On June 21st, anyone can step outside and make music—and Aaron Friedman, founder of the Make Music Alliance, shares how this global movement turns everyday spaces into stages and everyday people into performers. This episode is a reminder that music isn’t just for the few—it’s for all of us, and the invitation is wide open.
Guest: Aaron Friedman, Executive Director, Make Music Alliance | On LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/aaron-friedman-7068014/
Host: Sean Martin, Co-Founder at ITSPmagazine and Host of Redefining CyberSecurity Podcast & Music Evolves Podcast | Website: https://www.seanmartin.com/
What if June 21st wasn’t just another day on the calendar—but the one day a year where the world collectively said: go ahead, make noise?
In this episode of Music Evolves, host Sean Martin talks with Aaron Friedman, composer and founder of the Make Music Alliance, about the day that flips the script on who gets to perform. Make Music Day isn’t about headliners, stages, or ticket sales. It’s about showing up with your sound—whatever that is—and putting it out into the world.
What started in 1982 as a spontaneous moment in the streets of France has become a global celebration of music made by everyone. And Aaron’s been part of growing that idea across more than 150 U.S. cities—and beyond. There’s no audition. No gatekeeping. Whether it’s a punk band on a rooftop, a saxophonist on a stoop, or 200 people sight-reading Sousa marches in a park, it’s all fair game.
What makes this work? A custom-built matchmaking platform connects performers with unexpected venues—think record shops, laundromats, patios, public steps. There’s even room for big group experiences like Mass Appeal, where companies donate instruments and anyone can join in. No gear? No problem.
Aaron shares why this kind of open access matters, especially now. In a world of algorithm-driven listening and self-curated playlists, real connection—hearing music you didn’t expect, played by someone you don’t know—hits different. It’s discovery in its purest form.
Make Music Day isn’t just about performance. It’s about participation. It’s about remembering that music doesn’t need permission—it just needs a spark.
So mark the date: June 21. Wherever you are, find a way to join in. Visit makemusicday.org to find your city or start your own.
Because the world doesn’t need more noise.
It needs more music. Your music.
Are you interested in sponsoring this show or placing an ad in the podcast?
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Make Music Day: https://makemusicday.org/
Make Music Alliance: https://makemusicday.org/about/alliance/
Sousapalooza: https://makemusicday.org/national-projects/sousapalooza/
TuneFest Ireland: https://www.instagram.com/tunefest_dungarvan/p/DGsVzCUPW3F/
[00:00:00] Sean Martin: And hello everybody. You're very welcome to a new Music Evolves podcast. I'm your host, Sean Martin, where I get to do what I love, which is talk about music. I like, I like to perform, create music as well, but I, I equally like to talk about music and how it's evolved and where it's headed and why it matters to us as humans.
Um, and. I think we, we need more musicians. There's not enough music, not enough music in the world, and I don't know, I think everybody listens to music, but if you can actually perform music, the, the, the feeling that comes from that is, uh, something extra special from my perspective. And I'm thrilled to have my guest on today.
Aaron Friedman, how are you?
[00:00:45] Aaron Friedman: Great. Thanks so much for having me.
[00:00:47] Sean Martin: Good to have you on. We're, we're gonna talk today about, uh, a festival or a set of festivals and, and, uh, ultimately about bringing people together to make music. And that's, uh, for Make Music Day. So we're gonna get into what that is and where it is and all the, all the goodness that it is. Uh, before we do that though, maybe a few words about, uh.
Who you are, what some of the things you do in music are, and how, how then, how it connects to, uh, make Music Day, which we'll spend some time on.
[00:01:22] Aaron Friedman: Yeah, of course. Um, well for the last almost 20 years I've been working on Make Music Day in some form or another. But, um, initially I was a jazz saxophone player and then, uh, a graduate student in composition, uh, and. I guess at a certain point in my music career, I, I realized that amateur musicians, like my two nieces who were taking piano lessons at age eight and 10 when I was in graduate school, they seemed to be having a lot more fun than I was.
And something about the process of music discovery, especially for people who, um, you know, don't, don't see it as a grind or as a career, but it's just, uh, something that they can bring into their lives and. And sort of enrich, enrich their creativity and their ability to, uh, to communicate with others. I, I, I've always thought that that was really one of the amazing things music does.
And over the years I had, um, political jobs and arts, administrative jobs and bartending jobs. And, and somehow, uh, it all came together for me in this, in this project Make Music Day, which, uh, yeah, it's been, been going really well.
[00:02:35] Sean Martin: So I'm, I'm super interested in all the, all the, uh, the, the jazz stuff I did. Were you able to, were you able to play out at all or with a group or what'd you do?
[00:02:45] Aaron Friedman: Yeah, well I was, um, I went to high school in Berkeley, California, and Berkeley High School was famous for graduating musicians like, uh, Joshua Redmond, who was a few years ahead of me. Charlie Hunter, Peter Applebaum, Benny Green. Um. A lot of people that, uh, you know, were just kind of incredible jazz figures.
And, um, I was playing all the time and loved improvisation and loved the feeling that I could just sit down with strangers and somehow we could have a conversation musically. Um, but at the same time, I realized that I was never gonna be at the Joshua Redmond level. Um, so when I went to college, uh, I was still playing jazz a lot and I played in a funk band in Philadelphia and, and did different gigs, but, um, I really started to explore composition and, and realized, I think for the first time just how broad music could be.
Um, you know, I think when I grow up in a particular musical community, you, you, you think about music, uh. In terms of like, well, what can I do that other people understand? What's, what's the vocabulary? What's the kind of, uh, accepted, uh, moves that I can make in this genre? And then at a certain point you realize music is kind of a language with acceptable moves, but it's kind of something else.
It's kind of, uh, this huge open expanse that you can, you can explore and, and if you do something that's never been done, but it sounds cool to you, it probably sounds cool to someone else too. So. Um, I, I, yeah, I, I really started to broaden my perspective and, and you know, it's only later in life that I've actually gone back to jazz a lot in my own personal listening and playing because, you know, it's still, it's still very, very close to my heart.
[00:04:32] Sean Martin: It's, it's, it's in you. It's in you. And, um, I know we, we didn't actually talk about talking about this, but if you're cool with it, I, I think the idea that that music and. The language and a way to communicate with each other, um, is a super important point. And I think, 'cause you talked about composition and so jazz is total improv, right?
Or, uh, obviously there's,
[00:05:00] Aaron Friedman: Yeah. Oh yeah.
[00:05:01] Sean Martin: there, there's music and repeatable. You can, you can create songs that are, that feel improvisational. Um, but, and then there's composition. So I'm wondering. How do you, how do you view those two things where one is just, I'm, I'm playing what I'm feeling, and then the other is I'm composing what I'm feeling so that I can then play it again and again a certain way.
I dunno. What, what are your thoughts on that, that connection or those differences there?
[00:05:29] Aaron Friedman: Yeah. Well even if you are performing, uh, you know, a composition that was written. Weeks or years or centuries before, and it's, and it seems to be very set in stone. There's still something that happens in a live performance that's different every single time. It could even be the size of the room and the acoustics that, uh, determine how you're going to phrase certain things.
Or it could be what kind of audience you have in front of you, and do they need to hear it a little bit slower or are they paying a little more attention or less attention? I think improvisation, you're always attuned to the situation at hand, who you're playing with, exactly what reactions you're getting from the other players, and then how you change what you're playing.
So I think it's, in a way, it's a difference of degree. I think even, even something that's, uh, already been composed in the moment, you still have to improvise in a way. You still have to react and, and be present. Um, but what I found about improvisation. As someone doing it a lot, it was that it's very easy to freeze up on stage and get nervous and fall back on preexisting material that you, you just know that you have it in your fingers and that you can, you can do it if you have to.
And you know, there's, there's something about having the notes composed on the page ahead of time where you, you know, you're playing something that was. Written maybe with a little less pressure, a little more leisure to kind of work it out and, and, um, so I think, yeah, I think there's definitely, um, great aspects of each one.
But, um, at a certain point I felt like, okay, I don't want to be, um, hemmed in by what's in my fingers. I wanna have my, my mind sort of go past my own technique in a way. Um, I think if you see, you know. The best jazz musicians, they can just do everything at any time they want, and it's not a problem. So, you know, I'm really speaking more
[00:07:41] Sean Martin: Or at least it feels it. Feels like they meant to do that.
[00:07:47] Aaron Friedman: Exactly. Exactly. And you know, that's, that's another thing about jazz is that it's, it's flexible enough that there are no wrong notes. If you can, if you can lead it in the right place, you know, you could always, um, incorporate any note into any chord if you, if you know how to do it. So. Um, so that's also something that, you know, a good improviser will be able to, to manage.
[00:08:09] Sean Martin: That's interesting because. I'm proficient at percussion in drums, and clearly there's music that's been composed and performed, and I find that I'm constantly improvising if I'm playing along with something right? I'm, I'm filling in beats and things that weren't in the original, but I feel, I feel that as I'm playing along, and I don't know if those were composed with the idea that.
That improvisation could play along with it or be part of it. I also write a few, I write music, not not notes, I just play and something comes to mind, but I don't think of it as I'm doing it as. I'm gonna create this such that it is open for interpretation and improvisation. I just write it for the, for the moment.
So, I don't know. When you're composing, do you, what, what's your process like? There Is it, is it, this is what I'm feeling, this is what I wanna portray, or, or do you think it has to be composed in a way that's open and allows for freedom of people to hear it in certain ways?
[00:09:20] Aaron Friedman: Well, I sometimes you, you read about, uh, you know, novelists who are, you know, sitting in front of a blank page for weeks at a time, and it, it feels like there's, there's not always a. There's not always a recipe. Sometimes you have a great idea for a piece and you just go for it, and you follow it to the end, and other times you have a great idea and then seven bars in.
You just have no idea what what could possibly follow the first part. And maybe that goes in a drawer for a while or maybe, uh, you come up with something. Um, but, uh, I mean, what you're saying about drumming reminds me of, I mean, you know, actors, I think a, a really big part of. Uh, the process is getting off the page.
A playwright wrote the words, they have to learn the words, but then they have to put that aside and they have to just act, you know? And I think, um, that's maybe another analogy to what musicians have to do. And yeah, I mean, and sometimes you, you ad ad-lib, that's, that's part of it. Absolutely.
[00:10:30] Sean Martin: Ah, well thank, thank you for that. Uh, little side journey. We could probably talk for hours on that, but I want to get to, um, clearly both of us have had been fortunate enough to have music in school, and not everybody has that opportunity. Either it's not available or they choose other. Other extracurricular things, um, to, to pursue.
Um, is that a reason or what, what is the reason behind, uh, make Music Day? Um, my, my sense is that it's to give people a chance to, to get involved in something that either they were and no longer or haven't been able to. What, what's the, what's the vision or the,
[00:11:16] Aaron Friedman: Yeah. Yeah. Well, I mean, I, maybe just to start, I could tell you a little bit about the, uh, the origins of this day. Um, in 1981, a new government, uh, took office in France and it was the first, um. You know, kind of, kind of left wing socialist government in a while. And there were a number of things they were looking at, um, at changing.
And they realized that for centuries in France, there had been support for the opera, the symphonies, the ballet comedy from says, and yet, if you actually look at what French people are doing, you know, they're playing guitars, they're playing all sorts of music and doing all sorts of different kinds of culture.
We've just never really recognized before in any kind of official way. So the Minister of Culture in 1982, uh, gave a speech, uh, and then went on different, uh, you know, news programs on, on June 1st. And he said, you know what, maybe three weeks from now if you play an instrument, you can come outside and play for 30 minutes after the evening news at, at eight 30 and we'll call it Fe Music, which in French is a pun.
That means a festival of music, but it also means make music and, um. That was it. I mean, they just kind of made this suggestion and because it came from the government, I think people felt like they're not gonna get arrested if they go out and and play on the street. And you know, three weeks from that day, hundreds of thousands of people came out onto the streets.
Not for half an hour, but for like 10 or 12 hours at a time. Shutting down traffic, I mean, taking over train stations. It was like there was this huge. A group of people who had been kind of hidden away as like secretly being musicians or music lovers and, and all he needed was someone to, you know, give him the, the excuse to come out.
Um,
[00:13:07] Sean Martin: Do you know, is it documented
[00:13:09] Aaron Friedman: Yeah. Yeah.
[00:13:10] Sean Martin: that we, we could see, I presume, articles, perhaps even, I don't know if there's videos.
[00:13:15] Aaron Friedman: Oh, of course. Well, when I, um, first went to France to kind of investigate this whole project, uh, I went to the National Archives and looked up all the press. Uh, from the first year and saw a lot of videos and people were just shocked that this was happening honestly. Um, and then the next year it happened again.
I mean, people just knew, oh, June 21st, that's when we did it last year. Let's, let's take it out on the street again. And every year it became this bigger and bigger spontaneous demonstration. Um, the French government had a survey, um, about 10 years ago, a phone survey. Of 1200 people and they asked, you know, did you participate in the Feal LA music?
Did you hear music? Did you play music? And about 7% of the people, so they'd actually sung or played an instrument in public and 64% had gone out and, you know, wandered around to hear what music might be taking place in their neighborhood. So it really got to this point of like a Halloween level of participation where everyone just knows that this is the day you can do it.
It's not an organized festival, it's just a holiday when people can, can play music. Um, and I started getting involved, I guess when I was, um, teaching English in Bordeaux in the south of France for a year and had all of these students who were talking about how, you know, they had to get their bands together and learn a few songs because on June 21st they would be able to go out and play.
And I didn't know what they were talking about, but um, yeah, like I realized this is an event that, um, I. It's not officially in the schools, it's not officially about music education, but it has this huge impact on people who, you know, are curious about music and maybe they aspire to be one of those people up on stage someday.
And it's an event where everything is happening outside. The public is wandering around. There are no tickets, there are no reservations. So anyone can show up and start playing. And if you only know two songs, you could play those two songs over and over again and people will stop and hear them and then, you know, they'll wander off to the next thing down the block.
So. You don't have to feel like there's a, a kind of barrier to entry of knowing how to navigate the business. Knowing enough songs to have a concert length set. Uh, none of that really matters. You can just show up and start playing.
[00:15:29] Sean Martin: Well, it sounds very much, uh,
[00:15:32] Aaron Friedman: I.
[00:15:32] Sean Martin: there's Trad Fest and Toon Fest One is more commercial than the other. Toon Fest is a little, little more country style of, uh, of what you're describing in Ireland. Uh, and I. Basically anybody and everybody comes and they just sit, they sit in a pub. They may not have met each other before and they, they play traditional Irish music and it's, it's over a weekend.
But, but very much a similar style of thing where I. People just come out, they, they're not performers, right? They're not professional musicians. They just love to play. This is a, a chance for them to come together and, and meet and do that. And as you're describing the, the festival in France, there's a really good friend of mine who every one of he himself and every one of his daughters amazing musicians.
Um, and. They just play all the time. And I, I can see the love for music in the French culture. And I was wondering, do, do you find that pretty much, I don't know. A lot of, a lot of people I guess, are not hidden, but they do it for themselves and this gives them a chance to, to actually be part of something bigger.
[00:16:46] Aaron Friedman: Yeah, I, well the first year I got this started in the United States, uh, was in 2007. Um, so I started the event and called it Make Music New York. So it's like make music in the French translation. Um, and the first year I had, you know, my own. Uh, personal connections to, you know, jazz and classical musicians.
And then I had some interns from NYU and Columbia who were helping me out and doing outreach, but I was totally surprised at who came outta the woodwork that first year and joined in. We had, we had 560 events the first year, all on June 21st. And some of them were, um, put together by Carnegie Hall or Joe's Pub, or sort of established presenters, but.
So many of them were punk bands who didn't have a place to play and thought that showing up on the street with a bunch of amps is just absolutely what they would love to do. Um, then there were two different Beijing opera companies. I wasn't familiar with the genre at all, but they were performing in Chinatown and also in Central Park.
Um, there was a huge group of high school aged Spanish language Christian rock bands. In Sunset Park in Brooklyn, which was not a neighborhood I'd even been to. But you know, again, like they just sort of felt like, well they have their tiny scene and they have their friends and family who go to see them.
But look, they wanna, they want everybody to hear their music, you know, they want to get out there and, uh, and even if no one else seems to be, you know, clamoring for, for their particular songs, I mean, you know, if they went out and they had an incredible time and they came back year after year after that, so.
Um, yeah, I think a lot of it there are these people who are just very, very, um, you know, passionate about the music that they make and realize that it's not gonna be for everybody. Um, and this is a day where everybody can sort of, you know, come together in a common footing and feel like, yeah, we're all gonna share the bill even though we're all totally different.
[00:18:53] Sean Martin: It's, it's, it's an incredible thing. So it's June 21st every year. So it started in New York. Um, how long did you do it there? And then what, what happened? Because it's a national thing now, right? Obviously connected to, to France as well, maybe, maybe broader, that even.
[00:19:08] Aaron Friedman: No, for sure. So, um, so I was running the event in New York for five or six years and, and getting, um. You know, reviews in the New York Times and sometimes in the New Yorker and in different places regularly. And people would call from other parts of the country and say, oh, we, we read about this in the Times, what you're doing in New York.
That's great. Could we do make Music Chicago or make Music Miami? And I said, well, you know, I think that's great, but I've got my hands full. I'm one person trying to run, you know, an event for 8 million people in New York. I don't think I'm gonna come out to Chicago and help you out. I mean, you're on your own.
And then eventually, um, we got in touch with the NAM Foundation in California, which represents musical instrument companies and, and retailers. We started talking about how Make Music Day in France is such a big event, that it's really a huge shot in the arm for all of the music stores because people know they've gotta start taking lessons.
They have to. Rent a PA system for their event. They have to get their guitar res strung. All this stuff that you need to do. It's, it's kind of like on, on Valentine's Day, if you run a florist, you know, you don't have to advertise. People just start coming in and buying your flowers. It's the best day of the year.
So, um, you know, I think Nam really understood the, the vision for it and helped us start a national organization that make Music Alliance, so we really could go out to other parts of the country and, and explain the idea. Get people set up with the kind of, um, websites and national partnerships and back office infrastructure that we'd already been developing for New York.
Um, and just, you know, helped to spread it nationwide. So, um, they got involved in 2014 and um, about 10 years later it's over 150 cities now doing Make Music Day. And, uh, we've also been able to start, make Music China, make Music Australia. Make music, Nigeria, South Africa, Ghana, Turkey, Mexico, Brazil, uk, all these, all these places where, you know, a lot of people had heard about the event in France, but there's no one organizing it in France.
There's no one to really, you know, tell them what to do. And we were able to sort of step into that role and say, look, you know, I could tell you all about how it's working in the US and what's been, you know, what's been easy, what's been challenging. And help you, help you get it off the ground. Not to say that I'm an expert at event production in Nigeria or China or anything like that.
I mean, we need very strong local partners to make any of this, any of this work.
[00:21:41] Sean Martin: Well, I'm a, when I'm not doing music, I'm a, I'm a tech guy and I like to look at problems in certain ways, and operations are a big, big thing for me. Uh, can you describe kind of what you do to organize it? Uh, you mentioned you have the backing support of Nam, but who else is involved Kinda how does it all.
Come together where, yeah, what was it and what perhaps what do you need from from folks as well?
[00:22:10] Aaron Friedman: Well, um, I think one of the keys is that, um, you know, it's very hard to recreate the, the French technique of getting the Minister of Culture, which doesn't even exist here to, uh, go on. All two television stations, you know, and, uh, and spread the word. Um, what we've created is kind of a internet dating website tool, a matchmaking tool that we set up for every community that wants to start their own Make Music Day chapter.
And it just like an internet dating site. You, you log on, you create a profile. You can either be a venue or a performer or both, or some combination. Um, I. And once you sign up, you can see everybody else who's already signed up and, you know, maybe you've, you know, put in some information about your band and your website and your photo and and description and what technical equipment you need.
And you can start to see, oh, okay, here are the venues that are looking for, you know, a bluegrass band like mine. You're the ones that are open in the afternoon, um, and the venues are like someone's front porch or. A coffee shop or a laundromat or an alley or a steps of city hall or a train station, any kind of, any kind of location.
Um, and some of them just have an extension cord that they run out the window to the street to let someone plug in, and some of them are, you know, more robust than that. But basically people can kind of make their own arrangements. And once both sides have agreed on a time and, and whatever, you know, arrangements they make between themselves, then that event.
It goes into a local administrator's inbox. They can look it over, they can ask any questions, uh, but mostly, you know, they could just click to publish it on a, on a Google map, uh, for their, for their community. Um, so it's a way to create concert listings without anybody having to do data entry. It's a way to organize things without actually doing the sort of auditioning and curation of a traditional festival.
Um, and it's a way for people to see like, oh yeah, anybody can sign up. Anybody can make arrangements. You just have to figure out what you want to do. Um.
[00:24:23] Sean Martin: Can I, can I ask you this quick, quickly, um, the, so this matchmaking, who are the parties involved? 'cause I can, you mentioned the venue, the, the performers as well. Um. Does it help connect performers and venues with people running mixers and PAs? And I dunno if they want to get elaborate and do lighting and all right.
But is that part of it? Because there's a lot that goes into performing. Certainly you can just, you can just play a violin or a saxophone on your porch and that's participating. But if you wanted to do something bigger, uh, it, it can get pretty, pretty complicated or complex, I guess.
[00:25:01] Aaron Friedman: for sure. I think, I mean, the big. The big point is that we want everybody to be doing this and the teams that are coordinating Make Music Day in each city are pretty small for the most part. So, um, it's kind of like for Halloween, you know, if you wanna have a big haunted house and get actors and, you know, makeup artists and everybody involved, I mean, that's great, but, uh, you kind of have to figure it out on your own.
Um. It is similarly, like, you know, if you wanna have a big produced show, um, you know, often the local make music chapter has an arrangement with the city government to, um, suspend all sound permits for the day or to sort of create one consolidated permit where everybody who signs up on the matchmaking website gets their information automatically added to a city database.
This can get into the weeds a little bit, but, um, um, but a big part of the system is, is a way to kind of. Create a structure, but you know, not, uh, still, still allow a, a, a sort of feeling of, of freedom and spontaneity. Um, so yeah, a big, a big, a big problem actually is, is the traffic control. So in France you have people coming out and there's maybe a street with, you know, seven different bars.
And on June 21st. Everyone wants to have, you know, a band come out and play and they're all playing at the same time and it's just really challenging for everyone involved. So one, one way that our event, I think is a little better than the one in France is that there's a degree of coordination. And when people sign up, the local administrator can say like, you know what, that's actually the same time that we have a heavy metal band playing next door.
So maybe you could do it a little earlier or maybe just work something out with them that that can help a lot.
[00:26:52] Sean Martin: Got it. Um, how have you been? Have you been to the, the French one?
[00:27:00] Aaron Friedman: Yeah, so I was in Paris in 2006 and um, you know, I started walking around and I was looking for the stages and I was looking for the signs and I was like, nothing's happening. Uh, what's, you know, I am I here at the right day? I don't, I don't get it. And then about four o'clock in the afternoon, you know, people were getting off of work, off of school.
I. Um, they just started coming out on the street with instruments and people were opening their windows and playing music, you know, with clarinet coming out the window. And there were, um, you know, kids taking over the streets with their, you know, year end recitals that they were doing, and, and it just went on and on and on.
It went to like three in the morning and I realized, yeah, you know what I mean? Halloween, there's no official signs, whatever. People just are gonna do their own thing. That's kind of how it works. So, really? Yeah, it was really eye-opening for me to see it.
[00:27:52] Sean Martin: So more, more organized here. In the States, the clearly a website. I don't know if there's an app or not, but, so bringing people together, people in, people in venues together, but then also, uh, can people view that to see what's going on where, and find the things that might, might interest them as,
[00:28:12] Aaron Friedman: Exactly. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So there's, um, so, so last year we had, uh, 5,304. Events in the US on our website for Make Music Day. And you could go to each city or county or whoever was doing the chapter and, and drill down in each one and see all the different events and who was playing where. Um, but um, yeah, I think, I think a lot of the experiences is really about wandering around at random, honestly, and just discovering parts of the musical world that you didn't even know about.
[00:28:46] Sean Martin: Now are they, forgive my ignorance here, but so I can, I can picture a lot of places that have either specific music venues or they have a section in their establishment dedicated to music, or maybe they don't. But the idea is that they on make music, they, they, they bring performers together and, and make music.
Are they inside or, because what you're describing in. France is a little more freeform in terms of what I'm thinking about anyway, and it's just everyday people coming out onto the street. So I'm wearing it in, in New York and perhaps around the rest of the US is it? Is there a lot outside? I mean, June should be a beautiful day.
[00:29:30] Aaron Friedman: Yeah. No, it's almost all outside. Yeah. Even,
[00:29:33] Sean Martin: So you don't have to go in a venue necessarily to
[00:29:35] Aaron Friedman: Right, right. Yeah. And even, I mean, I think part of it is if you're. Playing some kind of obscure music or you're an amateur that no one's heard of. You wanna be outside. You want people to be able to just, just follow their ears and, uh, and find you instead of Yeah.
If you, if you have to go into a venue, you sort of have to know already what's going on and where to go. So that's, yeah. That's, that's the issue.
[00:29:58] Sean Martin: the, the wandering and stumbling across something that's the, uh, the, the human physical way of music discovery. Not,
[00:30:07] Aaron Friedman: exactly.
[00:30:08] Sean Martin: not being fed by ai. What what it thinks you wanna hear
[00:30:11] Aaron Friedman: it's, it is really funny. So, so the event began in 1982 and I think the Walkman had just been invented like one or two years before that. I think, you know, the whole way that people were experiencing music was, was a little bit different. And um, and today I feel like, um, so many people are.
Um, listening to their own algorithmically determined music and their own headphones in their own house by their computer, you know, that, um, having that sort of community discovery is really different from what a lot of people are, are used to. So, um, in a way, I don't, I don't know if you know, our event is a very, um.
Um, you know, technologically driven event, but in a way it's like, because the rest of the world is technologically driven, we've, we've carved out this, I think even more important, uh, place for, for people to, yeah. See music in a totally different way. Something that, you know, it's handmade and made by themselves.
[00:31:22] Sean Martin: Yeah, there's something really special about that. And, um, I mean, I, I've said it on the show a few times now, but I use technology to find the random things that I wouldn't uncover. I. In terms of music, be it a song, some, it might just be a song that somebody included as part of their Instagram post, or it might be an Instagram post that's that, uh, is celebrating an, uh, a musician or a performer.
It might be, there's a concert going on and I'll go to, I'll go to a concert for particular genre and it might be sandwiched between two other performers, and I'll hear those that I'd never heard before. So it, it's great to do that. And. Using technology, but also just to be able to walk around and,
[00:32:09] Aaron Friedman: Yeah.
[00:32:10] Sean Martin: and to hear, and you know what I love about the, the music communities, they're very open to many of them anyway, very open to conversations.
[00:32:19] Aaron Friedman: Yeah,
[00:32:20] Sean Martin: why do they like that style of music? Why do they like performing? What, what do they do when they're not performing in terms of music and whatnot? And some of those conversations are equally fulfilling
[00:32:31] Aaron Friedman: yeah, yeah. Well, so at a, at a certain point we realized, you know, we have Make Music Day chapters around the world. I think during the pandemic we were really trying to figure out what. We could do. And when that kind of live experience wasn't, wasn't, uh, feasible necessarily. And, um, we started a project called, my Song is Your Song Where Make Music Day participants from all different countries will submit an original song of theirs.
And then we sort of have a secret Santa situation where we'll pair people up, they'll learn each other's songs, and then on June 21st they'll come out and perform a cover version of the other person's music. So, um. This has been a huge success in Nigeria. For some reason. There have been hundreds of Nigerian songwriters joining each year and getting paired up with songwriters in Australia and the US and Turkey and the UK and all, all different places.
And you realize, you know, first of all, there's sometimes a language barrier. Sometimes you know, you're, you know, that you're mispronouncing every single word of the person's song. But, um. You know, at the same time you, you, you find a connection and you find that, like, you know, someone in another part of the world is, is speaking to you in a certain way.
And, and by learning their song and hearing your own song, you know, you kind of feel this connection. And, and through that project we've actually had people start, uh, songwriting teams between each other and, and really singles and, and really, you know, have these kind of, you know, strange bedfellows connections between them. So, yeah.
[00:34:06] Sean Martin: That's, uh, that's phenomenal. What, um, are there any other, any other examples of, of creative ways people are coming together and, and, uh,
[00:34:17] Aaron Friedman: Oh yeah,
[00:34:18] Sean Martin: you wanna share? I.
[00:34:19] Aaron Friedman: yeah, of course. Well, um, another project that's been really fun, um, is called Suse Palooza, and this started with Make Music Chicago, but it's happening in dozens of cities now on Make Music Day. Um, there's just a lot of people out there who used to play in a marching band or some kind of school band, and maybe they still have a trombone in their closet, even if they've moved on to a, you know, career in marketing or some other thing.
And pretty much all those people have played John Phillips, who some marches at some point in their life. So we have a local band directors getting together and saying, okay, on make music Day, I'm gonna be in this plaza. I'm gonna set up these chairs and music stands. We're all gonna cite. Read John Phelp some marches together.
Her and some of them get hundreds of people coming out. Military band members, professional orchestral musicians, high school kids, people from the fire department, I mean, all sorts of people coming out. And first of all, it sounds pretty good. I mean, that was my first question. No rehearsal. All these people are coming out.
What's, what's it actually gonna sound like? And the answer is John Phillips, since it's not that hard, most people have played it at some point. But the second thing is there are. All of these relationships building between professional musicians and amateurs who just lionize these people, like, you know, first chair player in the Chicago Symphony Orchestra is not someone who you'd recognize on the street, but at a Sousa Palooza event.
I mean, they are just like huge celebrities. So I think, I think people really get a lot out of it from both directions and feel a sort of sense of mentorship and. And, uh, you know, carrying on this, this brass music tradition. Um, souse Pelus has been great. Um,
[00:36:04] Sean Martin: I love the name.
[00:36:05] Aaron Friedman: yeah. Um, but we have, yeah, every year there's, there's different projects and one that that's really, um, come outta that mam connection is, is called Mass Appeal, where we have companies like Homer donating thousands of free harmonica, Vic Firth donating thousands of drumsticks.
Uh, rhythm band instruments for hand percussion, uh, sometimes ukulele companies. And we're able to put these in the hands of music teachers all around the country, um, and tell people and make music day. There's no excuse. I mean, if you don't even have an instrument, come join us. Pick up a pair of sticks.
Join a bucket drumming event. You can keep the sticks or take a harmonica lesson and, you know, keep the harp for, you know, for your own future musical discovery. So. Um, I think, I think those projects have really inspired a lot of people to kind of break, break off of the non-musical path and, uh, and, and see what they can do with, um, yeah, a little music in their life.
[00:37:04] Sean Martin: Hold little music. A little music. So you have, uh, I'm not gonna list the, the, uh, the, uh, partners per se, but there are quite a few folks. You, you mentioned a few that, that seem to help out with some of these projects, so kudos to them for, for doing that. Um, there's also, the alliance, I believe, is beyond just the supporting partners, right?
So can you describe the alliance and who that's for and, and
[00:37:32] Aaron Friedman: yeah, of course. Yeah. Yeah. So, um, so the Make Music Alliance is the, uh, group that oversees make music Day, um, throughout the country and, and in a number of other countries, and. We're really there as a resource and a promotional tool for all of the local chapters. So we, you know, work with the music, you know, music Union and the Music Teachers National Association and the MAM Foundation, all these sort of national organizations, uh, as well as the instrument companies and media partners.
Um, but a lot of what we do is, is really just finding people in new places that. Love this idea and work with them over a couple year period to make it a reality. So sometimes it's a local city government or a business improvement district, or a music school or someone who says, you know, this would really be great in our, in our community.
How do we do it? And we say, well, we'll, that's what we're here for. You know, we'll, we'll consult with you. We'll, we'll give you, you know, all of the language of, uh, you know, press releases and. Eblasts that other cities have used. You know, just, just, you know, don't reinvent the wheel. Just steal from, steal from these examples and, and, you know, find a local, uh, a local way to, to make it work.
So, um, yeah, it's, it's such a fun job because, um, every
[00:39:03] Sean Martin: and you're not by yourself anymore.
[00:39:05] Aaron Friedman: yeah,
[00:39:06] Sean Martin: People helping you.
[00:39:07] Aaron Friedman: team. I know. It's, it's amazing. And, uh. I mean, and you know, every city like New York has just these really complicated permitting laws. And, and I took me years to master the intricacies of what you could do or couldn't do in public spaces.
And what the Street Activity Permit Office and the Department of Transportation and the police department, the parks department, all have to agree on a lot of the country. No one cares. I mean, you just show up and play music. It's, it's fine. I mean, nothing's gonna happen. So, you know, it's, it's really so much.
More freeing for me sometimes to work with people in other places where I think, yeah, let's just, you know, put a bunch of trumpet players on top of some farm equipment and just, just drive through town, you know, and, uh, it'll be great.
[00:39:52] Sean Martin: The the Ho Hayride.
[00:39:55] Aaron Friedman: Exactly. Yeah.
[00:39:57] Sean Martin: Uh, I think we, when we were talking, uh, I don't know how long ago it was, a couple weeks or whatever, uh, preparing for this, I was trying to figure out if I'm gonna be in New York or not on the 21st. Um, I can't even remember if I am or not. But anyway, it, I was like, I hope I'm there for this. But it real, I realized wherever I am, perhaps I could still participate.
I don't know that I'll break out my trumpet. Nobody, my lips aren't, uh, quite ready for
[00:40:24] Aaron Friedman: Uh, well, that's
[00:40:25] Sean Martin: Maybe, maybe the drums. I'll, uh, I'll, uh,
[00:40:27] Aaron Friedman: Yeah.
[00:40:28] Sean Martin: get in, get in and have some fun. Well, Aaron, I mean, a phenomenal, a phenomenal thing you're doing here and, uh, and it's great to see it, uh, grow and, and have the support of so many in the community from, uh, from the sponsors and the participants and your, your fellow alliance members.
Uh, I, I'm really, this is my call to everybody listening, watching. Mark the 21st of June. On your calendar, take your instrument, join a group in your neighborhood. If you don't see one in your neighborhood, perhaps, uh, perhaps take some of the passion you have for music and consider trying to make one happen in your neighborhood or travel to another one
[00:41:11] Aaron Friedman: Yeah. Yeah. No. Uh, if anyone who goes to make music day.org will see the list of participating cities, and hey, if you're not on that list and you wanna be, just, just send us the line.
[00:41:24] Sean Martin: Perfect. Well, Aaron, it's been been a pleasure meeting you, chatting with you, and, uh, I hope to see you on the 21st in New York. Um, but if I don't know that I'll, that I'll be, uh, participating somehow some way on that day and everybody listening. Please, uh, go to make music day.org. It's all one word. Make music day.org.
Obviously the.is the period there. Uh, find out what's going on, participate, join, uh, keep making music, keep loving music and let the music move you. Thanks Aaron. Thanks everybody. We'll see you on the, uh, next episode.