Make Music Day 2015 Resounds Across 20+ U.S. Cities This June

Music will fill the air as Make Music Day, the world's largest annual music event, returns with a wild and wonderful mix of free, outdoor music-making on June 21, the first day of summer. The celebration returns to the United States for its ninth year with more than 20 cities hosting major events, and smaller festivities popping up around the country. Seattle, San Diego, Pittsburgh, Portland (OR), Fort Wayne (IN), and Columbia (SC) will host Make Music celebrations for the first time, while New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Boston, Nashville, and Madison will build on the musical momentum of previous years.

Make Music Day began in France in 1982 as the Fte de la Musique, and has since spread to over 700 cities in 120 countries. Completely different from a typical music festival, Make Music is open to anyone who wants to take part, enjoyed by everyone who wants to attend. From classical to folk, hip hop to opera, Latin jazz to punk rock, music of all kinds is performed on streets, sidewalks, porches, plazas, parks, and gardens on the longest day of the year. In 2014, over three thousand concerts were held across the U.S. for Make Music.

There are many ways to take part. Musicians and venues are invited to register their own concert in advance at MakeMusicDay.org. Or, anyone can show up on June 21 to join several new, nationwide initiatives that will unite the country in making music.

To commemorate Frank Sinatra's 100th birthday, Yamaha is sponsoring a roving Clavinova Piano Bar in three Make Music cities. From the back of Yamaha-branded pickup trucks, pianists in New York, Chicago, and Seattle will play live music on a Clavinova digital piano to accompany singers on the sidewalk anyone and everyone who wants to belt out Sinatra standards such as My Way, Come Fly With Me, and It Was A Very Good Year. Make Music New York locations will include the Sinatra hangouts P.J. Clarke's and the Carnegie Club, with a final destination at the New York Public Library for the Performing Arts at Lincoln Center, home of a current exhibit about Sinatra, where special guests from Sinatra's long career will perform. For Make Music Chicago and Make Music Seattle, the Clavinova Piano Bar trucks will stop at prominent local landmarks and popular summer parks.

After four years as a flagship project of Make Music Chicago, Sousapalooza celebrating the music of John Philip Sousa expands nationwide. New Sousapaloozas in New York's Bryant Park, Boston's Rose Kennedy Greenway, and Nashville's Centennial Park, along with Chicago's Daley Plaza, will bring together hundreds of brass and wind musicians to play the music of The March King. Last year's Sousapalooza in Chicago featured members of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, along with local high school, university, and community band members. In all four cities, musicians at all levels and all ages are invited to show up and join in.

And dozens of locations around the country will host Mass Appeals, bringing together massed groups of the same instrument for participatory, inclusive performances. Highlights include:

• Mass Appeal Guitars, 100s of players at Make Music New York, Seattle, Boston, and Nashville will play eight pop and rock classics. Twenty additional partners around the country will receive free booklets to pass out and create their own guitar Mass Appeals. Sponsored by Guitar World, C.F. Martin & Co., and Hal Leonard Corp.
• Mass Appeal Harmonicas, free harmonicas and harmonica lessons (first come first served) in each U.S. Make Music city. After a quick introduction to the instrument, players will jam. Sponsored by Hohner.
• Mass Appeal Ukuleles, ukulele circles convening at music retailers around the country, with books of ukulele tunes for all, gratis. Sponsored by Kala Brand Music and Alfred Music.
• Mass Appeal littleBits, an easy-to-use electronic instrument distributed for free in 10 Make Music cities. Participants will assemble their own synthesizers, and then using the internet-enabled "cloudBit" perform together, live, with players in other cities on June 21. Sponsored by littleBits / KORG.

Additional Mass Appeal events for percussion, cellos, theremins, violins, trombones, and more will take place around the country. Mass Appeal is sponsored by the National Association of Music Merchants (NAMM) Foundation.

"In an age of solitary amusements, the rapid growth of Make Music celebrations around the country speaks to a powerful urge to share in this most joyous of communal activities," says Aaron Friedman, founder and president of the Make Music Alliance. "We invite you to join us in a wonderful day of concerts in streets, parks, plazas, and other public spaces on the first day of summer,June 21."

A full schedule of events will be announced in early June. For more information, please visit www.makemusicday.org.

About Make Music Day
Held annually on June 21st, Make Music Day is part of the international Fte de la Musique, taking place in 700 cities across 120 countries. The daylong, musical free-for-all celebrates music in all its forms, encouraging people to band together and play in free public concerts. This year, more than 20 U.S. cities are organizing Make Music celebrations, encompassing thousands of concerts nationwide, coordinated by the nonprofit Make Music Alliance. For more information, please visit www.makemusicday.org.

SOURCE Make Music Day