kids exploring instruments: blowing on a tuba or a trombone, or strumming a harp. For smaller kids there are smaller instruments. The San Francisco Chamber Orchestra will be there with one of its patented introductory programs, which is always a treat, particularly if you wish to introduce children to both the sound of classical music and, if you will, the glamor. After all, many of these musicians are like sports stars in their world.

Very First Concerts launches during Community Music Day with three repeat concerts. The renowned San Francisco Girls Chorus will perform with music students from the Crowden Music School. And by the way, if you want to find out about that school, which is one of the premier schools in the Bay Area for musicians, they will have admissions people on hand. Plus: instrument making, class demonstrations, concerts for kids throughout the day, movies about music, a music sale, face-painting, and BBQ and baked goods. Don't miss all of this on Oct. 21 10 a.m. -3 p.m.  Community Music Day and its hands-on musical activities is a great way to introduce children to music. It's a free musical celebration for the entire family.

Singers Marin

Singers Marin was established as a nonprofit by the illustrious singer and teacher Jan Pedersen Schiff in 1987, who remains the artistic director of the group of choirs. It's among the better choirs in the Bay Area and just this summer the older group, known as Les Etoiles, won silver at the World Choir Games, held in Cincinnati. The competition included 360 choirs from 60 countries. Later this month, in collaboration with the Golden Gate Opera, younger children will sing in Hansel & Gretel (Oct. 26 and 28), a two-hour performance at the Showcase Theater in San Rafael.

The Singers Marin choirs are divided into these groups: Caroling kids (5 to 8-years-old); Starlight (9, 10); Celestial (11, 12). There are about 15 singers in Starlight; 8 in Celestial. You can still find a place in the Caroling kids. But hurry. Otherwise, next auditions are in January.

Amanda Morando is the Youth Conductor, an alumna of SingersMarin as well as UC Santa Barbara (’09), where she took a degree in Music in Vocal Performance. “If you’re interested, you would set up an audition with me. We’re very inclusive; we want to accept everyone. For younger kids we ask them to sing a song of their choice; for older kids we ask them to sing the "Star Spangled Banner."  We also ask the older kids to sing a scale and we want to see if they can read music. If they have an ear and some ability and enthusiasm, we find a place for them. Naturally, we want to be sure that kids can concentrate and hold their focus for a period of time.”

On April 23rd, its 25th anniversary, the company will perform at Davies Symphony Hall with the Mill Valley Philharmonic.

One-hour classes are in Mill Valley, at Mt. Tam Methodist Church, or for Caroling kids in both Belvedere and San Rafael. Those classes include movement and games, as well as basic technique and rhythm. Starlighters meet once a week; Celestials, twice. Tuition ranges from $250 to $400 a semester.

From the Top Showcases Talent at Mondavi

"From The Top" is a decade-old nonprofit in Boston whose productions you may know through the weekly NPR program hosted by Christopher O’Riley. The focus is on young musical talent, for ages from 8 to 18. But this is far more than a showcase. "From the Top" is really a cultural relay station focusing on, among other things, getting musicians to be agents of change in local communities.

Now one of the programs is going to be taped on Thursday, Oct. 25 (rehearsal is the night prior), at Jackson Hall on the UC Davis campus. The sponsor is the Mondavi Center for the Performing Arts at UC Davis. Featured performers include flutist Annie Wu (15) from Pleasanton and Phoebe Pan (14) from Irvine. Other performers have yet to be announced. For tickets and more information, go to mondaviarts.org or call 866-754-2787.

If you are a young musician, or you know one, this is an event well worth attending, if only as a way to inspire budding talent. Highly recommended. Incidentally, Davis is the Winesburg, Ohio of California, sweet, low and hot; a college town but slow moving, not oppressive. And plenty of restaurants.

Hardly Strictly Bluegrass

Warren Hellman has passed away, but the torch has been passed: Long live the Hardly Strictly Bluegrass festival. His largesse is legendary and he arranged an endowment to support the festival for 15 years after his death, which was in December 2011. His fortune was largely made as co-founder of a private equity firm. And so now he will be remembered in Hellman Hollow this weekend before such performers as Chuck Mead and His Grassy Knoll Boys, Red Baraat, Lloyd Cole, Patty Griffin, Dwight Yoakam, and the absolutely incomparable Patti Smith.

This is a festival appreciated by both connoisseurs and the merely curious. It is something for the entire family. There are kids everywhere. On a clear day this is a spectacular setting; but even not on a clear day, which quite honestly, it might well not be, even though this is supposed to be an Indian summer in the Outer Sunset District. No matter, this is one of those festivals where everybody’s in a good mood. The music rises to the occasion. It’s hassle-free and pure fun. Highly recommend.

Italian-American Parade in North Beach

This is the nation’s oldest Italian-American celebration and parade. It’s also San Francisco’s oldest civic event — it started in 1868 — and, of course, what a neighborhood this has become: Located between Chinatown and the Barbary Coast, it's home to artists and writers, and is the Greenwich Village of the West Coast. This is, after all, the land of Kerouac and Ginsberg. And for years the Washbag, otherwise known as the Washington Square Bar and Grill, was the palace for local intrigue. Now that’s all gone. If you go to this event you might stop by City Lights Books, a landmark in itself and arguably the last great bookstore in the city. Meanwhile, the parade features bands, floats, and all the city’s finest in their finery. It's a local celeb fest.

The parade begins at 12:30 p.m. at Jefferson and Stockton Streets in Fisherman's Wharf, then through North Beach up Columbus Avenue, and ends in Washington Square in front of Sts. Peter and Paul Church. There will be a Ferrari sportscar display in the park and various activities for children and families. And, of course, restaurants galore. The only problem is parking. Best bets are on the fringes, south in the financial district or east on the streets off Broadway, around Sansome and Vallejo, closer to the bay.