New Additions to Make Music Day 2019

Elizabeth Dale

Make Music Day is an annual, global music celebration that takes place alongside the summer solstice each year on June 21. Over 1,000 cities found in 120 different countries participate in vibrant celebrations that often highlight the unique music scene found in each community. With each passing year, Make Music Day continues to grow not only in diversity of events held in participating locations but with the expansion of Make Music Day events into new locations. 2019 marks an expanded set of events in Huntington Beach, California and the arrival of Make Music Day to Tucson, Arizona, as well as support from multiple locations of Music & Arts.

  • Island Bazaar Ukulele Circle
  • Drum Circle
  • Music and Arts Lesson Studio
  • Music and Arts Lesson Studio

For one NAMM Member, Island Bazaar, the Huntington Beach, California based ukulele retail store will again celebrate Make Music Day with the local community. The store, which touts itself as a “Ukulele Paradise,” Island Bazaar is the largest uke shop in Southern California and regularly hosts concerts, classes, workshops, and ukulele clubs as part of the Island Bazaar experience.

For Island Bazaar’s inaugural Make Music Day, owner Shirley Orlando and her team will be donating approximately 36 ukuleles to the Huntington Children’s Library and will be hosting a beginners workshop on June 21 to teach children how to strum along to six different songs. In addition, Orlando and Island Bazaar have made a commitment to continue to foster the passion for playing the ukulele by continuing instruction throughout the summer, offering further instruction to young children in Huntington Beach and the surrounding areas. Orlando was inspired by the volume of NAMM Members that participate in Make Music Day each year to get involved in 2019 and when asked what advice she had for other members looking to get involved Orlando stated, “I would advise other NAMM Members to find a musical void around them, fill that void on Make Music Day, and then continue the joy of music in their community from that point on.”

Another exciting addition to the 2019 Make Music Day lineup is L&M Music Center out of Tucson, Arizona. Spearheading the Make Music Day Tucson movement is John Bujak of L&M Music Center. Bujak is heavily involved in the local music scene in Tucson and as a result felt a compelling need to raise awareness in the community for the continued need for music and music education. Their 2019 program includes many of the staples found across the world including drum circles, bucket drumming, and ukulele circles. However, Bujak and the community are going a step further in their efforts, offering open mic stages, instrument petting zoos (the opportunity to freely try new instruments), and even free music lessons.

Despite a variety of offerings for 2019, Bujak is excited at the prospects for growth for Make Music Day 2020, offering some preview to next years events already in the works including collaboration with the University of Arizona and the possibility of getting the Mayor of Tucson to issue an official proclamation signifying the importance of music making for all to recognize. Bujak suggests those looking to organize their own Make Music Day event “read every page and listen to every audio file in the Shared Make Music Alliance folder that is provided” and to rely heavily on experts in your community, “find others who have done fundraising and have done event planning and get them on board. This is key to success and others will rally around you.”

National retailer, Music & Arts, will be joining Make Music Day for the first time by offering free open mics at locations throughout the United States on June 21st, and will host special open house events throughout the weekend, including complimentary guitar lessons, a free guitar raffle, and the opportunity to explore a variety of new instruments through lessons in participating studios. The largest lesson provider in the US providing over 1.5 million lessons each year, Music & Arts’ mission is to, “promote and support the merits of music education and the joy of music lessons.” For more information about participating locations and offers please visit www.MusicArts.com/OpenHouse.

To find out more about Make Music Day 2019 please visit http://www.makemusicday.org/.