On a Sunday night in late September, thousands of people came together across the country for a concert standing up against gun violence. In response to the increase in deaths by shootings across the U.S., about 5,200 musicians took to the stage to perform in favor of stronger gun regulations.
“The Concert Across America to End Gun Violence” hosted over 350 musical groups around the nation, including the GMHS Jazz Band. On September 25, the Jazz Band played two sets at Argia’s Italian Restaurant from 6:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m.
“Music mobilizes people to gather together. To share in a common experience,” said Donna Dees, a member of the Concert Across America Committee.
The GMHS Band Director, Ms. Mary Jo West, began preparing for this event before the school year started, allotting time to practice on the preceding Friday for the rhythm section, which includes piano, drum set, and bass.
“It was really early in the year… [I was] having to get the ensemble ready, I felt that it was such a compelling cause that the Jazz Ensemble would rise to the occasion,” West said.
With several new members, including new singer Blake Hopkins, the Mason Jazz Band took several hours a week to work on the music both in and out of school. The GMHS Jazz Band performed two sets on Sunday, the first at 6:10 p.m. and the second at 7:30 p.m. In between the two sets, the GMHS guitar teacher, Josh Walker, also performed in a small jazz trio, and invited two Jazz Band saxophone players, Peter Haensel and Kit Richards, to solo with them.
“It’s cool to be able to use your instrument to help an important cause,” Haensel said.
The mission of this event is to change the view on gun violence and gun regulations. Though one might assume as much, the purpose of the event is not anti-gun; instead it is to discourage the negativity that comes with the gun violence of the modern day and to demand stronger gun regulations.
“I have a personal aversion to violence… If this can bring any awareness to the issue, then we will have served a purpose,” West said.
Along with the performance by the GMHS Jazz Band and Walker, speakers at the event included several of the Falls Church community leaders, and a survivor of gun violence. Virginia State Delegate Marcus Simon came and spoke about how the people can make a change in the issue of gun violence, and encouraged them to reach out to their Delegates and Senators and demand them to support gun violence regulation.
The date of the event was strategically placed so that it occurred the night before the presidential debate between candidates Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump.
“By rising up the day before, perhaps we can get the debate moderator to demand that the candidates outline their respective plans to reduce gun violence, before we go to the polls in November,” Dees said.
Although no question was directly asked, gun violence was brought up during the debate on Monday, October 26. Presidential Candidate Hillary Clinton specifically talked about the issue of gun violence and what she thought should be done to solve this problem.
“We gotta get guns out of the hands of people who should not have them,” Clinton said. “We have to tackle the plague of gun violence which is a big contributor to the problems we are seeing today.”
Though the concert didn’t generate any immediate action in congress or among the presidential candidates, it brought an important and relevant issue to light that greatly impacts our society. It appears Americans will have to wait until after the elections to see if our government will step up to the challenge of solving this problem.
