Wichita middle-schoolers bound for New York City

Two dozen seventh- and eighth-graders will go to school this afternoon for a two-hour choir practice.

Yes, on a Saturday. But they aren't complaining.

They are choir students from Mayberry Cultural and Fine Arts Magnet Middle School who are preparing for a performance April 10 at New York City's Lincoln Center.

"The students think there's something special about being in school on the weekends," Mayberry choir director Danny Darrington said. "They think the building is magically transformed.

"Besides, these are choir kids. They love this. There was no arm-twisting."

Certainly not with their enthusiasm for the trip.

"I'm so excited, so pumped," said choir member Carli Harmening, an eighth-grader. "I've never been to New York. New York is like the place where I want to move when I grow up.

"I'm not like, 'Oh, I'm from Kansas. I'm going to miss home.' No, I'm not going to miss home. Yes, very excited."

Mayberry's choir — 22 girls, two boys — was selected to participate in a two-hour youth concert with other middle-school choirs from across the country by Distinguished Concerts International in New York City.

The organization puts on similar youth concerts every few years.

Darrington will be joined by 11 other adults, including some parents, in traveling with the choir.

The $1,700 per-student cost of the trip has been raised, Darrington said. The money came from group events, such as a carnival, plus from individual efforts like selling coupon books.

"I've been saving up all year," said Heidi Asher, a seventh-grader.

For her, that included earning money by taking apart washers and dryers to get parts for her parents' recycling business.

Seventh-grader Sarah Setchell said she's excited to go because she's never been on a plane or to New York. But also because her mother is going and Thursday — the day the group leaves — is her mom's birthday.

"And she hasn't been to New York either," Setchell said, beaming.

There will be two daily, 3 1/2-hour practices once the choir arrives in New York. But it won't be all work.

There will also be sightseeing, including a stop at the World Trade Center site and a boat tour around the Statue of Liberty.

For many of them, it will also be the first time they will be led by a conductor other than Darrington.

They will perform songs by well-known composer Greg Gilpin, who will be the choir's primary conductor.

Darrington, who has spent 11 of his 12 years of teaching at Mayberry and is a former Singing Quaker at Friends University, is eager to turn his flock over to another conductor.

"It's going to be a good experience for them," he said, "because they don't usually get a chance to work with anybody else as long as they're here.

"Some of the people in this group are real serious musicians. I want them to have the opportunity to work with other conductors and other conducting styles."

The students intend to let folks know they're from Kansas. Sometime during the trip, they plan to stand outside the NBC studios for the "Today" show at Rockefeller Plaza.

"We're going to be out there holding up our 'Kansas' signs," seventh-grader Raelynn Bone said. "It's going to be a great experience for all of us."

This story was originally published April 2, 2011 at 12:00 AM with the headline "Wichita middle-schoolers bound for New York City."