Make Music Day Returns to East Jefferson County
From harmonicas to drum circles and everything in between, Make Music Day is for everyone.
JEFFERSON COUNTY, WA — East Jefferson County Make Music Day will be held on June 21 from 10 a.m. until 10 p.m. at venues from Port Ludlow and Quilcene to Chimacum and Port Townsend.
Make Music Day began 43 years ago in France when a news anchor encouraged people to go out, meet their neighbors, and play music wherever they lived. People played on porches, streets, and cafes and it became called the Fete de la Musique.
Judith-Kate Friedman is a songwriter, instrumentalist, improvisational composer, poet and mythic storyteller. She is the Director of Songwriting Works Educational Foundation, and the steward of the Mythsinger Legacy Project. She is also the producer of Make Music Day East Jefferson County.
“I first heard about this on a radio program in 2016, and I thought, this is fantastic,” Friedman said. “There were about 15 of us, and we went from location to location and set up a little jam or a song circle. We then did it in a much more organized way in 2017 and 2018. This year it will have 15 venues.”
Daniel Deardorff, Friedman’s life and musical partner, passed away seven years ago. Deardorff, who has been a headliner at the festival, was also an active behind the scenes driver of Songwriting Works as an organization. They have not held a festival since his death in 2019.
Songwriting Works has received requests over the years from families who can't afford music lessons and from elders with memory loss, all knowing how important and healing music is. This local need for accessible musical engagement has spurred the organizers on.
Friedman shared how music is good for health, learning and memory retention, and how it helps make new neural connections. Whether someone is suffering from a traumatic brain injury, has learning difficulties, or is experiencing a neurological disease like Alzheimer's, music can help.
“It's super healthy for us to be able to express ourselves,” Friedman said. “Almost everyone has rhythm and melody and has some kind of words or gestures, no matter what their situation. The idea that we are not musical is based in a consumer culture, having separation between those who get to do it and those who are so-called ‘not talented enough’, or whatever way we've been taught to hold back. What we're about is creating as many safe and exciting and encouraging contexts as possible to bring that forward.”
A New York City-based group called the Make Music Alliance helps foster Make Music Day all over the United States, including with support from music instrument merchants and giveaways of various kinds of musical instruments. This is the third year Make Music Day East Jefferson County has collaborated with them. You can see every place in the world that's also celebrating here.
The Make Music Alliance isn’t alone in giving instruments away to those who would use them. The third annual Andy Mackie Harmonica Blowout is giving away 100 harmonicas in honor of Andy Mackie, a great music educator in the community, who once held the Guinness Book of World Records for the largest harmonica band ever assembled.
Every year the team dedicates the festival to one of the community's music instigators. The first dedication was Andy Mackie, who had passed before the Make Music Day 2017. The 2018 festival was dedicated to Marsha Pearlstein, the great “Angel of the Arts”, a KPTZ disc jockey, and Songwriting Works board member.
This year is dedicated to Laura Martin. “Every moment organizing the festival, I've been thinking of her,” Friedman said. “She was instrumental in every single other moment of the previous festivals, and in helping Songwriting Works establish itself here on the peninsula—she said, ‘I need this because I'm recovering from a traumatic brain injury. I know I need this’. We deeply, deeply miss her.”
The Laura Martin Memorial Song Circle will be held at the Port Memorial Building.
What to expect:
All featured venues are ADA accessible and include: Port Townsend’s Key City Public Theatre, Fair Winds Winery, TAPS at the Guardhouse, Chimacum Sunday Farmer’s Market, the Resort at Port Ludlow, and Anne’s Garden in Quilcene.
Performances take place indoors and out from afternoon until evening with styles ranging from folk and a cappella, to blues, rock, country, and punk to classical, swing, and salsa. The festival is intergenerational with scheduled performers ranging in age from 12 to 85. A five piece punk group called Shut Up Moms Asleep found Songwriting Works on Tiktok and asked to join the festival.
Classes and Workshops will include musical saw, bucket drumming, round singing, and more, beginning at 11 a.m. at the teaching tent behind the Cotton Building and at the Pope Marine Building. With kid-friendly events at Pope Marine Plaza and Finnriver Farm & Cidery (as part of Solstice Salmon festival).
There will be jam sessions and drum circles around Chetzamoka Park Gazebo, open mics and song circles with a teen-centric open mic, a healing Sound Space including Song Baths with the Threshold Choir (Ellen Falconer Studio).
There will be an evening concert at the Cotton Building at 7 p.m.—which is songs by, with, and about dads for Father's Day—and also a music and wellness panel at 3:30 p.m.
Volunteers are needed to promote pre-festival, at venues on the day of, and post-festival. Volunteer meet-ups take place on Thursday nights June 11 and 18, at 6:30 p.m. at Aldrich’s Market.
Venue details, including accessibility specifications, can be found on the pop-up responsive map here, and the schedule can be found here.
For more information call 360 385 1160 or email: songwritingworks@gmail.com
