MURDOCK — This is for them, because they won’t be there to tease their classmates on the airplane ride to New York City.

They won’t be there to gasp in amazement with their fellow choir members upon seeing the grandiose Carnegie Hall auditorium.

Tyler Eggert, Angelica Washington and Dillon Synovec won’t be there.

So their friends will sing for them.

“It’s going to be strictly for them,” said Megan Campbell, 15. “We’re devoting all we have for them because they wanted it so bad.”

A two-vehicle crash on Oct. 26, 2008, claimed the lives of the three popular Elmwood-Murdock High School choir members.

Tyler, Angelica and Dillon were driving home from a fundraiser that afternoon at the Lofte Community Theater in nearby Manley.

They had parked cars, ushered people to their seats, sold baked goods and cleaned up after the matinee performance to raise money for their choir’s trip to Carnegie Hall in May.

Tyler lost control of the 2000 Pontiac Grand Prix he was driving on a gravel road one mile east of Murdock. The vehicle slid, turned sideways and was hit on the passenger side by a 1989 Chevrolet pickup.

In an instant, the rural high school 23 miles east of Lincoln lost three of its 220 shining lights.

It hasn’t been the same without them, said Jordan Bowman, 15. But that doesn’t mean the choir won’t appreciate Carnegie Hall when they get there.

They may even appreciate it more, she said, knowing how quickly life can change.

“Going to Carnegie Hall without them, it’s going to be very emotional,” she said. “It’s kind of like we’re representing them. We have to do our best.”

The Elmwood-Murdock students will join students and adults from Falls City and Scottsbluff for a May 23 performance at Carnegie Hall. William Wyman, director of choral activities at Nebraska Wesleyan University, will conduct the mixed choir.

About 36 of the Elmwood-Murdock choir’s 62 students are expected to make the trip, said Betty Colbert, Elmwood-Murdock’s choir director. The trip will cost about $2,000 per student.

Until they leave May 20, Colbert said, the choir will continue to raise money for the trip, including helping to host a March 20 concert fundraiser in South Bend.

And the students will continue to practice the Latin choral pieces by Joseph Haydn and Mozart they’re expected to perform at Carnegie Hall.

Last week, the choir practiced by singing “Kyrie Eleison” by Terre McPheeters, and Francis Scott Key’s “The Star Spangled Banner.”

As Colbert played a piano in front of the room, senior Teresa Fritz lifted her chin and sang “The Awakening” by Joseph M. Martin.

I dreamed a dream, a silent dream of a land not far away where no bird sang, no steeples rang and teardrops fell like rain.

“Every step has been very hard, but they’ve been the motivation in the back of our mind,” Teresa said of Tyler, Angelica and Dillon.

The choir considered not making the trip to New York but decided their classmates would have wanted them to go, she said.

The silence of the night has passed, a new day has begun! Let music never die in me; forever let my spirit sing!

Reach Kevin Abourezk at 473-7225 or kabourezk@journalstar.com.