MUSIC PUPILS HEADING FOR NOTE-WORTHY PERFORMANCE IN NEW YORK : ENTERPRISING KIDS RAISED FUNDS TO PAY FOR TRIP.Byline: Sharline Chiang Daily News Staff Writer Start spreading the news Spreading the News is a short one-act comic play by Lady Gregory, which she wrote for the opening night of the Abbey Theatre in Dublin, 27 Dec. 1904. It was on a double bill with William Butler Yeats's On Baile's Strand. . Music director Sam Baltimore and his symphony at the Sherman Oaks Center for Enriched Studies Sherman Oaks Center for Enriched Studies (also Sherman Oaks CES or SOCES) is a (magnet) public school in the San Fernando Valley, Southern California, United States. are leaving today for New York New York, state, United States New York, Middle Atlantic state of the United States. It is bordered by Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut, and the Atlantic Ocean (E), New Jersey and Pennsylvania (S), Lakes Erie and Ontario and the Canadian province of , New York. Their mission: to rattle the Big Apple. Rachel Ballard giggled and fidgeted during Tuesday's rehearsal. Like her friends, she was a bit nervous. For most of them, the five-day trip will be the farthest they've ever traveled, to a city they never imagined they would have the chance to visit - let alone perform in famous Lincoln Center Lincoln Center New York’s modern theater complex. [Am. Hist.: NCE, 1586] See : Theater during the International Music Festival. ``It still doesn't feel like we're going,'' Rachel, a ninth-grade flutist, gushed. ``Because it's not just New York, it's like, Lincoln Center.'' Baltimore knows that feeling. ``It lets the kids know how hard they worked, that they're respected,'' said Baltimore, who is also the school's chairman of the visual and performing arts department and a professional jazz bassist. For the 46 symphony members, who range from sixth-graders to high school seniors, the road to New York began long before today. It all started in September after Baltimore received an invitation to the festival, the only bid offered to a California school. Then began the task of raising enough money, $1,000 per student, to send the band to New York. Thanks to the help of their community, in the past seven months students raised $70,000, enough to cover costs for the band and chaperons. ``The community has really rallied around us,'' Baltimore said. ``They set a standard. They let the young people know that the community is there to help them succeed.'' Among the donations was $2,500 from the Ella Fitzgerald Noun 1. Ella Fitzgerald - United States scat singer (1917-1996) Fitzgerald Charitable Foundation and $2,000 donated by Los Angeles school The Los Angeles School of Urbanism is an academic movement emerged during the mid-1980s, loosely based at the University of Southern California and UCLA, that poses a challenge to the dominant Chicago School of Urbanism. board member Julie Korenstein out of her office account. One father donated thousands of colorful buttons bearing the band's logo. Other groups like Tarzana Rotary, the Tarzana Mariners, and the San Fernando Valley San Fernando Valley Valley, southern California, U.S. Northwest of central Los Angeles, the valley is bounded by the San Gabriel, Santa Susana, and Santa Monica mountains and the Simi Hills. Board of Realtors, also chipped in. Mel Davis Melvyn Jerome Davis (born November 9, 1950 in New York, New York) is an American former professional basketball player. A 6'6" forward from St. John's University, Davis played four seasons (1973 to 1977) in the National Basketball Association as a member of the New York , father of clarinet player Steven Davis, pre-paid nearly $17,000 in air plane tickets before the band had raised the money needed. Students did their share, selling candy, washing cars, holding a garage sale and sitting in as paid audience members on talk shows. ``Asking people for the money was hard work because you felt bad for asking,'' said Katie Caparula, a 14-year-old bass clarinet player. ``But we gave them the reason. We told them that we're going to New York.'' The Sherman Oaks Center for Enriched Studies, one of many magnet schools in the Los Angeles Unified School District The Los Angeles Unified School District (the "LAUSD") is the largest (in terms of number of students) public school system in California and the second-largest in the United States. Only the New York City Department of Education has a larger student population. , offers an emphasis on core studies, longer classes and a campus that serves students in grades four through 12. Before leaving, students thanked Baltimore, saying he encourages them and calms their nerves before a big show, mainly with bad jokes. ``He taught us a lot of stuff, he's been there when we needed him,'' said trumpet player James Cannon, 12. ``He's been like a father to us all.'' The band's trip to New York also includes a performance at South Street Seaport The South Street Seaport is a historic area in the New York City borough of Manhattan, located where Fulton Street meets the East River, and adjacent to the Financial District. The Seaport is usually considered a historical district, distinct from the neighboring Financial District. , and maybe a chance to play at a Yankees game. Traveling around isn't that new to the group, whose members played in the ``Monterey Jazz Festival Debuting on October 3, 1958, the Monterey Jazz Festival (MJF) is one of the longest consecutively running jazz festivals. It was co-founded by San Francisco jazz radio broadcaster Jimmy Lyons and his colleague, journalist Ralph J. Gleason. at Sea'' last year and a few weeks ago performed in a jazz festival in Breckenridge, Colo. Still, most students said they were just excited to represent their home state in one of the world's most-renowned centers for performing arts. ``There's a lot of responsibility trying to perfect something. But we know our stuff so there's not much pressure,'' said Vicky Reyman, a 14-year-old clarinet player. Their itinerary also includes a workshop with a Juilliard School music professor, a performance of ``Grease'' on Broadway and a trip to the top of the Statue of Liberty Statue of Liberty great symbolic structure in New York harbor. [Am. Hist.: Jameson, 284] See : America Statue of Liberty perhaps the most famous monument to independence. [Am. Hist.: Jameson, 284] See : Freedom . ``I think after they come back they'll actually feel like, `Yes, I actually did this,' '' said Nora Ross, mother of flutist Mallory Ross. ``It will be an experience of their lifetime.'' CAPTION(S): Photo PHOTO Sam Baltimore conducts the Sherman Oaks Center for Enriched Studies symphony. The group will head for New York today for several shows. David Sprague/Daily News |
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