Make Music Winter, a remarkable free outdoor celebration, has once again graced 20 U.S. cities with its exuberant music-making events. On December 21, the lineup for these winter solstice programs was announced, bringing together people of all musical talents and styles. This year's festivities on the shortest day of the year offer a unique opportunity to play, sing, march, and dance through various shared public spaces.

Uniting Communities Through Winter Musical Celebrations

New York City's Winter Musical Marvels

This season in New York City, several exciting projects are set to debut. British composer Pete M. Wyer's "Street Motets for New York City" is a standout. Fifty choral singers will form pairs and embark on hour-long routes through Greenwich Village. All synchronized with guide music through ear buds, these pairs will intersect at different points, delighting bystanders with unexpected bursts of harmony. Eventually, all singers will converge at Washington Square Park's Fountain Plaza for a dramatic finale.Nearby, Astor Place Plaza will host "Ukulele Caroling" by local singer/songwriter Gwendolyn Fitz, followed by Kevin Nathaniel's new "Kalimba Unity Groove Experience." Jam-friendly instruments will be available for public participation, allowing everyone to join in the musical fun.Returning programs like "Flatfoot Flatbush" with dancers, fiddlers, and pickers parading down Flatbush Avenue in Brooklyn, playing old-time tunes while flatfooting, add to the city's winter musical charm. "Tilted Axes: Music for Mobile Electric Guitars" features an orchestra of guitarists led by Patrick Grant performing original, untethered music in midtown. "Gaits: A High Line Soundwalk" transforms participants' movements into musical improvisations on The High Line with immersive, site-specific music by Lainie Fefferman, Jascha Narveson, and Cameron Britt. "Mobile Hallelujah" gatherings at seven midtown locations allow people to sing the uplifting "Hallelujah Chorus" from Handel's "Messiah." Additionally, there are two "Parrandas" in East Harlem and the Bronx, celebrating Puerto Rican's rich musical culture. The complete lineup of NYC celebrations, including times, meeting locations, and participation details, can be found at MakeMusicNY.org.

Other Cities' Winter Musical Adventures

In Montclair NJ, the 8th annual Make Music Winter celebrates the season with six music-making events. Phil Kline's boombox parade "Unsilent Night" and "The World Turned Upside Down," a participatory jam with Appalachian, bluegrass, and zydeco songs of protest, are among the highlights.In Salem OR, the 7th annual "Yule Make Music" features a bell parade through downtown, along with winter treats and live bands. Chattanooga TN's first Make Music Winter brings six musical events to an outdoor market, a soup kitchen, and local retailers.On a national level, Rhythm Band Instruments (RBI) celebrates Make Music Winter for the fifth year. They provide over 400 instruments ranging from handbells to Boomwhackers to twelve cities for percussion parades and jam sessions in Atlanta (GA), Germantown (TN), Gig Harbor (WA), Kinston and Surry County (NC), Middleton and Milwaukee (WI), Montclair (NJ), Muskogee (OK), New York and Ossining (NY), and Salado (TX).And Slovenia's "Flight Ukulele" also joins this year's Make Music Winter with a national program, donating 110 all-weather travel ukes for winter parades in Aberdeen and Gig Harbor (WA), Atlanta (GA), Germantown (TN), Milwaukee (WI), Montclair (NJ), and Surry County (NC).All information about events and participating cities is available at MakeMusicDay.org/Winter. Make Music Winter is presented by The NAMM Foundation (NAMMFoundation.org) and coordinated by the nonprofit Make Music Alliance (MakeMusicDay.org).