Johnson says music is a constant in his life. “When I go home, I listen to my stereo—I always have some piece of music playing.”

Johnson says the rapper Nas is his favorite musical artist “because he speaks the truth—he doesn’t just make it sound cool.”

Asked his favorite genre of music, Banfield replies diplomatically: “I appreciate all types.”

Turnbull guffaws. “Politician!” he chides Banfield.

“I just met with my guidance counselor to discuss choices, because I can’t do everything. I’m in the process of cutting down,” says Banfield, who has interests in politics, music and computer science although his favorite subject at school is physics. But he says he won’t forget his musical past.

“I grew up with music, not only rap and hip hop, but classical too. If I don’t sing, a CD or tape will be with me,” Banfield says. “When I’m happy or sad, I sing. When I’m angry, classical music calms me down.”

His eyes sparkle.

“There’s no school like this,” he says. “It’s not a normal school. There are no fights. Everyone talks. The older [kids] are role models to the younger people.”

Waller lists the places he has traveled with the Choir, among them Japan, the Netherlands and Alaska and the celebrities he’s met—the last two presidents, Whitney Houston, Brandy, Santo Domingo. “I never would have been there [otherwise]. The best part of the Choir is that you get the travel to places you’ve never seen.”

He describes the Choir’s trip to Israel in 1999, when the group swam in the Red Sea and planted a tree in honor of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. “It’s so different—when we went and now. It was real peaceful, now every few weeks there’s a bus bombing. No one might ever get to go there again.”

Waller says the school is like an extended family. “It’s something different—I know everyone. A close-knit school is hard to find.”

Like the others, Waller has ambitious plans for his future. “I sing so I can perform because I like entertaining people. But after college, I’ll go to graduate school for sports medicine, start my own business, my own sports agency.”

These three boys reveal what the Choir has meant to them growing up in Harlem.

“Music, to me, has been everything,” Banfield says, and the other boys nod in assent. Turnbull looks fondly at them and nods slowly.

Coming up I-95