GUILDERLAND — Who better to demonstrate to children that there is joy to be found in playing musical instruments than other, older kids?

That’s the idea behind the annual Young People’s Concert, when all the third-grade classes in the Guilderland school district are bused to the high school to learn how different instruments sound and to listen to short, kid-friendly musical pieces played by the school’s various bands, orchestras, and choruses.

The program, held this year on the morning of Feb. 15, targets third graders because kids have the option of starting to take school lessons in a musical instrument the following year, in fourth grade.

The concert — now in its 20th year — is the brainchild of Kathleen Richards Ehlinger, director of bands at the high school. She has taught for 32 years in Guilderland schools, the last 20 of those at the high school.

Ehlinger started the program in 1998-99, basing it on the Young People’s Concerts led by Leonard Bernstein from the 1950s through the 1970s and televised on CBS.

She has been running it — organizing it behind the scenes and acting as master of ceremonies — for the two decades since.

Individual students played short riffs from well-known songs, to demonstrate the sound of their instruments, and the audience applauded as they recognized the songs. A flute player chose a couple of verses from “How Far I’ll Go,” from the Disney movie “Moana.” A bass clarinetist played the theme music from “Pirates of the Caribbean.” A bassoonist played music from “Star Wars,” and a violinist chose the Oscar-winning song “Let It Go” from the animated Disney film “Frozen.”

Performing were the band, orchestra, chorus, the jazz ensemble, the Dutchmen Men’s Chorus, and the saxophone quintet.

“We did a pops concert with a Disney theme earlier this month, and a lot of kids wanted to play from that,” Ehlinger told The Enterprise, explaining the proliferation of Disney songs.

The centerpiece of the concert was a performance of Sergei Prokofiev’s “Peter and the Wolf.” He wrote the story and music in 1936 for a children’s theater.

At Guilderland, “Peter and the Wolf” was narrated by special-education teacher Jonathan Ouckama, who kept students engaged as he told the story of Peter’s ingenious efforts to create peace among predators and prey in a meadow near his home. Each character in the story is represented by a particular instrument, making this piece popular as a way to introduce children to music and the sounds of instruments.

Ehlinger sees good effects each year of the concert on both the younger and older kids. High-school students gain confidence and a sense of presence from being onstage with younger kids looking up to them and from their responsibility to demonstrate a good work ethic.

For the younger children, just being encouraged to relax and close their eyes as they listen can make classical music more fun and comfortable, she said. The event is also a chance for the kids to learn about the etiquette of concert-going, she said.

Some students already had big plans for playing instruments, even before the event started. Christie Charles of Lynnwood Elementary named the instruments she might like to play: “Cello, clarinet, bass, viola, violin, saxophone, and French horn.” She wants to be in the orchestra, band, and jazz band, she said.

Two students from Westmere Elementary, Blaine Carr and Ellie Stoddard, are deaf and hard-of-hearing, respectively, according to American Sign Language interpreter Caroline Warner. She interpreted for them the words spoken onstage. Both were wearing amplification devices that Warner said allowed them to hear.

Warner said that Tyler Mazone — who graduated from Guilderland High School last year and is a musician and composer who is also hard-of-hearing — is a role model for students like Carr and Stoddard. Mazone is now studying music at the Crane School of Music at the State University of New York at Potsdam.

Midway through the concert, Carr said he wants to play saxophone, because of its “cool sound.” Stoddard wants to play cello.

Lynnwood student Sara Dachille said that she had had no thoughts of playing an instrument but that she is now interested in several, especially the flute.