Dear friends,
We hope this finds you safe and healthy.
Like all of you, we are grappling with the huge impact COVID-19 is having around the world, and in our daily lives. As we plan for Make Music Day on June 21, 2020, we don’t know if public gatherings will be feasible at that date, or if everyone will be “social distancing” and stuck at home.
Despite this uncertainty, we wanted to let you know that Make Music Day will still be happening on June 21. Unlike traditional music festivals, Make Music Day is an open invitation for everyone to make music anywhere and everywhere. We hope to be taking over the streets with music on June 21, but if we can’t, we invite you to join one of the online Make Music Day initiatives that will take place no matter what.
- Live From Home Challenge: Record a musical performance at home on June 21, and tag three friends to challenge them to respond with their own performances.
- Online Music Lessons: Teachers around the world will be offering free, online lessons for a variety of instruments on June 21.
- Street Studios: Be part of a completely improvised music creation session. Record any sound or musical material on June 21st and upload it to one of the “Street Studio” producers, then watch the producer’s livestream as they incorporate it into a musical track created on the spot, using only the submitted materials.
- Bands Undercover: Individuals or bands sign up to cover each other’s original music, and live stream their performances to each other in a unique musical exchange on June 21.
- Young Composers Contest: Composers between the ages of 13-21 are invited to submit short, original compositions for choir by June 1st. A panel of renowned composers will give their feedback on all entries, and will select one winning piece to release on June 21 to the world in a professional performance.
- Global Livestream: a day-long video stream on June 21 will show the rich diversity of live Make Music Day events around the world.
More details for each of these initiatives will be announced soon. (Do you have other ideas? Just reply to this email and let us know.)
In this time of social distancing, music’s powerful role to bring us together as a community is more important than ever. While physical public gatherings may not be currently accessible, we can still stay connected online and celebrate music.
Of course, we still hope to come out together in public on June 21 — in the coming weeks, look for announcements from your local Make Music Day coordinators with updates. But above all, we are committed to supporting the health and well-being of the public during this challenging time, and will follow the guidance of government health departments to make sure everyone stays safe.
Sincerely,
Make Music Alliance (U.S.)
Make Music Day UK
Make Music Australia
Fête de la Musique Deutschland
Confederation of European Music Industries (Italy)
PS: if you are stuck at home in the coming weeks or months, post a video of yourself making music with the tag #makemusicday and we will share it.
PPS: Wash your hands!