About 2,600 schoolchildren got to play with the Honolulu Symphony yesterday.

In the big concert hall.

On their recorders.

While that sounds like mondo fun for some, for Naomi Lueders, 9, it was "scary."

Why? What's so spooky about wielding the plastic flute-like recorder, which — let's be frank — resembles a toy?

The home-schooled fourth-grader widened her big, Bambi eyes and looked to her mother, Robyn, to help explain. Finally, it could be told ... she was afraid she would hit a wrong note.

Plenty of wrong notes sounded when students from across the island followed along in yesterday's concert, part of a music education program that originated at Carnegie Hall in New York. But they didn't put a dent in the applause as students admirably tried their hands at Benjamin Britten's "The Young Person's Guide to the Orchestra, Opus 34" or Dvorak's "Largo," from his 9th Symphony, or even Gioachino Rossini's classic "William Tell Overture."

By the finale, "A Simple Melody," however, assistant conductor Joan Landry had coaxed out a song from the assembled group that anyone could applaud.

Later, Landry explained that this is the culmination of months of work by the students, with their workbooks, instruments and teaching materials supplied by the program, and earnest rehearsals led by their teachers back in the classrooms. The concerts are supported by a Carnegie Hall program called Communities LinkUP! and were first implemented by the Honolulu Symphony in 2004.

Participating schools include 'Aina Haina Elementary; Ala Wai Elementary; Hawai'i Homeschool 'Ohana; Honolulu Christian Homeschoolers; Hickam Elementary; Iolani School; Island Pacific Academy; Kalihi-Kai Elementary; Kalihi-Waena Elementary; Kane'ohe Elementary; Mokapu Elementary; Nimitz Elementary; Pu'ohala Elementary; Red Hill Elementary; Sacred Hearts Academy; St. Patrick School and Windward Adventist.

'Aina Haina third-grader Nicholas Lee said it was exciting to be playing in the concert hall, rather than in music class.

"It feels much better," he said.

Donna Campbell, the music teacher at Sacred Hearts Academy, had twisted herself in her seat to conduct some of the 200 Sacred Hearts students from her perch in front. She's a big fan of the two-year-old program.

"The girls feel closer to the music, because they learn the pieces," Campbell said. "When you play the music, you understand it."

For some, this trip to the symphony is their only opportunity to see an orchestra, up close and personal.

"It's really cool; you get to play with the symphony," said Megan Martin, a Sacred Hearts sixth-grader who has played piano for two years.

While she has only been to the symphony on school trips, her long-term aspirations are musical.

"I want to be a band person," she said. "Either that, or I'll be an artist."