At a time when the near future is increasingly unpredictable, you can be certain of one thing. Make Music Day will happen across the world on 21 June this year. Already established as the UK’s biggest free single-day music event, Make Music Day is an annual, global, grassroots festival that sees a huge range of musical performances happening all the way around the world, in 125 countries.
What has made Make Music Day unique since it began in France as Fête de la Musique in
1980, is that anyone can take part. Whether you’re a seasoned musician, an enthusiastic
novice, or someone who simply enjoys dabbling with a tune, it’s an open invitation to all
to make and share music on one day. Traditionally the event is about bringing music into
public spaces for the community to enjoy. This year, with the uncertainty surrounding the
COVID-19 pandemic and social gatherings, organisers and musicians are encouraged to
take their performances online and to use the abundance of technology freely available to share the joy of music with the online community.
Bringing a new meaning to the term House Music, there are a number of ways for everyone to get involved with this year’s Make Music Day from online music lessons, as either a teacher or a pupil, Virtual Choirs that we can all join, and the Live from Home
Challenge, in which participants play a song and tag friends to respond with their own
performances, to the Musique concrète and found sounds improvisations of the Street
Studios, and our initiative to create a myriad of fantastic cover versions of Make Music
Day UK’s official song Bring Me Sunshine.
There are comprehensive toolkits and a wealth of advice on the Make Music Day website
to help you get started and ensure you can easily join the day’s celebration of music. And
for music fans who just want to enjoy all of the music being made by others there will be
both global and UK-centric live streams to tune in to.
We are already seeing music’s exceptional ability to engender a sense of unity in these
unprecedented times and hope that this year’s Make Music Day can help to stir a real
sense of community and connection throughout the country on 21 June. We continue to
monitor Government advice regarding social distancing and remain hopeful that by the
summer solstice it will be possible to take Make Music Day into the public spaces, where it has always thrived, for some much-needed communal entertainment with uplifting live
performances. But should the current situation remain we will still bring you the sights
and most especially the sounds of Make Music Day as a digital celebration.
For more information head to www.makemusicday.co.uk or follow @MakeMusicDayUK on
social media.
