Oregon’s Make Music Salem celebrated its 10th year this June 21, with 252 performances at 68 locations – an astounding number for a city of 180,000!

Nearly every block downtown was filled with music – with teenage performers from the RiverCity Rock Star Academy, rock and punk bands from KMUZ, and a silent disco with five DJs at Riverfront Park – while nearly every genre was represented somewhere in the city. And in true Make Music Day fashion, beginning musicians could join in on a ukulele jam session, a harmonica giveaway, or a “found sound” instrument alley.

Make Music Salem was founded by small business owner Mark Green and his family. Over the years, Mark helped start up other Make Music events around Oregon, and joined the Make Music Alliance board to support the event’s national growth.

Tragically, Mark passed away in August. We are remembering Mark this year, and celebrating Make Music Salem as just one way his legacy of joyful community service lives on.

Make Music Day’s winter counterpart returns on Sunday, December 21!

Make Music Winter is a joyful, free outdoor musical festivity, celebrated since 2011 on the winter solstice, and reaching 20+ U.S. cities last year.

What makes Make Music Winter unique is its focus on musical parades that anyone can join, from a procession of strolling electric guitarists, to a roving mob of kazoo players. These mobile events create a memorable spectacle all over town, and keep participants warm when the weather is cold.

On December 21, Make Music Winter returns with mobile events that turn audiences into music-makers, organized through our network of Make Music chapters and free for all to join!

The full schedule will be announced in November. Stay tuned!

Congratulations to all who took part in last month’s Make Music Day!

We’ve crunched the numbers, and a stunning 5,453 free music-making events took place in the U.S. on June 21 – a new record – along with performances by thousands more musicians in countries around the world who celebrated the day.

Check out 227 press clips about Make Music Day 2025, from media outlets in 87 U.S. cities, to learn about events you may have missed!

Make Music Day would never have gotten so big, so quickly, without the transformational support of NAMM and the NAMM Foundation, representing the generosity and philanthropy of the music products industry.

While the NAMM Foundation has supported the infrastructure behind Make Music Day, individual NAMM members such as Elixir Strings, Harman, PRS Guitars, Rhythm Band Instruments, Sweetwater, and Vic Firth have become core partners, donating instruments and promoting music-making for all on June 21.

This year we celebrate 10 years of NAMM’s partnership. Read more here.

Thank you, NAMM!

• “‘Find joy’ at this massive free music event taking over Phoenix for 1 day only,” by Ed Masley, Arizona Republic
• “Make Music Day to feature dozens of free concerts by local artists throughout Connecticut,” by Christopher Arnott, Hartford Courant
• “How a French holiday turned into a global music day, and which Texas cities are participating,” KTSM Austin
• “Worldwide Make Music Day coming June 21. Here are the Florida events,” by C.A. Bridges, Tallahassee Democrat
• “Make Music Day celebrates free, live music around Houston — and the world,” by Michael Hagerty, Houston Public Media
• “Make Music Madison adds Global Choir Project for 12th-annual celebration,” by Anna Hansen, Wisconsin State Journal
• “‘Make Music Day’ events add to Ann Arbor’s character and identity,” by Ana Longoria, WEMU
• “Wil Russoul on music, community and the festival that’s changing everything,” by Darnell Sue, Aberdeen Daily World
• “Musicians will play for free around town, and the world, on ‘Make Music Day’,” by Alysia Gray Painter, NBC 4 Los Angeles
• “Watch 70-plus concerts for free during San Jose’s Make Music Day,” by John Metcalfe, Bay Area News Group

Find more in our 2025 Press Archive

For the third year, Make Music, Make Friends connected school children aged 7-13 around the world for Make Music Day, to share videos of their musical performances with each other.

38 teachers in Australia, Germany, Italy, Mexico, Northern Ireland, Pakistan, South Africa, Thailand, Turkiye, and the US had their kids create a musical greeting video, shared it with schools from different countries, and had their students watch these musical messages this week in honor of Make Music Day.

More details here!

Makey Makey joins Make Music Day for the 4th time in 2025. Using this circuit board, plugged into a computer, performers of all levels can turn everyday objects into touchpads and use them to make music.

This year, Makey Makey is donating kits to Make Music chapters around the country and helping them make homemade giant floor pianos and other participatory “Mass Appeal” events and installations on June 21.

Thank you, Makey Makey!

New York has been a proud part of the global Make Music Day since 2007, when New York City’s June 21 celebration began.

In 2025, with support from the New York State Council on the Arts, Make Music Day is getting louder and stronger across the Empire State!

Check out global tabla master Samir Chatterjee at the inaugural Make Music Woodstock, join a full day of workshops and jam sessions at the new Make Music Wyoming County, play along with Suzuki strings, electronic percussion, wind bands, and a samba band in Troy, rock out in an underground “weir chamber” for the 11th annual Make Music Ossining, cross paths with a tugboat outfitted with a Wurlitzer organ and playing down the East River in NYC, and much, much more.

Click here for more details!