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Hal Leonard Australia has produced a Make Music Day 2021 songbook in partnership with a group of publishers to encourage people to make music and to celebrate Make Music Day 2021. It is available for FREE download at this link CLICK HERE. Our thanks to Hal Leonard and Mushroom, Sony ATV, Universal Music & Native Tongue Music Publishing groups for making this possible. The songbook contains the following classics – Throw Your Arms round Me, Here Comes the Sun, Waltzing Matilda, Stand by Me & Rocket Man. Fantastic fodder for your Make Music Day performance!

We’ve told you all about Make Music Music Day over the past weeks and now we want to remind you to REGISTER YOUR EVENT!

Held annually on 21 June, Make Music Day is part of an international movement  launched in 1982 in France, it’s now held in more than a thousand places across 120 countries.

Make Music Day is like a DIY music festival that’s free and open to the public. Make Music Day is like a DIY music festival that’s free and open to the public and we call on Australians to CREATE YOUR OWN STAGE on June 21

You can organise your own gig, or join the many organisations that will host events.

Check out our socials

Here’s a few ideas for getting involved in Make Music Day on 21 June:

Create your own stage, wherever you are!

Grab your guitar/violin/bongos and head to the park. Contact your local council and ask if they have a spot you can play at (this could be a park, plaza, shopping centre etc). Get together with some friends for a jam session. Get your school/college/uni band to perform. Join a community choir – or start one! Join an existing community event.

Go live on your socials hashtags #makemusicday and #makemusicoz
Simply live stream your gig, jam session or even a music lesson from your phone on your socials.

Live From Home Challenge
Record a video of yourself performing one of your own songs, upload it to your social media, and tag three friends to challenge them to respond with their own performances. Don’t forget to use the hashtags #makemusicday and #makemusicoz
Songs from the Couch
Ask your housemate, friend or family member to film you performing your song from your couch, and post it on Make Music Day Australia website. If you submit pre-recorded content, it will be displayed in an online gallery on 21 June.
Create your own live streamed “festival”
You can create a Make Music Day festival of your very own. Find a few musical mates, and follow these steps for a live stream “festival”:

1. Find 4-5 artists to live stream a performance over the course of a few hours on 21 June
2. Allocate each one a 20 minute time slot
3. Design a festival program that includes these details: artist’s name, performance time slot (eg: 1:00pm – 1:20pm), artist’s social media handle; hashtags #makemusicday and #makemusicoz
4. Make sure you give yourself enough time to advertise the event across your social media channels before your festival on 21 June

International collaboration
Make Music Day will be happening all over the world. Here’s some great ways you can get involved or connect with international songwriters and musicians:

MixMash Studios
Bringing producers and sound samplers together. Producers from around the world can sign up to complete a track from sound submissions from Make Music Day fans. On 20 June, participating producers will have 24 hours to complete their track using only the provided sounds. Find out more

Junkophonics
Instruments from found objects. This Make Music Day, join Bash the Trash Environmental Arts in raising global awareness about household waste pollution by building fun instruments from found objects! See how you can turn your junk into music

Global Live Stream
Make Music Alliance is organising a day-long video stream on 21 June, showing the rich diversity of Make Music Day events around the world. Last year’s live stream featured live performances from all across the world, including Ngaiire live from Sydney. See the 2021 schedule

Don’t forget to promote your Make Music Day event!

Register your performance on the Make Music Australia website so we can help promote your events online in the lead up to 21 June. Submit an event

You can submit your video to the Make Music Day website

Create your own Make Music Day post with this Social Media Post Generator

More handy guides, ideas and tools are available on the Make Music Day website.

Check out some of the early event registrations for more inspiration!

The Global Make Music Alliance in 2021 has announced a number of musical collaborations to allow musicians to get together in Make Music Day June 21. From Australia there are some exciting opportunities including

Young Composer’s Contest – an international opportunity for young composers

#MySongIsYourSong – swap songs with another artist

MixMash Studios – bringing producers and sound samplers together

Global Folk Challenge – sharing folk music traditions across the world

International Drum Battle – drum and percussion groups make some noise

Window Serenades – socially distanced performances for care homes

Junkophonics – instruments from found objects

International Leaf Music Symposium – bringing the art of leaf music to the world – bringing the art of leaf music to the world

Global Livestream – 16 hour livestream around the world

Explore your musical boundaries and hook up with people all over the world on June 21.

Create NSW has partnered with the Department of Planning, Industry and Environment as part of The Festival of Place to offer Small Project Grants of $15,000 specifically for Make Music Day.  A total of $90,000 will be available to support six programs to be held across NSW. On the 20thand 21st June, we are enabling FREE music in public spaces for audiences around the state; on street corners, in parks, libraries, gardens and main streets.

You can read the Minister’s release HERE
Applicants are encouraged to review the information and apply to further amplify  Make Music Day events in your local government area.
Applications now open and will close on Sunday 16th May 2021.

Further details about The Small Project Grants for Make Music Day
https://www.create.nsw.gov.au/funding-and-support/arts-and-cultural-funding-program/small-project-grants-make-music-day/

For more information about Create NSW’s involvement in Make Music Day
https://www.create.nsw.gov.au/arts-in-nsw/make-music-day-2021

Further details about The Festival of Place
The Festival of Place celebrates the importance, breadth, beauty and possibilities of public spaces across NSW. It is a place-based, citizen-led and multidisciplinary festival that shines a light on the value of our great public spaces and the stories that enrich them and bind us together.
https://www.dpie.nsw.gov.au/premiers-priorities/great-public-spaces/festival-of-place

The Australian Music Association seeks to expand participation in Make Music Day on June 21, 2021 after COVID restrictions curtailed enthusiasts’ ability in some quarters to come together in person in 2020 to make music. We met online and we’ll meet again, but there’s nothing like getting together and making music with others. Make Music Day Australia is on again!

Make Music Day is a free celebration of music making around the world, taking place on 21 June each year. Launched in 1982 in France as the Fête de la Musique, it is now held on the same day in more than 800 cities in 120 countries. And now for a fourth year in Australia.

Different from a typical music festival, Make Music Day is open to anyone who wants to take part. It’s a DIY Music Festival! Every kind of musician — young and old, amateur and professional, of every musical persuasion — can organise their own gig, or join the many organisations that will host events, to share their music with friends, neighbours, and strangers. All of it is free and open to the public.

Since the 2018 launch of Make Music Day Australia the event has grown each year and has been hosted with the funding and resources of the Australian Music Association (AMA), via its partner the NAMM Foundation. Its key local partners, the Live Music Office with the support of APRA AMCOS and Create NSW have created a platform for a truly national event.

The event has hosted hundreds of events in as many locations around Australia. In 2020, like many events, Make Music Day pivoted to online and attracted tens of thousands of people keen to have the opportunity to make music on June 21 and be part of this huge global event.

Australian Music Association Executive Officer Rob Walker said, “The AMA is excited to give musicians of all levels the opportunity to create their own stage on Make Music Day. The synergy of purpose between the partners driving the event is striking, and we look forward to engaging our communities in live music on June 21, 2021.”

Lucy Joseph of the Live Music Office commented, “Make Music Day is all about allowing communities of audiences and musicians to engage with each other for one day to make free, accessible music and to celebrate the role that music plays in our everyday lives.”

The Live Music Office will work with Make Music Day to promote participation, engage with other government agencies and liaise with music industry stakeholders, local councils, venues and organisations promoting the benefits and opportunities surrounding Make Music Day.

Government and organisations lend their weight to the national effort with key partners including Create NSW, Community Music Victoria and the Community Broadcasting Association of Australia and many others. Create NSW has been pivotal in developing initiatives in its state which reveal a deep desire for Australians to make music. Chris Keely, Executive Director, Create NSW said:

“Create NSW is excited to continue our involvement in Make Music Day in 2021. Make Music Day connects NSW to the global music community and offers a significant opportunity for practitioner and audience development. Through Make Music Day, Create NSW engages with the NSW music sector by brokering partnerships and facilitating events both live and online that demonstrate the joy of music in our lives”.

Community Music Victoria’s Craig Barrie said, “Community Music Victoria is proud to be a foundation partner of this annual celebration of music. The well-documented benefits of singing and playing together have never been more important, as communities reconnect after a challenging year. Make Music Day is the perfect catalyst for inspiring creativity and joy through music and celebrating our music-making communities.”

By establishing one specific day each year, June 21, to celebrate music, Make Music Day encourages both amateur and professional music making, and empowers individuals to seek out ways to celebrate music in their community.

Register your event online at and be a part of a huge global event making music.

About Make Music Day:

Held annually on June 21, Make Music Day is part of the international Fête de la Musique, taking place in a thousand cities and places 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, many governments, communities, businesses groups, cities & towns will organise Make Music Day is presented in Australia by the Australian Music Association and is supported by the NAMM Foundation and all our participating partners. For more information, please visit www.makemusicaustralia.org.au

About the Australian Music Association

The Australian Music Association’s is a not-for-profit organisation whose mission is to be the voice of the music products industry and grow music making in Australia. For more information please visit our website

About the Live Music Office

The Live Music Office works to support the growth of the venue-based live music sector in Australia to increase live music performance opportunities and support live music audience and sector development. For more information please visit: https://livemusicoffice.com.au/

Contacts:

Rob Walker

Executive Officer

Australian Music Association

E: rob.walker@australianmusic.asn.au

M: (0438) 564 960

Lucy Joseph

Live Music Office

9935 7995

E: lucy@livemusicoffice.com.au

It was a big day on Sunday June 21 as many of us celebrated making music on 2020 Make Music Day Australia – from the Sydney Opera House to suburban back yards, in home studios to botanical gardens, Australians were not letting a global pandemic get in the way of their love of making music. Please visit our VIDEO GALLERY for some highlights and our EVENTS PAGE to check out the events that were registered and staged. Also check out our FACEBOOK and INSTAGRAM pages and search #makemusicoz and #makemusicday to see more wonderful performances – we will update all soon on some more highlights and details of a very special event

This year has been one of the most challenging for the music industry, and Make Music Day is no exception. Due to the impacts of COVID19 social distancing measures, the Make Music Day international alliance decided to focus more on music-making activities within the digital and online space in 2020. This move now presents exciting new opportunities and a renewed enthusiasm for celebrating music-making by exploring new and innovative ways of sharing music through digital and online activities while adhering to the health guidelines of each state and territory.

Rob Walker, CEO of the Australian Music Association says, “The challenge thrown Make Music Day Australia by the 2020 pandemic has provided all sorts of creative opportunities for people to make music online, on top of the live opportunities that now exist in public places, said AMA CEO Rob Walker – this combination has revealed a treasure trove of innovation. You can’t keep a musician from making music. There will be hours of ‘live’ musicians online and maybe in your world, you’ll see some in the park or on a verandah somewhere”

This year’s program will see exciting activities across the country including:

• Isabella Manfredi and Josh Pyke kicking off the #livefromhome challenge
  • Participants film and upload a video of themselves performing their favourite song to social media, and tag three other mates to do the same
• Make Music Day at the Art Gallery of NSW
  • As part of the AGNSW’s #TogetherInArt project and in celebration of Make Music Day 2020, ARIA award-winning, art pop singer-songwriter Montaigne will share a special live-streamed musical performance from the Gallery on Sunday 21 June, 7.30pm AEST.
• Creative Arts Alliance Young Mic Online, QLD
  • Young musicians, singers, bands, rappers and beat makers are invited to participate in an online version of the popular Caboolture Club open mic event series
• Parramatta Riverside Theatre presents Ngaiire: Take Down
  • After Covid-19 forced the cancellation of her March Australian tour, Ngaiire is back and bringing her new music to a one off event, streamed live on YouTube from the Riverside stage for Make Music Day.
• Adelaide UNESCO City of Music Program, SA
  • On Make Music Day, the Cities of Music of UNESCO Creative Cities Network have prepared a musical feast with a special broadcast of over 20 music cities from five different continents. Adelaide, the first and only City of Music in Australia, will curate a program of talented musicians from across South Australia including Adam Page, Nancy Bates, Emily Tulloch, Belinda Gehlert, Ross McHenry, Josh Baldwin, Django Rowe and Brenton Foster to showcase the rich and diverse city of music. Join us for this global celebration of music!
• Melbourne Guitar Show Online
  • Some of Australia’s finest exponents of the guitar and other fretted instruments will perform in isolation for Make Music Day Australia. This two hour plus Facebook Fest features live performances by some of Australia’s finest musicians including Phil Manning, James Ryan, Fiona Boyes, Nick Charles, Jeremy Barnes, Alison Ferrier, Jeff Lang, Lloyd Spiegel, Anna Scionti, Joshua Batten, Opal Ocean, Mike Elrington, Simon Gardiner, The Thin White Ukes, Lucas Michailidis, and Ben Kelly, with more names to come
• AIM and Sydney Improvised Music Association Present Jazz Masterclass + Q&A Session
  • ARIA-Award winning bassist Jonathan Zwartz and legendary drummer Hamish Stuart form one of Australia’s great jazz rhythm sections. In this special Make Music Day event, they join forces with luminary pianist and Bell Hall of Fame inductee Mike Nock ONZM for a fascinating masterclass that captures the excitement and immediacy of improvised music and showcases the brilliance and creative dexterity of this exceptional ensemble.
• Music ACT Make Music Day Program, ACT
  • Music ACT invites All participating musicians from across the Canberra region can “play on their patio”, “do a banger on their balcony”, “sing on their sidewalk” or “rock out on their driveway” to aid a speedy recovery from the COVID19 crisis
• Zoom Zingalong, VIC
  • Melbourne based Elwood Community Choir and ZING! Choir are combining for two hours of song sharing, singalongs, musical games and vocal frolics on Zoom.
• Sydney Youth Orchestra’s Classical Karaoke, NSW
  • Tuning in LIVE on Facebook, Classical Karaoke will connect musicians of all levels and ages from across the globe, tuning in to play an arrangement of Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony, conducted live by world renowned conductor Brian Buggy OAM, all in the comfort of their own homes
• Make Music Day ADL (Livestream Mini Festival), SA
  • Based in Adelaide but open for anyone to register, this mini online music festival presents a curated program of short performances livestreamed via social media.

Make Music Australia has been made possible by the Australian Music Association, The NAMM Foundation and Live Music Office and many of these activities have been made possible by key project partners and supporters such as CreateNSW, APRA AMCOS, Australian Music Industry Network and Community Broadcasting Association of Australia.

Lucy Joseph, Projects and Engagement Manager for the Live Music Office said, “We encourage everyone to get involved in some way or other in the years to come with Make Music Day. Now more than ever, Make Music Day presents an important opportunity to elevate music making in the recovery process from COVID19. Music plays a vital role in bring communities back together, rebuilding and restoring the joy of making music no matter who you are or where you’re from.”

This year Make Music Day also supports the work being done by the incredible team at Support Act and encourages everyone to donate to this organisation that helps music industry workers navigate through challenging times.

In 2020, we’re moving online in response to COVID19 social distancing measures, and encouraging anyone and everyone to come up with innovative ways to make music and share it from home. You can still register you event or activity on the Make Music Day Australia website, so that we can help promote your activity to audiences in the lead up to June 21.

In order to make this pivot to online and digital activities easier for you, we’ve developed a guide outlining some easy ways to use your social media platforms to celebrate music on 21 June.

Download it here for free!

Be part of Make Music Day all across Australia! Join the worldwide celebration of music happening on 21 June by registering your event or activity at makemusicaustralia.org.au/.
Whether you’re a professional musician, part of a community group, an avid music enthusiast or just a passer-by on the street, Make Music Day is free and open to one and all!
Launched in 1982 in France as the Fête de la Musique, Make Music Day is a day of community-led free musical expression now held annually on 21 June in more than 800 cities in 120 countries.
Make Music Day seeks the involvement of government bodies, local councils, schools and community music organisations, music retailers and industry, and importantly, members of the community.
Make Music Day encourages both amateur and professional music making, and empowers individuals to seek out ways to celebrate and express music in their community. All of it is free and open to the public. Every kind of musician — young and old, amateur and professional, of every musical persuasion — gathers indoor and outdoor, in venues, streets, parks, plazas, paddocks and verandas to share their music with friends, neighbours, and strangers.
Participation is easy – simply register an event or activation on the Make Music Day Australia website, where you can find the latest news, info and resources for your community.

Download our free Make Music Day Guide to get started on organising your event.