Global Make Music Day Set to Celebrate Joy of Making Music on June 21
Make Music Day (MMD) is a free celebration of music around the world on June 21st. Launched in 1982 in France as the Fête de la Musique, it is now held on the same day in more than 1,000 cities in 120 countries.
Completely different from a typical music festival, Make Music is open to anyone who wants to take part. Every kind of musician — young and old, amateur and professional, of every musical persuasion — pours onto streets, parks, plazas, and porches to share their music with friends, neighbors, and strangers. All of it is free and open to the public.
Faire La Fête: 40 Years of Making Music:
In honor of the 40th anniversary of France’s Fête de la Musique, the Make Music Alliance has organized “Faire La Fête.” The series will bring attention to the origins of Make Music Day with 40 concerts in 40 countries. Selections will include pieces from Bizet, Bozza, Boulez, Clements, Debussy, Faure, Jacquet de la Guerre, Piaf Poulenc, Rameau, Ravel, Django Reinhardt, Satie, Tailleferre, and Varése. In New York City, a special morning ceremony is scheduled with French and U.S. elected officials and dignitaries at Battery Park, which will include a performance of Carnival of the Animals by French composer Camille Saint-Saëns written in 1886, the same year the Statue of Liberty was inaugurated. For a full list of scheduled performances and their details, please visit https://www.makemusicday.org/fete40/#map.
Flight Ukulele’s #makemusicdaychallenge:
To encourage aspiring ukulele players of all ages and levels, NAMM Member Flight Ukulele continues its partnership with Make Music Day as it launches its #makemusicdaychallenge. The challenge encourages social media users to pick up an instrument, play, and share their experience on platforms like Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, and Twitter. Frank Garcia Montes de Oca, Flight’s head of marketing, said, “We at Flight believe that music deserves one special day of the year to celebrate, globally, how life-changing it is. We encourage the joyful and united ukulele community to take this as a great opportunity to celebrate our music, showcase the musical talent of uke players from around the world and encourage people to join in this worldwide event. Our #makemusicdaychallenge, throughout June, will include our more than 100 Flight Artists from around the globe, all of whom will choose and play a song that represents what music means to them.”
Uncommon Instruments - Makey Makey:
There is always a way to participate in Make Music Day, and Uncommon Instruments provides even the most novice musicians a chance to get in on the celebration. In its Make Music Day debut, Makey Makey is supplying kits to Make Music Day chapters that help turn every person into a music maker. By utilizing the technology provided, participants can plug a circuit board into a computer, and turn everyday objects like a banana into touchpads and make music. For more information, please visit https://www.makemusicday.org/partners/makey-makey/.
Street Studios presented by Harman:
Street corners in New York, Los Angeles, Detroit, Dallas, Stamford (CT), and internationally in Brazil, Germany, Hungary, and Mexico will come alive with custom sounds and beats as world-class DJs and producers set up their gear on sidewalks and engage passerby and musicians to join in an entirely improvised music creation session. The studios, presented by Harman, will include a suite of professional gear to make music on, including AKG microphones, JBL speakers, MIDI controllers, and instruments – everything it takes to create a pop-up studio.
Other NAMM Members participating in Make Music Day include:
- Alfred Music is supplying free copies of its It’s Ukulele Time at dozens of events throughout the country.
- For the tenth straight year, Hohner is providing thousands of free harmonicas, allowing first-time players the chance to develop their musical talents.
- Panyard is providing its Jumbie Jams, an entry-level steel pan specifically designed to be easily playable by anyone to 20 Make Music chapters.
- ProMark Drumsticks and D’Addario continues its tradition of donating its Classic 747 ProMark drumsticks to bucket drumming events around the country.
- Rhythm Band Instruments is donating 1,000 sets of its Boomwhackers® and other instruments to over 38 cities.
- Vic Firth is facilitating Flowerpot Music events across dozens of cities by providing aspiring and seasoned percussionists with sets of its Balter mallets.
For more information on Make Music Day, including a list of participating cities and ways to get involved, please visit www.makemusicday.org.