All the world is a stage, and this week the joy of music-making is stepping into the spotlight at home and abroad. Come and join the worldwide celebration of music this Friday June 21 with the return of Make Music Day, a global day dedicated to celebrating all things music-making. Make Music Day is a chance for musicians and artists to come together to perform and showcase creativity with their peers and communities, with free public concerts set to take place both live and online worldwide.
Presented in Australia by the Australian Music Association and the NAMM Foundation, Make Music Day originated in 1982 as Fête de la Musique in France before evolving into a global event that encapsulates over a thousand cities and places across 120 countries. A day long musical free-for-all celebrating music in all its forms, all ages and levels of skills are welcome, with communities also encouraged to get involved and support their local artists. A full list of events and information is available at https://makemusicaustralia.org.au/.
Proudly heading up Australia’s Make Music Day endeavours in 2024, Australian Music Association CEO and ARIA Award-winning musician Alex Masso shares, “Music making is something that resonates with people from all walks of life, all over the world. We think there should be a day to celebrate the way music making brings us together and gives us an outlet for expression, connection and so much else.”
“We know that professional musicians left the industry due to the challenges of the pandemic,” Masso adds, “but the interest in making music remains strong in the community at about 17% of the population. We saw a spike in sales of instruments such as guitars during the pandemic, it’s something that people turn to for fun, for a challenge and for creative expression and there are endless opportunities for musical expression from creating something by yourself at home to playing with a band or orchestra, singing in a choir, or going along to a jam session.”
Following the pandemic years, a recent report from Creative Australia found that in 2022 the number of professional musicians almost halved as proportion of the labour force since 2015, but a separate study of participation in the arts found that the proportion of people playing music has remained stable during the same period.
In a stunning display of solidarity and celebration, rock bands, songwriters, ukuleles, community bands and choirs, even flowerpots will be part of the musical offerings at Make Music Day Australian events in 2024. As part of the upcoming festivities, Billilla Gardens in Victoria will come to life this week with the ringing sound of flowerpots. Composed by Elliot Cole, Flowerpot music is a composition celebrating the unlikely beauty of the humble flowerpot played with mallets.
Elsewhere, South Regional TAFE Margaret River and Arts Margaret River have taken the opportunity to combine musical performance with technical training, with TAFE students learning the inner workings of the world class sound system at Main Theatre then performing their original works on stage.
Suburban and regional centres will also come alive with music this week, including Parramatta’s ‘Best of the West’ battle of the bands, a musical picnic in Grafton (NSW), and a travelling Impromptu Choir in Clare, SA, moving from a park to the library and a café.
Additionally, Make Music Make Friends is a project bringing together schools from Australia and nine other countries, who will collectively share songs and introduce themselves to each other through music. And breaking global barriers, My Song Is Your Song connects songwriters from different countries to perform a version of each other’s songs, with prizes on offer for the global music song swap spanning a ukulele from famed Slovenian-based company Flight, a Scarlett 2i2 4th gen audio interface from Focusrite, and a Novation Launchkey 37.
At the Curious Rabbit in Wagga Wagga (NSW) there will be a series of ukulele workshops and a jam that is open to everyone keen to participate, with ukuleles also on the menu at Merewether Ocean Bath in Newcastle (NSW) for hours of singing and strumming, and as part of a flash mob event called The Other ‘Lithgow Flash’ (Mob), a reference to Olympic legend Marjorie Jackson-Nelson who set six world athletics records and won multiple gold medals in the 1950s.
Make Music Day is presented in Australia by the Australian Music Association and the NAMM Foundation and takes place this Friday June 21.
For information further information on events, visit https://makemusicaustralia.org.au/.
VIEW: MAKE MUSIC DAY PROMOTIONAL VIDEO
MAKE MUSIC DAY AUSTRALIA 2024
SELECTED EVENTS – FRI 21 JUNE
CITY CONCERTS
Challis Singers at Gordon Library (Gordon, NSW)
Make Music Day Celebration at Bernie’s Music Land (Ringwood, VIC)
Jazzscape Trio at Paddington Library and Woollahra Library
Winter Concert – Music for Canberra Orchestras (Canberra, ACT)
CITY – OUTDOORS
Canada Bay
Make Music Day Parramatta – Best of the West (Parramatta, NSW)
CITY – PARTICIPATE
Sing Australia Gordon (Gordon, NSW)
REGIONAL – CONCERTS
Make Music Day ORC (Orange, NSW)
Groove is in the Heart (Margaret River, WA)
WollCon Voices Sing! (Wollongong, NSW)
REGIONAL – PARTICIPATE
Cobar Seniors’ Singalong (Cobar, NSW)
Make Music Day at Kitten Vintage (Mackay, QLD)
Music Mayhem (Dalyston, VIC)
Make Curious Music (Wagga Wagga, NSW)
Open Floor Jam with Two Up Music Show (Shorncliffe, QLD)
REGIONAL – OUTDOORS
Make Music Day Clarence Valley (Grafton, NSW)
Impromptu Singing (Clare, SA)
Uke by the Beach (Newcastle, NSW)
The Other “Lithgow Flash” Mob (Lithgow, NSW)
SCHOOLS
Grovedale College
NBSC Cromer Campus
St Xavier’s Gunnedah
CREATIVE AUSTRALIA STATISTICS:
In the Creative Australia report ‘Creating Value: Results of the National Arts Participation Survey’, the proportion of the Australian population actively participating in music (playing, singing, composing) was 17% in 2022. The previous comparable reports showed 18% in 2019,15% in 2016, 20% in 2013, 15% in 2009. Source: https://creative.gov.au/advocacy-and-research/creating-value/.
In the Creative Australia report ‘Artists as Workers: An Economic Study of Professional Artists in Australia’, the proportion of professional musicians in the Australian Labour Force was 0.07% in 2022. The previous comparable reports showed 0.12% in 2015, 0.11% in 2008, 0.13% in 2001, 0.13% in 1993, and 0.17% in 1987. Source: https://creative.gov.au/advocacy-and-research/artists-as-workers-an-economic-study-of-professional-artists-in-australia/.
The Australian Music Association’s Annual Market Report, which tracks imports of music products using data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics, found that 2021 had the highest number of guitar products of the past 10 years, followed by 2020. For pianos and keyboards 2020 was the strongest year, followed by 2021. Source: https://australianmusic.asn.au/market-report/
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