About
Last year, over 800 cities around the world had citywide music celebrations on June 21st.
Make Music is a free celebration of music around the world each year on June 21st. Launched in 1982 in France as the Fête de la Musique, it is now held on the same day in more than 1,000 cities in 120 countries. All of it is free and open to the public.
Make Music Day – Stratford: Wednesday, June 21st, 2023 4-9:00pm at the Sterling House Community Center, TBA at the Stratford Library and TBA at The Baldwin Center
Like last year, we are planning food trucks for picnic dinners while watching and listening to live music.
Parking:
The Sterling House Community Center driveway will be closed off to traffic starting at 4:00 PM on June 21. Public parking will be on Main Street or in the Stratford Library parking lot on West Broad Street. Traveling west on West Broad Street, the library’s parking lot entrance is the right turn, just before the northbound entrance ramp to I-95.
We will have food trucks on-site so no need to worry about dinner!
Make Music Day Stratford is produced by the Arts Alliance of Stratford with the support of the CT Office of the Arts, Department of Economic and Community Development which receives support from the National Endowment for the Arts, Sterling House Community Center, The Town of Stratford & The Stratford Community Fund.
Performance and Schedule
For Workshop Schedule, click here
Facebook Event Page
Play Make Music Video
Make Music Day 2023 Performance Schedule
4:00pm – The Stratford Library – Courtyard or Lovell Room (in case of rain)
Cowboy Keith Chapman
Playing acoustic soul original music and unique arrangements of classic country, rock, reggae, jam & more- picking guitar, blowing harmonica, with a dynamic vocal approach… always available to support & collaborate with others on bass & percussion too.
Facebook YouTube
5:00pm – The Stratford Library – Lovell Room
Hip-Hop Artist FreeChains
Representing Connecticut and Stratford with each endeavor he is a songwriter, rapper, and hip-hop artist.
Website YouTube
5:00pm – Sterling House
Pyramid Shriners Pipes and Drums
The Pyramid Shriners Pipes and Drums band was founded in 1971. Wearing the Ancient MacKenzie Tartan, we are a group of Shriners and friends that play the music of the highlands to support the Shriners Hospitals for Children. Our motto is “we march so that kids may walk”!
Website Facebook
5:15pm – Sterling House
Sterling Road
They are a Trumbull-based band consisting of four Trumbull High School students who play a little bit of everything from rock, to pop, to country. They have been playing together since the fall of 2022 and are very excited to play for Make Music Day.
Instagram
6:00pm – Sterling House
The Washboard Slim Trio
The bands music comes from playing Roots Americana on guitar, mandolin, harmonica and washboard with vocals.
Website Facebook
6:30pm: The Stratford Library – Lovell Room
Coastal Mix Barbershop Chorus
Coastal Mix is an a cappella, mixed voice chorus dedicated to bringing family-friendly entertainment to the community. Formerly known as “The Coastal Chordsmen,” they are now a mixed-voice chorus, welcoming all singers regardless of gender. Officially the Bridgeport, CT chapter of the Barbershop Harmony Society International, we have been entertaining audiences in Southern Connecticut and beyond for over 75 years!
Website Facebook
7:00pm – Sterling House
Shannon McMahon
Shannon McMahon, a singer/songwriter from Stratford, CT, creates contemporary folk music with rich vocals and songs that resonate with a strong sense of the human experience.
Website Facebook
7:00pm: The Stratford Library – Lovell Room
Stratford Sister Cities Chorus
Stratford Sister Cities Chorus is a mixed voice, multi generational ensemble. As choral and cultural ambassadors for the Town of Stratford, the chorus was organized in 1991 for the purpose of bringing music and friendship to the Stratfords of the world and entertainment in our own community.
Website Facebook
8:00pm – Sterling House
Parker’s Tangent
Parker’s Tangent is a fun group that has to be seen to be believed. They play all original [sometimes art] rock music based on blues and roots sources. They have a wonderful female lead singer, drums, bass, lead and rhythm guitars, and together with an awesome violin player they present virtuosic performances. as you’d expect.
Website Facebook
9:00pm – Sterling House
Closing Words
Make Music Day Committee
Workshop Schedule
Click on the links below for video, website & Facebook info for each workshop host
9:00pm to 5:30pm
For Music Performance Schedule, click here.
THE BALDWIN SENIOR CENTER (Members Only)
9:00am – And The Beat Goes On
10:00am – Ukulele & Sing Along
11:00am – Sit & Dance
1:00pm – The Boomers
2:30pm – SC Dance & Karaoke Party
Baldwin Center Pre-Registration: There are no fees for Make Music Day Programs. Pre-Registration is required. Please call (203) 385-4050 OR register online at Play Make Music Video to reserve your spot!
If registering by phone, please indicate you are registering for a “Make Music Day” program
(i.e. Make Music Day Sit & Dance, Make Music Day And The Beat Goes On).
THE STRATFORD LIBRARY – LOVELL ROOM
2:00pm
Make Music Day with DJ Austin Daily
Join us to celebrate summer reading with DJ Austin Dailey! This popular area DJ will have kids up and dancing with fun activities and kid-friendly music. Ages 6-12.
Space is limited. Pre-Register HERE
4-5:30pm
uCreate: Make Music with Makey Makey for Teens!
Meet Makey Makey, an invention kit that allows you to turn anything—literally anything!—into a computer button. Learn some simple circuitry and then team up to build a working musical instrument that you can play in celebration of Make Music Day! Registration required. Open to ages 10 & up; anyone 12 & under must be accompanied by a parent/guardian (who should also register). Space is Limited. Pre-Register HERE
STERLING HOUSE
4:00pm
Peter Menta (AKA Washboard Slim): Basics of Blues Harmonica
In this workshop Peter will teach the basics of blues harmonica: how to hold the instrument properly to get good tone, a few essential rhythm patterns, and will demonstrate how to bend notes to get that true blues sound. 10-hole diatonic Hohner Harmonicas will be provided for you to keep, but if you have one in the key of C or the key of A, bring it along. PLEASE BRING YOUR KAZOO OR ASK FOR ONE AT THE ARTS ALLIANCE OF STRATFORD TENT TO HUM ALONG WITH A SPECIAL NUMBER PETER MENTA WILL LEAD.
Peter Menta has fronted the band Washboard Slim and the Blue Lights for over four decades. He has studied and mastered the harmonica styles of many of the great blues artists.
Washboard Slim Website Facebook
4:00pm
Iyaba Ibo Mandingo – Iyaba will lead a workshop for kids 7-12 on drum making. All materials will be supplied. Painter, poet, writer, actor and playwright, Iyaba makes art with found objects, fabric, and items many of us would discard.
Website Facebook Biography
Statement on Equality
As we continue to grow in our understanding of this movement before us, we, the board of the Arts Alliance of Stratford and organizers of Make Music Day Stratford, stand with our black and minority brothers and sisters in their pursuit of justice – not only in the latest case of violence against George Floyd – but for all men and women of color, at all times. We, as artists, aspire to represent a community cut from the cloth of inclusivity; whose artistic expression often reflects our belief in social justice.
We can do better, and we encourage our community – our members, artists, supporters, businesses, and audiences to join us in taking action outwardly and inwardly to create a better world for people of color.
Here are some helpful resources and places to donate that we would like to share with you. This is not a specific endorsement of these particular organizations, but we offer them to help begin. Please consider any causes that resonate with you and further the fight for justice.
DONATIONS, PETITIONS:
ACLU (https://www.aclu.org/issues/racial-justice)
Southern Poverty Law Center (https://www.splcenter.org)
Equal Justice Initiative (https://eji.org)
NAACP (https://www.naacp.org) Legal Defense and Educational Fund (https://www.naacpldf.org)
Color of Change (https://colorofchange.org/about/)
EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES:
Coming Together: Standing Up to Racism – a CNN/Sesame Street town hall on racism (https://www.cnn.com/2020/06/06/app-news-section/cnn-sesame-street-race-town-hall-app-june-6-2020-app/index.html)
Talking About Race – National Museum of African American History & Culture (https://nmaahc.si.edu/learn/talking-about-race)
Contact
Have a question?
Get in touch with us!
Jim Taylor Make Music Day Event Coordinator
Our Sponsors:
Arts Alliance of Stratford
Sterling House Community Center
Town of Stratford
Stratford Community Fund
Connecticut Department of Economic and Community Development