August 28, 2020
Create your own free, participatory Make Music Winter event!
- If you’re interested in leading an event for Make Music Winter on December 21, just fill out this form. We will get back to you right away.
- For more ideas of what Make Music Winter can look like, visit makemusicwinter.org for photos, videos, and press coverage from prior years.
- Check out our handbooks for five popular Make Music Winter projects. Take these ideas and run with them in your own city, or use them as inspiration for something new!
August 28, 2020
Make Music Winter returns!
The winter counterpart to Make Music Day is back on Monday, December 21!
Make Music Winter is a series of free, outdoor musical parades, taking place last year in 40 U.S. cities. People of all ages, musical abilities, and backgrounds meet up to promenade and play participatory music for bells, electric guitars, percussion, and more.
It’s a joyful (and socially-distanced) way to ring in the longest night of the year, and celebrate the end of 2020.
June 30, 2020
Make Music Day – thank you!
Congratulations to all who took part in Make Music Day – whether at home or in public, virtually or physically, alone or together! More than 1,500 music-making events were shared in the U.S. on June 21, along with performances by thousands of musicians in 120 countries around the world who celebrated the day.
One highlight of this unusual year was a surge of virtual collaborations between musicians who had never before met, but who came together on Make Music Day to create something beautiful. Explore their tracks and videos at the links for Bedroom Studios, #MySongIsYourSong, Track Meet, and Young Composers Contest.
And check out the footage from our international livestream on June 21st, with 12 hours of live performances from Australia, Bulgaria, Colombia, France, Germany, Hong Kong, the U.K., U.S., and many more.
Finally, mark your calendar for Make Music Winter on Monday, December 21, 2020!
June 30, 2020
Thank you to our national sponsors!
We’d like to give another shout-out to our national Make Music Day partners this year, with special thanks to the NAMM Foundation, without whom our work would not be possible.
Thank you and have a wonderful summer!
June 20, 2020
Landmarks Across the U.S. Shining Orange for Make Music Day
For the fourth year, more than 30 buildings and landmarks around the country will turn orange in honor of Make Music Day!
Three bridges, four City Halls, and national landmarks like Niagara Falls, Crazy Horse Memorial, and Hawaii’s Aloha Tower will all participate by turning orange – evoking the sun, the start of summer, and the Make Music Day logo – on June 21 or the night before.
Click here for the complete list!
June 20, 2020
10 Press Previews for Make Music Day
- "The summer solstice is going virtual. Here are 12 ways you can celebrate online," Tribune News Service, June 18, 2020
- "14th annual 'Make Music Day' goes virtual amid pandemic," Yahoo News, June 19, 2020
- "Make Music Day, a “free celebration of music around the world,” to take place on June 21," by Richard Bienstock, Guitar World Magazine, June 17, 2020
- "Chicago Symphony launching Virtual Day of Music," by Howard Reich, Chicago Tribune, June 18, 2020
- "Make Music Hartford, Hartford’s annual celebration of music, will connect community online this year," by Susan Dunne, Hartford Courant, May 28, 2020
- "Hawaii musicians needed to participate in worldwide music event “Make Music Day”," by Brigette Namata, KHON 2, May 19, 2020
- "Global music fest goes virtual: Make Music Madison takes part in annual celebration," by Robyn Norton, Wisconsin State Journal, June 19, 2020
- "Make Music Miami Puts the Spotlight on Local Acts During the Shutdown," by Mike Hamersly, Artburst Miami / Miami New Times, June 18, 2020
- "Make Music Day STL, part of global celebration, will make noise online this year," by Ben Simon, St Louis Post-Dispatch, June 18, 2020
- "COVID-19 concerns can’t stop the music," by Michael Chaiken, Republican-American, June 17, 2020
Visit our media page (link) for even more press coverage from around the U.S.!
June 20, 2020
How to Make Music on June 21
What are you waiting for? Just make music! Use our poster generator to promote your event (whether live or virtual), and use the hashtag #makemusicday when you share it. On June 21, pull out your instrument and start playing. Piece of cake.
Or join a participatory project where you can just bring your instrument – or yourself – and join in! Take a free live music lesson, play a song Live From Home, contribute to a Bedroom Studio, sing in the Heart Chant, or join one of this year’s many other featured national projects.
Just want to listen? Check out the schedule of events from around the country, and tune in to the Global Livestream all day on June 21 to experience Make Music Day from around the world, along with the #MySongIsYourSong performances.
(If your hometown is already a Make Music city, you’re in luck! Click on your city’s website to register with them, and see what else is happening near you.)
June 19, 2020
The Heart Chant
The Heart Chant is a participatory “Deep Listening” meditation by composer Pauline Oliveros (1932-2016) that offers sonic healing for all beings through listening and vocalization.
Last year, nearly a dozen Heart Chants took place on three continents for Make Music Day. This year, people everywhere are invited to join in a virtual Heart Chant over Zoom, hosted by IONE, Music on the Rebound, and members of the International Contemporary Ensemble. The simple instructions invite anyone and everyone to participate – no musical training is required!
Click here to register, then tune in live at 5pm ET on Sunday from your phone or computer to be a part of a uniquely powerful collective healing.
June 19, 2020
Harman and Audio Matters
Harman has been a crucial supporter of Make Music Day for the last five years, part of their unwavering commitment to music and music education. We thank Harman deeply for their incredible partnership.
This morning, Harman released a special episode of their Audio Matters podcast about Make Music Day, interviewing Aaron Friedman (Make Music Alliance) and Lee Whitmore (GRAMMY Music Education Coalition) about what the day is all about, and how it promotes music education.
And just in time for Make Music Day, Harman also just released a consumer study of the impact music is having right now, during the last few months of the COVID-19 pandemic. Check it out here!
June 19, 2020
This American Song
We are excited to announce a new, late-breaking Make Music Day initiative called This American Song, capturing the stories and experiences of ordinary people from around the country at this unprecedented time.
Working through our local chapters, and in partnership with the Nashville Songwriters Association International, the Make Music Alliance has lined up fifty people of all ages with a story to tell, one in each of the 50 States, along with fifty professional songwriters in a variety of styles.
On the morning of June 21, each songwriter will video chat with one interviewee for an hour. In the afternoon, they will write a song inspired by their conversation. And that evening, they will do a second video chat with the person and give a live, private performance of the song they’ve just written.
After Make Music Day, videos of all fifty songs will be available on our website, opening a window into American lives and showing the power of music to connect us.
Check out the list of songwriters here!