If the 1996 Grammy Awards are coming, then it must be time again for USC to open its doors to enthusiastic high school students at the annual National Grammy in the Schools Career Day.

The 8th annual GITS Day takes place at the University Park Campus Monday, Feb. 26 - two days before celebrated artists converge on the Shrine Auditorium for the year's biggest music industry event.

There are probably more than a few budding young musicians who would like to someday be among that elite crowd, but who don't have a clue about how to get started. Monday could be the turning point for many such youths.

A partnership between the School of Music and the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences and the NARAS Foundation will bring more than 1,500 local students - from more than 40 Los Angeles-area high schools - to USC to participate in a day of workshops and panel discussions that will culminate in a live concert to be broadcast over KUSC-FM, when the Grammy All-American High School Jazz Band and Choir will perform an afternoon concert.

Grammy in the Schools Career Day and Concert is an outreach program produced by NARAS through the support of the Recording Industries Music Performance Trust, Discover Grammy Festival, Walt Disney Attractions Entertainment Inc., Zildjian, Remo Percussion Products, A & M Recording Studios and Mayor Richard Riordan and the City of Los Angeles. It is presented at USC in partnership with the USC School of Music.

In the past, NARAS has chosen USC as the event's site because of the music school's excellent reputation and its activist role in promoting music education in secondary schools, said Michael Greene, president and chief executive officer of NARAS.

"The public and the corporate sector have come together to create a diverse series of programs that will have a long-term imprint on the greater Los Angeles schools and community," said Greene. "These programs represent the cultural and educational legacy of what the Grammy means to Los Angeles."

The NARAS/USC partnership includes hosting the national concert and workshops. The talented high school musicians and vocalists in the band and choir recently took part in regional GITS competitions in major cities across the country, including Los Angeles. Two Los Angeles-area teens were chosen - a tenor saxophonist from Agoura High School and a tenor from West L.A.'s Hamilton High School choir. Some of the gifted young people in the band and choir receive cash scholarships or new instruments.

Larry Livingston, dean of the School of Music, praised the program, which brings the young GITS musicians, as well as the LAUSD students, on campus. "We are pleased and honored to share in this vitally important educational venture with NARAS. This project is a stunning example of how a great music school can play a significant role in advancing the cause of musical understanding among the youth of our urban centers."

Monday's concert will be broadcast live over KUSC-FM (91.5) starting at 12:45 p.m. Mary Reale, public information officer for the School of Music, is producer for the radio show and coordinator of the day's events.

On Monday morning, the LAUSD students will arrive at USC in a convoy of buses. Along with the GITS student-musicians, they will participate in career workshops and hands-on master classes taught by professional musicians and music business executives. Workshops and panels will cover vocal techniques, instrumental techniques, record production, music video, engineering, songwriting/composing, publishing, management and law, sound and music editing, music education, voice-overs and audio books, and demo production. Music industry artists and professionals will lead the sections, as well as School of Music faculty.

Grammy in the Schools has been helping high school students explore careers in music since the program was initiated in 1988. This is the third year that USC has been an official sponsor.