A musical mission in manners

Michael Miller

Last Thursday in a spacious music room, a dozen 5- to 7-year-old

girls took turns making small talk.

“Hi. My name’s Ellie.”

“I’m Elizabeth.”

“What are your favorite things to do?”

“Go to the Fun Zone.”

It might have looked like an informal party, but it was actually a

lesson. Every week during the summer, the Pacific School of Music and

the Arts holds manners classes in which participants learn to shake

hands, make conversation and, most importantly, choose their words

carefully.

Nine months out of the year, the Costa Mesa-based school offers

after-school music and art lessons for children around Orange County.

After school lets out, the classes are expanded into weeklong camps.

At the end of each five-day series, students put on small musical

theater productions in costume.

In between learning to paint and sing, students can acquire

equally valuable skills, such as table setting, telephone courtesy,

introductions and more.

“Some of it seems like common sense to us, but when I make the

lesson plans, I have to think what it’s like to be them -- being that

age and being told what’s right and wrong,” said Nancy Kho, a piano

teacher for the Pacific School who leads the manners class during the

summer. “It’s a relearning experience for me.”

On Thursday, Kho led her students in a pair of common exercises

for their age group: hosting a birthday party and attending one. She

outlined some general rules: stay in the same rooms as the other

guests, don’t swim in the pool unless invited, and volunteer to help

clear the table.

Afterward, Kho held an exercise to demonstrate present-opening

etiquette. She had Zac Elan, a former Pacific School camper and

current Saddleback College student, open three imaginary presents

from the children. For the first one, Kho told her assistant -- “Mr.

Zac” -- to pretend the gift was one he’d really wanted. For the

second, she told him to imagine the gift was something he didn’t

desire; for the third, one he already had.

Demonstrating how to maintain a positive face, Elan replied,

“Cool! A new hat,” for the first box, then worked his way down to a

white lie for the last.

“Maracas!” he said, shaking a pair of instruments Kho handed him

from off the shelf. “That’s useful. Thank you.”

Some of the girls in attendance had recently had parties, while

others had them planned for the near future. Catherine DiCaprio of

Costa Mesa, who turns 6 in August, said she was going to Disneyland

with her cousins.

Sami Eliades said she expects to celebrate her 7th birthday at

Legoland this August, but she won’t be having an elaborate party.

“I don’t like too many friends because they go on too many rides,”

the Huntington Beach resident explained.

* SCHOOL’S OUT is a weekly feature in which Daily Pilot education

writer Michael Miller visits a summer camp within the Newport-Mesa

area and writes about his experience.