For the past three years, professors, college students and a local arts organization have given Denton children a chance to get a good squawk out of a clarinet, a smart rap on a drum or a creaky note from a violin in one short Saturday event.

“You know, as far as the squawking, that’s part of learning to play an instrument,” said Don Taylor, a professor of music education at the University of North Texas College of Music.

Taylor joins the Greater Denton Arts Council and about 50 students from North Texas Student Music Educators, a UNT group of music education majors, to present the fourth annual Instrument Petting Zoo.

DRC/Gary Payne

University of North Texas music education professor Don Taylor, center, and students Lillian Cain (French horn), left, Jonathan Cao (alto sax), Jean Metcalf (oboe) and Christine Halowec (bassoon) will bring band and orchestra instruments for children to play Oct. 10 during the Instrument Petting Zoo at the Center for the Visual Arts.

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The event on Oct. 10 packs hundreds of children into a morning concert and workshop at the Center for the Visual Arts. The students, all in grades two through five, come with a parent or guardian to check out brass, wind, string and percussion instruments.

“This isn’t an original idea,” said arts council committee member Elizabeth Scott, a founding organizer of the Denton event, now in its fourth fall. “When I was living in New York City, Leonard Bernstein did this very activity on Saturdays at the New York Philharmonic.”

The petting zoo is a rare chance for local students to try out an orchestral instrument before they enter the sixth grade, which is the year they choose whether they’ll join band or orchestra.

After hearing a short chamber concert from each of the five instrumental sections, the students will move through instrument stations in groups. The event has drawn capacity crowds since the event was first staged.

“The saxophone is usually the first thing they reach for when they get to the brass instruments,” said UNT sophomore Jonathan Cao, president of North Texas Student Music Educators. “The saxophone is so familiar to them. But they get interested in some of the other instruments, too.”

Cao said the event is more than a morning for children to bleat, whack and brandish a bow.

“A lot of the students who are volunteering at each of the stations have already had experience in the classroom as student teachers, and almost all of the volunteers are getting to help out in the section, showing children how to play their principal instrument,” he said. “I’ll be showing them how to hold and play the saxophone.”

Taylor said the children sometimes take to an instrument almost immediately.

“One year, I just decided to bring a few bassoons,” he said. “I thought ‘Why not? I’ll just bring some bassoons.’ I had no idea if any of the kids would even want to try to play them. They are large instruments, and it’s not the first thing you’d think of when you think of students playing instruments. But we had a few young bassoon prodigies.”

Taylor said the event has gotten enthusiastic support from all involved. He credits Scott for bringing the council and college together, and George Papich, the director of the UNT Center for Chamber Music Studies, for organizing the short concerts.

“And this place really is a community center,” Taylor said of the arts center. “There really is enough space to do this. It’s ideal.”

The concerts will be in Festival Hall, and the students will move from the upstairs dance studio to the building’s boardroom and workshops to try out instruments.

“It can be a fun day to explore for the kids. They can just try anything they want to try, or if the parents want to know about lessons, they can find out how to pursue that,” Taylor said.

The College of Music has donated instruments, and a community grant from Target covered the costs for the event. Wal-Mart and Speedway Children’s Charity have helped fund the event as well. Little Guys Movers will transport the instruments from the college, and Melody Services is lending violins for the event. Pender’s Music is lending reeds for woodwinds and is offering cleaning services for the instruments.

Deb Dyer, a staffer with the arts council, said invitations for the Instrument Petting Zoo went out to Denton public schools, all of Denton’s private elementary schools, Corinth Elementary School and Krum schools.

Dyer said the arts center is well known for the council’s exhibitions.

“I’d say maybe what we don’t talk about as much over here is our children’s programming,” Dyer said. “This is a free program. The Super Arts Saturdays are free, and we have docent tours for children through the galleries. We don’t offer lessons, but we do have a lot of children’s programming here.”

“This really is a great resource here,” Scott said. “The schools and the community can experience a lot in this center.”

LUCINDA BREEDING can be reached at 940-566-6877. Her e-mail address is cbreeding@dentonrc.com.

INSTRUMENT PETTING ZOO

What: At this Super Arts Saturdays event, second- through fifth-graders can try out brass, wind, string and percussion instruments.

When: 10 a.m. to noon Oct. 10

Where: Center for the Visual Arts, 400 E. Hickory St.

Details: Free, but space is limited and reservations are required by Friday. Call 940-382-2787.

On the Web: Register online at www.dentonarts.com.