Make Music Winter, the free, outdoor musical celebration with exuberant and participatory parades, performances, and events throughout New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Boston, and dozens of other U.S. cities, today announced its updated schedule for December 21. The musical celebration on the shortest day (and longest night) of the year brings together people of all musical abilities and styles to sing, play, march and dance their way across streets, parks, and other public spaces. The event has grown to include 35+ cities across the nation, with new cities and events recently added in Denver, CO; Columbia, MO; Fullerton, CA; Gig Harbor, WA; Knoxville, TN; Madison, WI; Miami, FI; Nashville, TN; Norwich, CT; and Santa Fe, NM.
In addition to the flagship event in New York City, where Make Music Winter events will ring in the holiday season across the five boroughs, the joyous sounds of music-making will be heard in concerts, workshops, and other lively group events around the country. In Denver, CO, Union Station train station will become a symphony of concerts for people to enjoy as they travel. In Clatsop County, OR, cigar box instrument making, ukulele jams and Spanish language songs are three events among many for neighbors, families, and friends. Knoxville, TN’s second annual “Carol Cart” will roll through downtown with festive singers and musicians sharing holiday joy; and in Montclair, NJ, community members celebrate the season at six music-making events, from holiday carols to an open mic session. Montclair will also feature “The World Turned Upside Down,” a participatory jam with traditional Appalachian, bluegrass, and zydeco songs of protest. Columbia, MO will help participants turn up the music by the “Magic Tree” filled with thousands of rainbow-colored lights, with instruments and instruction provided.
Additional highlights of Make Music Winter will include:
- Make Music Winter’s signature Bell by Bell program, featuring the world premieres of new compositions by Brian Chase (Grammy-nominated Yeah Yeah Yeahs) and Glenn Kotche (Wilco), named one of the “Greatest Drummers of All Time” by Rolling Stone. In eight cities on December 21 (Astoria, OR, Auburn, CA, Land O’ Lakes, WI, Los Angeles, CA, Milwaukee, WI, New London, CT, New York, NY, and Salem, OR) an event leader will distribute dozens of color-coded diatonic bells to the crowd, one color per note. At the front of the group, a team of conductors will wave corresponding color-coded flags to lead the group in slowly moving music by the composers, creating a sonorous, atmospheric soundscape. No one needs to be a musician to join in and play the pieces. At the New York performance, Brian Chase will perform as one of the conductors.
- “The Resonant Path” will be presented in six cities, including a newly-added event in New York City’s Battery Park led by the percussion ensemble Talujon. In each city, a path lined with gongs will be continuously played over the course of an hour, creating a natural crescendo and decrescendo as participants walk past, enveloped in waves of sound. In Elgin, IL, the Elgin Youth Symphony Orchestra percussion ensemble will set up gongs along a wooded trail at the Hawthorne Hill Nature Center, for anyone to roll, tap, and crash. In Boston, MA, percussionist Wesley Fowler and colleagues from Boston Conservatory at Berklee will create a gong experience along the Rose Kennedy Greenway pathways. And in Chicago, IL, the 76th Midwest Clinic hosts up to 30 gong players in the cavernous Central Concourse of the McCormick Place convention center. Other Resonant Path locations include Auburn, CA and Macon, GA.
And several new events have been added in New York, joining others previously announced:
- A Lincoln Square “WinteRamble with the Frost Giants & Mini Lantern Workshop” will light up the Upper West Side with a performance and illuminated procession led by the Giant Frost Puppets from Processional Arts Workshop from 5:00 - 6:00 PM. It will be preceded by a mini paper lantern workshop between 3:00 - 5:00 PM. Neighbors and guests are invited to participate.
- “/solstice.soundfullness” is a unique event inviting musical exploration from people who love to tinker. From 5:00 - 6:00 PM in Astor Place Plaza, musical artists .soundfullness will transform the cool outdoor winter space into a place of deep listening while playing musical notes from the keys, strings, and mechanics of the entire piano.
- “Radiant Revelry” will feature a samba-themed parade led by Honk NYC, with performances by the carnival troupe Bloco from Da Block and the all-female Afrocentric drum line Batalá New York from the newly renovated Eubie Blake Theater at the Herbert Von King Cultural Arts Center in Brooklyn. The evening of culturally diverse music, dancing, arts, and vibrant costumes includes a “Craftivation” for children to decorate a mini float for the parade, which will end at Market Hotel with an after party featuring performances by the HONK Family Band and Grammy-nominated composer and bassist Melvin Gibbs.
Make Music Winter events will also take place in Altoona, PA; Columbia, MO; Federal Way, WA; Fullerton, CA; Gig Harbor, WA; La Crosse, WI; Land O Lakes, WI; Long Beach, CA; Los Angeles, CA; Macon, GA; Madison, WI; Meridian, ID; Miami, FI; Milwaukee, WI; Montclair, NJ; Mystic, CT; Nashville, TN; Norwich, CT; Ossining, NY; Polk County, OR; Salem, OR; Santa Fe, NM; and Tucson, AZ. From harmonica jams to yodeling workshops, unique Make Music Winter programs are being planned around the country. All information about events and participating cities is posted at www.makemusicwinter.org.
Make Music Winter is presented by The NAMM Foundation and coordinated by the nonprofit Make Music Alliance.
Join the conversation: #MakeMusicWinter Contact: publicrelations@NAMM.org