GNG Newsletter - December 2011
GA State Chapter Sets Fundraiser - October 2011
Georgia State Chapter to participate in Belk Department Store's Charity Day Sale.
Athens, GA Chapter in the News - October 2011
The Athens, GA chapter got some nice press coverage in the Athens Banner-Herald
Florida Chapter Sets Fundraiser - October 2011
President Val Steinberg of the Florida State Chapter announced a new class and a fundraising event.
California in the News - October 2011
The recent October edition of "Alamo Today" has a very nice article about the California chapter of Guitars Not Guns. Please see the article starting on page one and continuing on pages 20 and 21.
Texas Chapter Announced - September 2011
A new chapter of Guitars Not Guns is forming in the Dallas, Texas area. Please see: the new Texas chapter page for more information.
Georgia Chapter Announces New Class - August 2011
The Cobb County, GA chapter of Guitars Not Guns has announced its next class to begin September 14, 2011. See the Georgia state page for more details.
Changing The World On A Tuesday Night - August 2011
Guitars Not Guns was approached by Tammi Deville, an aspiring author and volunteer who wanted to write a book highlighting all the good that was being done by small nonprofits across the county. She chose GNG as one she’d like to feature. Ray Nelson asked GNG National Capital Area chapter President Skip Chaples to handle the request. Tammi was partnered with Ford Jones, one of the NCA Chapter's volunteer guitar teachers in Northern Virginia. She attended classes, took pictures and did interviews for the book.
The book, "Changing The World On A Tuesday Night," was published this spring and is available for sale. If you purchase the book by clicking through the link below $2.00 of the purchase price will be donated to Guitars Not Guns.
In The News - June 2011
Florida Chapter President Val Steinberg in the news in the Florida Sun-Sentinel.
Guitars Not Guns Receives Congressional Certificate - June 2011
GNG Founder and CEO Ray Nelson accepts a Certificate of Special Congressional Recognition from Ben Spears (left) and Michael Steele (right) of Congressman John Lewis' office at The Hard Rock Cafe in Atlanta on June 22, 2011.
Guitars Not Guns in Making Music Magazine - July/August 2011
See the full article online.
GNG Cobb County, GA - graduates first class in May 2011.
See GNG students ask Los Lobos questions - on KSBW-TV August 2010
Monster Fest! - July 2010
Guitar Auction - March 2010
Autographed by Blondie, Gibson guitar raised $2,137.09
Very Cool! High School Teens Make A CD For GNG! And you can buy your own copy!
Guitar Auction - October 2009
Heart - Autographed Epiphone guitar raised $2,400.00 for GNG
Graduation Ceremonies - March 2009
Video made by Kaces of a GnG graduation.
Thanks Kaces for your support!
NCA Chapter Award - 2007
Virginia Chapter of Guitars Not Guns receives a WAMMIE.
Skip Chaples, Virginia's GnG President accepted the award.
Music Quotes
Music was my refuge. I could crawl into the space between the notes and curl my back to loneliness. - Maya Angelou
One good thing about music, when it hits you, you feel no pain. - Bob Marley
Most people are prisoners, thinking only about the future or living in the past. They are not in the present, and the present is where everything begins. - Carlos Santana
I don't look at music from the standpoint of being a musician; I look at it from the standpoint of being a human being. - Herbie Hancock
It isn't where you came from, its where you're going that counts. - Ella Fitzgerald
The beautiful thing about learning is nobody can take it away from you. - B. B. King
We all have idols. Play like anyone you care about but try to be yourself while you're doing so. – B. B. King
For me, singing sad songs often has a way of healing a situation. It gets the hurt out in the open into the light, out of the darkness. - Reba McEntire
Warning Signs Of Youth Violence
"Being on either end of a violent situation, whether you seem to have come out with the upper hand or whether you don't seem to, it doesn't resolve anything. It escalates the problem. Hatred leads to more hatred. Violence leads to more violence." - Adam Yauch of the Beastie Boys
Violence. It's the act of purposefully hurting someone. And it's a major issue facing today's young adults. One in 12 high schoolers is threatened or injured with a weapon each year. If you're between the ages of 12 and 24, you face the highest risk of being the victim of violence. At the same time, statistics show that by the early 1990's the incidence of violence caused by young people reached unparalleled levels in American society. There is no single explanation for the overall rise in youth violence. Many different factors cause violent behavior. The more these factors are present in your life, the more likely you are to commit an act of violence.
Helping Troubled Youth
October 10, 2009 - The San Mateo chapter just completed a Level I class held at Camp Glenwood, which serves high-risk young men who are facing extended detention in Juvenile Hall or who would have been sentenced to long-term incarceration in a secure California Youth Authority facility. The class was arranged with the assistance of the Honorable Marta S. Diaz, Supervising Judge of the Juvenile Court, San Mateo County Superior Court. There thirteen students, and all graduated. In fact, the scores on the written test were among the highest in the history of the San Mateo County chapter. In addition to learning the basics of guitar, the class worked on songs by Santana and Chuck Berry. Chris Quinn, Jude Damasco, and John Allured co-taught the class.
Playing A Musical Instrument Helps Brain
BOSTON, Nov. 6, 2008 (UPI)
Children who play a musical instrument for at least three years outperform children with no music training on verbal ability, U.S. researchers said.
The study, published online in the journal PLoS ONE, found that children who study a musical instrument for at least three years outperform children with no instrumental training -- not only in tests of auditory discrimination and finger dexterity, but on tests measuring verbal ability and visual pattern completion -- skills not normally associated with music.
Drs. Gottfried Schlaug and Ellen Winner of Harvard Medical School in Boston tracked 41 8-11-year-old children who had studied either piano or a string instrument for a minimum of three years and compared them to 18 children who had no instrumental training. Children in both groups spent 30-40 minutes per week in general music classes at school, but those in the instrumental group also received private lessons learning an instrument.The researchers also found that the longer and more intensely the child had studied his or her instrument, the better he or she scored on these tests.
GUN VIOLENCE
In 2005, 11,346 persons were killed by firearm violence and 477,040 persons were victims of a crime committed with a firearm. Most murders in the United States are committed with firearms, especially handguns.
External Links & Information
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Guitars Not Guns * 112 Presidio Park * Peachtree City, GA 30269 * 770-861-2443