MUSICIANS SHARED THE JOY OF MUSIC AUSTRALIA-WIDE ON MAKE MUSIC DAY
With pandemic restrictions easing in many parts of the world, musicians around the world were able to get together for Make Music Day 2021 on June 21st. Those who couldn’t, still got into the Make Music Day spirit online. Here in Australia over 100 events had been registered on the Make Music Day Australia website and many were included in the main global livestream.
Australian Make Music Day ambassadors, contributed on their social media platforms and promoted the day in media interviews around the country. Thanks to Kate Ceberano, Lee Kernaghan, Jack Howard, Sarah Carroll, and Andy Baylor for endorsing the spirit of Make Music Day this year. Hunters and Collectors’ Jack Howard kicked things off with his Fanfare for the Unknown, a piece he made up on the spot.
Australian singer, songwriter legend Kate Ceberano was joined by guitarist Kathleen Halloran for a beautiful rendition of a song called Far from Home, while at the same time showing her artist skills by painting a guitar.
Australian music stores Mannys Music and Store DJ were certainly immersed in the Make Music Day vibe, posting staff performances to their social media pages throughout the day. Binary Music held a big Uke Jam instore and Bernies Musicland had a big open day to celebrate.
Australian Musician magazine favourites King Canyon, featuring James Ryan and Jimmy Cupples did their acoustic thing for Make Music Day too.
The folks at Jands, asked some of their artist friends what music meant to them and their answers were superb. Jands were able to entice comments from an incredible array of artists, including Liam from The Teskey Brothers, Gabriel Vargas, Gordi, Dan from The Amity Affliction, Havana Brown, Bliss from Bliss n Eso and more.
Our friends at the Sydney Symphony Orchestra have always been behind Make Music day and 2021 was no different with a magnificent performance of Vine’s Smith’s Alchemy
Another Sydney icon, the Sydney Opera House offered us a wonderful session on African and Indian Instruments, performed by the cast of Infusion, No Movement, No Sound.
In fact, NSW participation in general was excellent thanks to the support of Create NSW. You should also check out some wonderful performances from TAFE NSW. Here’s a live recording inside the Clock Tower of Sydney’s Central Station with Lily Savelli from TAFE NSW Wollongong, performing her own original composition entitled ‘Missing Myself’. You can see more on their channel HERE There were numerous events in various local government areas to celebrate the Festival of Place in NSW too.
While Monday June 21 was officially Make Music Day globally, many events took in the spirit of the event on the weekend prior, such as the debut Byron Music Festival. Organised by Byron Music’s Nick Sergi, the festival has been deemed by many to be a huge success. A bit further north in Brisbane, Opera Queensland reached out to the community to engage students in schools.
Wolfmother rock the Byron Music Festival
Make Music Day is a celebration for all levels of musicians from schools to institutions to local communities – shining examples were students from the National Music Academy performed a special show at Newcastle’s Museum, the Western Sydney Uni, TAFE colleges, a regional schools band competition, and free community events staged in all states A community concert was held to soothe the troubles suffered by the storms in Victoria at the Emerald Relief centre. it’s hard to mention all the events that happened around the country, but you can check out the huge variety that took place by viewing the program HERE
Sunrise Christian School in Whyalla had a ball too with several enthusiastic offerings, while Coomealla High School band presented their’ 7 Voices ‘ band.
It wasn’t just music associated groups that got involved, the staff at Opal Cove Resort in Coffs Harbour gave us this fun video presentation
There were international songwriting collaborations featuring Australian songwriters online, a young composers contest and many other collaborative events, culminating in the Global Livestream which you can view here:
Kudos to all who participated in Make Music Day 2021. Thanks to make Music Day Australia partners Create NSW, Community Music Victoria, Community Broadcasting Association of Australia,, Limelight magazine, and Clubs NSW. Also thank you to the music products industry supporters Kawai, Fender Guitars, Taylor Guitars, Yamaha Music and Hal Leonard.
We look forward to gathering again on June 21, 2022, to celebrate making music.