AREA'S YOUTH ORCHESTRA PROVIDES MUSICAL OPPORTUNITIES.

Byline: Teresa Jimenez Daily News Staff Writer

Sally Angel can't think of a reason why a young musician would not want to join the Santa Clarita Valley Youth Orchestra - it provides the most affordable music lessons around, it's a friendly organization that encourages young people to learn and it's challenging.

``It's $20 to $30 for 50 hours of instruction,'' said Angel, president of the Youth Orchestra Foundation. ``That has to be the best deal in town. And they really get quality instruction.''

With the start of the new year comes the beginning of the Youth Orchestra season, a program offered in residence at College of the Canyons.

The program offers the opportunity for beginning string musicians in the Prelude Strings group to earn half a unit of college credit, while the Orchestra intermediate participants earn one unit and the advanced Philharmonic participants earn 1-1/2 units. Any musician from age 8 to 20 can become a Youth Orchestra member.

On Sept. 12 and 14, organizers will hold parent/student meetings; rehearsal sessions will begin soon afterward.

Before the young musicians attend the meetings, however, they should schedule a tryout this week so they can be placed in the beginning, intermediate or advanced group, Angel said.

And Angel wants to encourage any strings musician with about a year of lessons to consider joining Prelude Strings.

``We like to think we're a friendlier program,'' Angel said. ``We're not just interested in the best musicians. We are, but we also want to provide quality musical instruction. Music has been dropped at so many schools. We want to make sure a program is available.''

Angel gave the example of the California State University, Northridge program, the Santa Clarita Valley Youth Orchestra's competition for luring students.

The program is more expensive, about $250, and is known to be more competitive about getting the best musicians, Angel said.

About 80 to 90 youths participate in the Santa Clarita Valley Youth Orchestra every year, Angel said. But there's plenty of room for growth, she said.

The organization would like to bring in students from the north San Fernando Valley area, who in the past have represented only a small percentage of the participants.

``We almost have as many musicians as there are in Santa Clarita and we really can grow,'' Angel said. ``College of the Canyons is trying to attract more young people to the college, so the college has waived registration fees, which is why it costs so little.''

Generally, about 25 percent of the youths travel from Palmdale and Lancaster to participate, Angel said.

``There's nothing equal to us (in the Antelope Valley). There's one high school music program and a very junior orchestra,'' Angel said. ``But there's nothing with the quality and challenge that ours has.''

An additional 5 percent come from the San Fernando Valley. The rest are Santa Clarita musicians.

To schedule a tryout, call [phone].