For 16 years Debbie Looney has been taking her students to All-State Chorus. This year, she has been selected to conduct one of those groups.

The honor is rare for a classroom teacher.

All-State choruses are usually led by nationally-recognized conductors. But Renee Wilson-Wicker, state choral district chairwoman for the Georgia Music Educators Association, said there were a number of reasons she chose Looney, who is choral director at C. W. Davis Middle School in Flowery Branch.

"No. 1, Debbie is an absolutely phenomenal musician and educator," Wilson-Wicker said. "I've seen her work several times within district-level honor choruses. And she's even been known back in the day to do crazy things like stand on her head to get people to do what she wants them to do. And so that to me shows that she knows how to have fun with the kids and that the kids respond to her and that they enjoy what they're doing."

Wilson-Wicker also mentioned that Looney's choruses have had excellent ratings and that she wanted to showcase someone who is "in the trenches every day."

Looney will conduct the Middle School Mixed group at All-State, which is held this week in Savannah. The best students from across the state, based on a stringent audition process, will gather there for hours of practice before a performance on Saturday.

For Looney, this year's trip will be new territory. She'll be taking three of her Davis Middle School students, who will be participating in the Middle School Treble chorus, but Looney will be spending her time conducting, not looking after her students or relaxing in her hotel room.

The official announcement that she would be an All-State conductor was made in spring 2008.

Looney said when she found out she was "just totally honored and - flabbergasted, I guess is the word - thrilled to death."

The principal at Davis Middle, where Looney started teaching this school year after 15 years at West Hall Middle School, also is excited.

"I know that she puts her heart and soul into what she does, so I was very excited for her because she deserves the honor," Principal Eddie Millwood said. "And excited for our school because it's great to have a teacher here that is recognized by her peers in the state."

The excitement is high, but as conductor, Looney has a lot of responsibility, too. She chooses which pieces to perform and said she prepares by listening to different arrangements of the pieces and marking her music. Learning the music is up to the students; once they qualify for the chorus they get sheet music and a CD so they can learn their parts.

The pieces range from those by Handel and Schubert to a brand-new piece titled "Goin' Nuts," which is a humorous piece written just for the occasion by Mike Dorough, a retired Henry County choral conductor and a friend of Looney's.

"It took me all summer - well, all of last spring and part of the summer - to pick out my pieces," Looney said. "You start looking for a lot of new stuff because nobody really wants to come to All-State and hear the same old stuff over and over. I tried to make sure that I picked things that I thought the kids would enjoy doing but that I thought would be a challenge for them."

In Savannah, Looney will work with the chorus to perfect the music for the Saturday performance.

"The kids are going to know every note. I'll actually be able to make music from - by making music I mean doing phrasing and dynamics and the sensitive things about music, instead of having to teach notes - from day one, from rehearsal one. I'll get into the guts of the music."

Looney said that's one of her favorite parts of being a choral director. That and teaching the students how to create the right sound.

"I like that middle school sound, once they get the soft palate raised and the sound comes through as this big, fat, open, full, rich sound," she said. "They don't have to sound like children."

Looney said she thinks the chance to conduct All-State will make her a better teacher and will be a life-changing experience, but she also admits she's nervous.

"I'm scared, but I think once I get past the first rehearsal, and I kinda can figure out where they are and run all the pieces, then after that I'll just get into the music and I'll forget about being scared and I'll be excited," she said. "I think it'll be worth it. I think I'll be sad when it's all over cause it's a once-in-a-lifetime thing."