MUSICIAN OF NOTE COMPOSER AT EMELITA ELEMENTARY SHARES TALENTS, TALES.

Byline: Mark Kellam Valley News Writer

A group of local students got to see firsthand how music is created - with a little help from a laptop computer.

Irish-born pianist and composer Brian Byrne showed students at Emelita Elementary School in Encino how he and other composers make music with the click of a mouse.

Using a software program - and projecting the score-under-construction on a screen - Byrne showed how each instrument builds on top of others to create a composition. The students heard the percussion and then the bass. Piano was added and then trumpets and wind instruments. They heard the instruments individually at first, then all the instruments were played together as each new one was added.

``It's like a cake,'' he told the students. ``The instruments are the ingredients.''

Byrne said he started playing piano by ear as a child. ``It wasn't until I was 9 years old that I took piano lessons to learn how to read musical notes,'' he said.

He played for the students one of the first songs he learned, ``Mary Had A Little Lamb.'' He showed how he learned initially to play the song with one hand and then he added chords.

To demonstrate improvisation, Byrne used the theme song from ``The Flintstones.'' The first time he played it, the song was note-for-note like the tune played in the famous cartoons and movies. As he played the song a second time, however, Byrne added syncopated rhythms, jazzy chords and flashy keyboard runs as the students sat in amazement at the extra flourishes.

Also during the workshop, Byrne invited students to come up and sing. Tristan Keitz and Nicole Sura were brave enough to accept Byrne's offer. They sang ``Tomorrow'' from the musical ``Annie'' as Byrne and students in the audience sang along.

Just prior to moving to the United States in July 2003, Byrne composed, orchestrated and conducted the soundtrack for a four-part television documentary titled ``The Island,'' which highlighted the history of Ireland.

In 2004, after finishing the score for an animated film, he was musical director for the BBC's ``Beautiful Night'' concert at Donegal Square in Belfast, Northern Ireland.

Byrne's U.S. conducting debut came later in 2004 with Irish tenor Ronan Tynan at Carnegie Hall. Later, he was commissioned to write arrangements and conduct the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra for the release of Tynan's first solo album, ``Ronan.''

Byrne's original stage musical ``Black Sunrise,'' in collaboration with lyricist Margaret Byrne, premiered in 2002. The musical is a dramatic account of the Irish famine.

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Musician Brian Byrne accompanies Tristan Keitz and Nicole Sura as they sing ``Tomorrow'' from the musical ``Annie.'' Emelita Elementary students Maia Berneman, John Bishay and Leila Salem watch the sing-along.