Nashville will join a worldwide celebration Wednesday as musicians take to the streets and different venues around town to give performances, offer free music lessons and hand out free instruments.
This is the fourth annual “Make Music Nashville” day, an event timed to the summer solstice and related to a tradition begun in France in 1982 and now held in more than 750 cities in 120 countries. Wednesday will be the longest day of the year.
Wednesday’s celebration in Nashville is set to be bigger than past ones. More than 128 artists and more than 36 venues are participating. Many genres will be featured, from bluegrass to a cappella to indie rock.
There will be a 250-person “kazoo jam” at the airport and a songwriting “street studio” downtown. Kids at the Nashville Zoo will be given harmonicas, and guitar lessons will be offered at the Country Music Hall of Fame.
Several upright pianos, decorated by students in the after-school program at Tusculum Elementary, have been placed in different spots downtown for passerby to play. The pianos are part of a two-month installation.
Besides group music lessons, there will be instrument play-alongs and group sings throughout the day.
“If our programs encourage someone to pick up an instrument for the first time or to dust off the old guitar in their attic, our mission is fulfilled,” festival co-founder and president Matt Fox told Nashville Arts Magazine. “Music expression is for everyone, and we want to provide Nashvillians with every opportunity possible to discover what music can mean to them.”
For more information, visit makemusicday.org/nashville.
