A group of musicians has begun performing impromptu concerts at crime scenes around Milwaukee in hopes of helping the community heal from tragedy.
The Black String Triage Ensemble has performed at more than a dozen crime scenes since the beginning of the summer, WISN-TV reported. The seven members range in age from 11 to 75, and play instruments that include the violin, the cello and the upright bass.
Dayvin Hallmon is the group's founder and conductor. He arranged songs for the group to represent the five stages of grief: a spiritual for denial; classical music for anger; jazz for bargaining; then blues and soul music for depression and acceptance, according to CNN. All of the music is by African-American composers.
"There is someone who gets shot every other day, whether fatal or not. This is a habitual thing. With so many people being killed ... people are always having memorials, they're always having vigils, they're always having funerals," Hallmon told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. "We are always in some form of grieving. There is nothing that addresses what happens in the immediate aftermath directly."
The music is meant to help the community grieve and "move forward," Hallmon said.
The group's musicians are on-call during designated Saturday nights, when they must be ready to assemble anywhere in the city.
Feedback has so far been positive, Hallmon said. The first time the ensemble performed after a shooting, a woman introduced herself to Hallmon as the mother of the shooting victim.
"I will sleep better tonight knowing you are here," she said, according to Hallmon.
The group tweets the time and location of upcoming shows on its Twitter page.
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