Jazz musician to visit Washington Middle School

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Smooth jazz musician and founder of the Chocolate Jazz Foundation 501C3, David Wells, will visit Washington Middle School today at 2 p.m. as part of an his efforts to end the bullying epidemic across the country.

Wells has been playing the trumpet since he was 9-years-old and has released a total of 14 albums within the span of his musical career. He is endorsed by Conn/Selmer (largest band manufacturing company) as a national performer and has shared the stage with top artists in the “Smooth Jazz” genre.

He is founder of a nationally syndicated radio show that is in 20 different markets across the country. Wells is also the founder of several music festivals such as the Vienna Rib and Jazz Festival, Nashville Rib and Jazz Festival, and the Bowling Green Rib and Music Festival, which will be held in 2016.

Wells has accomplished a lot in his career, but as a musician he wanted to influence and inspire the younger generations. By going into the public schools and speaking about the power of music, he can help them achieve their dreams, and most importantly, put an end to bullying.

Wells has traveled to high schools, middle schools, and elementary schools across the country with one main goal; to inspire teenagers and children to be kind to one another, to always stick up for what you believe in, and to never be afraid to speak out.

In a recent press release, Wells highlighted some statistics on bullying:

One out of three kids are bullied every day of the school year and one out of five kids bully others. Over 160,000 kids don’t go to school because they’re afraid of being bullied. Approximately 64 percent of children who are bullied do not report it and only 36 percent actually report being bullied. School-based bullying prevention programs decrease bullying up to 25 percent (McCallion and Feder, 2013), but one out of four students report being bullied during the school year (National Center for Educational Statistics, 2015). Every seven minutes a child is bullied with adult intervention at 4 percent, peer intervention at 11 percent and no intervention at 85 percent.

Wells wants to get the word out to the public and put an end to bullying, and said he hopes to have the students believe in the power of music as much as he does.

A press release from David Wells contributed to this article.

David Wells
http://www.recordherald.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/27/2016/11/web1_David-Wells-Nashville-Picture9.jpgDavid Wells

By Martin Graham

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Reach Martin Graham at (740) 313-0351 or on Twitter @MartiTheNewsGuy

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