ROBERTSDALE, Ala. — Imagine. Imagine a bus, a large one tricked out with the latest in recording gear and trained technicians to help musicians use it.

Now imagine that same bus coming to Robertsdale High and letting students tour the bus. For free.

And a few students got to cut a song.

Cue the “Lennon Bus,” an educational tour bus, a nonprofit outreach program whose mission is, “giving kids a chance to express themselves through music and video productions.”

According to literature provided by the bus’ operators, the bus has provided free programs to middle schools, high schools, colleges and universities and various other youth and community organizations.

The bus stopped at Robertsdale High May 19, and students banded together to record an original song. Tours of the bus were also conducted for members of the student body.

“This was a wonderful opportunity for the students,” said RHS band director Neil Sasser. “There was no other way the students would get the opportunity to work with equipment like this.”

The bus packs about $2 million in multimedia equipment. There are three studio areas that can be combined into one large studio and musicians can watch and comment as their individual tracks are combined by a recording engineer.

Sasser said he learned of the bus’ arrival about a week beforehand and, “tried to pick upperclassmen who were considering making music a career” to produce the song. The students involved in producing the original recording were Katie Knight, Kayla Smith, Justin Butcher, Agustin Briones, Emily Lysek, Kathyrn Bankester, Jennifer Irwin, James Bryant and James Tucker.

The group wrote and performed their tune, which Sasser says was a variation on something the band plays during football games.

“It was sort of a big band, brass band,” said Irwin commenting, on the tune, performed on the mix of instruments which included clarinet, French horn, flute, tubas, drums and a keyboard.

“This showed me the different opportunities for my music ability,” said Knight. “Now I’m thinking of music production.”

For Lysek, the program “Gave me something to look forward to if I go into music.” Currently Lysek is thinking of architecture or graphic design for a career.

Kayla Smith echoed Lysek’s comments about seeing a different choice of career.

“It gave me another career choice,” said Smith, who is considering a career in law enforcement,

“I liked coming together to make new stuff,” added Smith.

For James Tucker, making music on the bus was, “just a special opportunity.” While the keyboardist would like to continue in music, his current plans are to go to Faulkner State Junior College to become a chef.

“We had nine students (at Robertsdale, Fairhope High also had a visit from the bus) who composed music,’ said Vicky Cook, a fine arts and library media supervisor for the Baldwin County school system. “It give students a new perspective.”