Make Music Day Plots 2,250 Free Concerts Nationwide
The global festival Make Music Day will return on June 21st with over 2,000 public events planned in the United States, and thousands more set to take place in over 700 cities across 120 countries.
Make Music Day’s biggest events are the Mass Appeals, which bring together musicians of all ages and skill sets to form large groups, often comprising a single instrument. More than 100 Mass Appeals will take place in 31 cities including a cello gathering in Astoria, Queens, a girls rock guitar jam in Boston and a sea shanty sing-along in Chicago.
Additionally, the 60’s Rock Stage in Madison, Wisconsin will be hosting performances of six early rock and roll hits: “Wooly Bully,” “Louie Louie,” “Johnny B. Goode,” “Good Lovin,'” “Wipe Out” and “Twist and Shout.” And in Fullerton California, Phyllis Fender — the matriarch of Fender guitar — Big Bubba Blues Band, Lit and more will lead Strats for Kats, a jam session based around guitar standards like “Smoke on the Water.”
Boston’s Make Music Day will also host a special 100th birthday bash for guitar innovator Les Paul, while Frank Sinatra’s centennial will be celebrated with roving karaoke piano bars that will travel around New York, Chicago and Seattle. Brass and woodwind players will be able to march in step for John Philip Sousa with Sousapaloozas scheduled in New York City, Chicago and Nashville. And NPR Music and Jazz at Lincoln Center will host “Exquisite Corpses,” an improvised jazz show at Woodlawn Cemetery, where W.C. Handy, Duke Ellington and Miles Davis are buried.
Make Music Day began in France in 1982 as “Fête de la Musique,” or World Music Day. The festival is open to anyone who wants to participate, and those hoping to learn an instrument will be able to take free guitar, harmonica, ukulele, drum and other instrument lessons in various cities across the U.S.
A complete schedule of events and list of participating cities is available at the Make Music Day website.