June 16, 2018
Nationwide Bucket Drumming
It’s not just Platteville. People in cities around the country will come outside next week on Make Music Day for special bucket drumming workshops.
In 27 cities, all percussionists who attend – kids and adults, professionals and first-timers – will be handed a pair of drum sticks generously donated by Vic Firth and invited to make music together. The events will range from structured classes to free-flowing bucket drumming circles, according to the concept of each local organizer.
Explore the bucket drumming events!
June 16, 2018
Make Music City of the Week: Liberty
Liberty, Missouri is another small town (population 30,000) with an outsized Make Music Day celebration.
Led by the Liberty Arts Commission, next week’s third annual Make Music Liberty features over 50 performances of all kinds including a bagpiper, a hammered dulcimer ensemble, an Elvis impersonator, and a 10 hour “all kids” musical extravaganza at the Corbin Theatre Company.
Visit their website for full details!
June 10, 2018
Download the New Make Music App!
We are excited to release a brand-new Make Music Day app this year for iOS and Android! Download the app today and:
- View the complete Make Music schedule in 75 cities, updated daily
- Save events to your calendar and create your own itinerary
- Play videos and musical tracks from participating artists
- See updates from your local Make Music chapter, share your own photos… and more!
Download the app for Android
Download the app for iPhone
June 10, 2018
The MP3 Experiment at Make Music New York
If you’re in New York City on June 21, free up space in your phone so you can download another app, too, and join the fifteenth annual Mp3 Experiment!
Mp3 Experiments are free, participatory audio adventures created by Improv Everywhere. Attendees download a smartphone app and listen to synchronized secret instructions in a public space via headphones.
Last June 21, over 3,000 people came to New York’s Battery Park and made music together with Boomwhackers. This year’s Experiment, once again part of Make Music New York, will be in Brooklyn Bridge Park, with a secret musical item generously donated to the first 1,000 participants by D’Addario to use in the event.
June 10, 2018
Make Music Country of the Week: France
Make Music Day all began in France with the Fête de la Musique. Starting as an initiative of the Ministry of Culture in 1982, the Fête de la Musique has become a nationwide musical holiday and a permanent part of the cultural calendar.
Each year, France counts more than 17,000 free concerts nationwide on June 21, 1,500 of them in the Paris region. A 2017 survey showed that 64% of the French population actively participates by performing or listening to music on June 21. Of those, 72% have no fixed plans, but “wander around at random” to discover the music coming from every street corner.
On June 21 this year, follow the Ministry of Culture’s Fête de la Musique Facebook page for 24 hours of live footage from France and around the world!
June 10, 2018
Make Music Day and Sweetwater
We’d like to take a moment to thank Sweetwater Sound for its multi-year Make Music Day sponsorship.
Over the last four years Sweetwater has spread the word about Make Music Day to hundreds of thousands of customers, and has been the driving force behind Make Music Fort Wayne, bringing bands, play-alongs, and family fun to Friemann Square in their Indiana hometown on June 21.
This year’s Make Music Fort Wayne is taking a year off (due to a date conflict with GearFest) but Sweetwater continues to join its customers in celebrating Make Music Day, and stands by to ship any last-minute gear that may be needed for June 21!
June 4, 2018
Make Music City of the Week: Niterói, Brazil
Just outside of Rio de Janeiro, the Brazilian city of Niterói launches its first Make Music Day this year, with over 100 artists confirmed to make music all over town!
Among many notable events in Niterói, a grand piano will be set up on the sidewalk outside the Municipal Theater and renowned classical pianists will play recitals for passersby. The city’s famous Museum of Contemporary Art will be lit up in orange to honor Make Music Day, in addition to hosting bands.
Meanwhile, Brazil’s Anafima association is leading a national Make Music week from June 18-24, focused on learning and teaching musical instruments. No matter where you are in the country, Make Music Day is on its way to you!
June 4, 2018
Water Music at Make Music Boston
This year, one of Make Music Boston’s “anchor performances” takes place, appropriately enough, on the water.
Inspired by the Charles River and Handel’s famous Water Music, fifty musicians (brass players, percussionists, and singers) will perform newly commissioned work by Marti Epstein, C. Neil Parsons, Maria Finkelmeier, Anthony Green, and Manuel Garcia Albornoz while standing along the Charles River Esplanade at sunset. Listeners will walk within and around the performers to create their own musical experience.
Learn more on the Make Music Boston website.
June 4, 2018
Young Composers Contest
For the second year, software company MakeMusic Inc. and the nonprofit American Composers Forum held a Make Music Day composition contest this spring for young composers, aged 13-21, writing music for middle school band.
Out of dozens of impressive entries, judges this year selected two winners – Adrian B. Sims of Baltimore and Louis A. Josephson of Princeton Junction (NJ) – to have their respective pieces, Force Field and Galliard Overture, premiered live in Cleveland, Minneapolis-St. Paul and other select cities on Make Music Day.
If you’re a band director, we invite you to add these pieces to your June 21 programs! Scores and parts are available to download here.
June 4, 2018
Mamma Mia! Sing-Along Trucks
At this year’s Make Music Day in New York City, Los Angeles, Chicago and Miami, fans can dance, jive and have the time of their lives while singing their favorite ABBA songs on the sidewalk, accompanied by live musicians playing from the back of pickup trucks.
In celebration of the new original movie musical “Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again,” the sing-along trucks will make stops at several locations in each city throughout the day.
Updated times and truck stops will be posted soon on our website. Come out and sing along!