Te Power of a Guitar
Tomas Amoriello, Jr.
We oſten read interviews in which the featured musical artist mentions how music saved them in many ways, oſten citing the trials of adoles- cence, criminal activity, or simply not having any direction in life. Today we will spotlight an organization that exists to make a differ- ence using the power of the guitar. Te Gui- tar Over Guns Organization (GOGO) is not about students mastering musical skills such as note reading, scale virtuosity, or developing an encyclopedic knowledge of chord harmony, it is so much more than that! Founding mentor and site director Andrew DeMuro has provided us with some valuable insight regarding GOGO.
of interaction with the criminal justice system. Tis year, GOGO is partnered with over a dozen schools and community centers between Miami and Chicago, building a team of nearly 50 dedi- cated mentors, and reaching over 600 deserving students annually through guitars, keyboards, drums, bass, vocals, rap, poetry, music produc- tion & more. In the past year alone, GOGO has been recognized for its work by the Steve Harvey Show, Eyewitness News, People Magazine, and several regional and local news outlets.
What are some success stories that you know about from the various communities?
Please tell us about the origins of the or- ganization Guitar Over Guns.
Guitars Over Guns Organization (GOGO) is an arts-based youth development program focused on providing healthy aſter-school music & men- torship programming to students in challenging environments. Trough the transformative power of music & the arts, it is our mission to facilitate the leadership & holistic development of young people, while providing a stable and safe environ- ment with a caring adult that may be lacking at home or in school.
Te idea for Guitars Over Guns was borne out of a trip to a juvenile detention facility where musicians were able to use their craſt to con- nect with young people who had otherwise been dismissed from public schools and written off by society. Te organization began in one classroom with a single guitar mentor at a middle school in North Miami in 2008, fueled by a strong desire to connect with students before getting to the point
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As a young organization in Chicago, we are only beginning to see the fruits of our labor; however, in order to paint a picture of what success can look like in our program, I’ll take you back to December of 2015, when the entire student body at Evergreen Academy Middle School packed into the gym to listen to the dozen students in our aſter-school program during their first-ever public performance. Our young and inexperi- enced band labored through assorted Christmas and pop songs until it reached the finale: ‘Feliz Navidad’. Ten-7th grader Andrea was playing guitar and singing lead vocals, a goal she had been working toward since October.
Andrea launched into the melody of the first chorus when, suddenly, all I could hear was the band backing her up. Tis was particularly strange to me, since Andrea’s mouth was still moving. I could see her eyes start to widen as she realized her microphone had just decided to stop working - her vocals almost completely drowned out in the ambient gym. Slowly, student specta- tors began to turn to one another and chatter, and the band took notice. From the back of the gym, I watched as Andrea’s gears turned. Te window opportunity to win the audience back was small, but open. She never once stopped singing. She did, however, stop playing briefly to raise her hand in the air, to invite the crowd to join in. Before the end of the second chorus, an entire gymnasium full of students was singing, loudly and proudly, ‘I wanna wish you a Merry Christmas!’
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