Anyone is welcome to make music in public on June 21, and we mean truly anyone – even those who have never tried making music before, and even those who don’t own an instrument!
This year, Vic Firth and Rhythm Band Instruments have returned to sponsor three national percussion projects, where anyone can come and get a free instrument to play on Make Music Day. These are all part of our Mass Appeal initiative, which brings together people of all levels and ages to make music in large, single-instrument groups.
Vic Firth, setting the standard for percussion since its inception in 1963, is providing over 1,200 pairs of free drumsticks to 38 events around the country this year!
17 events will be bucket drumming sessions, ranging from structured classes to free-flowing bucket drumming circles, while another 21 drumstick events will include drum circles, drum-offs, and more.
To take part, all you need is a beat in your heart… and a pair of sticks.
Music on June 21 can come from anyone, anywhere, and just about anything.
As if to prove the point, celebrated composer Elliot Cole and percussionist Peter Ferry are once again organizing a series of music especially for Make Music Day, featuring an unlikely but beautiful percussion instrument – the flowerpot!
This year, 16 groups around the U.S. will come out to parks, fields, and plazas to performFlowerpot Music, a set of easy-to-learn musical games. Anyone can join the events – no experience required.
Vic Firth is sponsoring Flowerpot Music by providing 160 professional yarn-wrapped mallets free of charge, so that anyone can make a great sound on a flowerpot.
Thank you, Vic Firth!
In another beloved Make Music Day tradition, Rhythm Band Instruments, makers of the pitched hollow plastic tubes called Boomwhackers®, is donating percussion kits to 34 communities for participatory Mass Appeal percussion events – over 1,000 instruments in all, with a variety of Boomwhackers, egg shakers, and rhythm sticks to make music accessible to everyone.
Thank you, Rhythm Band Instruments!