Note to Beyoncé, 'Boss': 'I Got Your Backup'

Prince William County music teacher Carol Mills, 52, is accustomed to singing in front of her 20 or so students during class at Rockledge Elementary School. And, on big occasions at her Alexandria church, Mills is part of a choir that presides over as many as 800 people.

Today, at the Lincoln Memorial, her audience and her act will get something of a massive makeover. Mills will be singing in front of hundreds of thousands of onlookers, perhaps more, at the opening ceremony of the inauguration of Barack Obama. Her colleagues onstage: Bruce Springsteen and Beyoncé.

Mills, in describing her emotions, did not resort to understatement. "This," she said in an interview last week, "may be the pinnacle of my entire existence."

(Her kindergarten-through-fifth-grade students ought not to be offended.)

Mills, a member of First Baptist Church of Alexandria, said the concert's producers tapped Joyce Garrett of Alfred Street Baptist Church in Alexandria, a well-known choir director, to find backup singers to create the Inauguration Celebration Chorus. Mills, who will be singing with the altos, was asked to participate about two weeks ago, before she knew with which stars she'd be singing.

Last week, when she walked into rehearsal, she finally found out whom she'd be backing. "When I got to rehearsal that night, there were two pieces of music out. One was 'America the Beautiful,' and in small print it said, 'Beyoncé enters, and I said, 'Bingo!' " Mills said. "Then, I saw the other piece of music, 'The Rising,' and as a person who's been to many Bruce concerts, I knew that was his song. I was just beside myself with excitement."

Mills is in her 31st year of teaching in the county school system. When she told her students, many of them knew of Beyoncé; not so much Springsteen, whose popularity among baby boomers such as Mills is well established, but less so in today's elementary set.

"I asked in a class of 22 or 23 children, 'How many of you know the name Bruce Springsteen? Maybe three or four raised their hand. One said, 'Oh, my dad listens to him,' " Mills said. "Another said, 'Please tell Beyoncé that I am her biggest fan.' "

Mills said she and the rest of the singers have been told not to behave like fans while onstage or backstage with the stars. "They said, 'We are performers, and we're not there to drool or whatever,' " she said, laughing.

With "The Rising," Mills said, she and the rest of the chorus will help with the nahnahnah and lalalala, and when Beyoncé sings "America the Beautiful," the group will chime in with ooh and ahhhh and lend harmony with the verse that starts, "O beautiful for patriot dream."

Despite Mills's love for the Boss, she won't be incorporating his music into her curriculum. "For elementary students, sometimes it's hard to do rock music. Vocally, it's hard to do."

Mills said she has kept the stubs to nearly 20 of Springsteen's concerts over the years.

"The thing about a Bruce concert, to me, is that he's one of those performers who, no matter where you are, whether it's a large arena or stadium, you just feel like there's a connection," she said. "He gives so much of himself."

As of Thursday, Mills said, she did not know where she would be standing among the several backup singers onstage at the Mall. "This may be the one time in my life where it's good to be short," she said. "I'm hoping I'll be in front. I'll wear flat shoes."