Mass Appeal Events

What are mass appeal events? Well they are exactly as they sound, appealing to the masses. These events welcome participants to engage in some way in collaborative music making. Maybe its a music lesson, or a flash mob party, or a hands on activity. Interested in hosting a mass appeal event? Email us at info@makemusicmadison.org

Making Music with Makey Makeys

10 AM-12 PM | Madison Children’s Museum, 100 N Hamilton St, Madison, WI 53703

17.2m (aka Scott Fradkin) will use Makey Makeys as a midi controller to play with synths and a drum machine. Come learn about electronic music and experience the power and fun of the Makey Makey. 17.2m will both perform original works and offer drop in interactive sessions.

Harmonica Lesson with The Cash Box Kings

12-12:50 PM | Penn Park, 2101 Fisher Street, Madison WI 53713

Join renowned blues band The Cash Box Kings for a rocking good time performance featuring opportunities for participation with free harmonicas from Hohner for the first 25 participants.

Harmonica Lesson with Harmonica Man

12- 1 PM | Madison Children’s Museum, 100 N Hamilton St, Madison, WI 53703

Harmonica Man, DeWayne Keyes, returns to lead his popular group lesson and performance. Hohner musical instrument company provides free harmonicas to the first 100 participants.

The Funky Free Buckets

12:45-1:45 PM

Memorial Union Terrace, 800 Langdon St, Madison, WI 53703

The Funky Free Buckets

1- 1:30 PM | Memorial Union Terrace, 800 Langdon St, Madison, WI 53703

Come play buckets with Joey Banks and get a free bucket and drumsticks to take home.
Joey B. Banks is a music entrepreneur, Grammy nominated drummer, and a multi-year recipient of the Madison Area Music Association “Drummer of the Year”. He is also a graduate of the Musicians Institute of Technology in Hollywood, California and a proud alumnus of the Madison Scouts.

Hambone Workshop with Nedra Bobo-Boyles

2- 2:30 PM | Madison Children’s Museum, 100 N Hamilton St, Madison, WI 53703

Get moving and turn your body into an instrument. The Hambone is an African drum technique that uses the entire body as a drum set to produce different sounds. It also has a crucial place in American history, deriving its name from the resourcefulness and creativity of communities of enslaved African people.

Roomful of Pianos

2-3 PM | Heid Music, 7948 Tree Ln, Madison WI 53717

Celebrating the most powerful, subtle, and versatile of instruments, Roomful of Pianos has become a highly anticipated event at The NAMM Show in Anaheim CA, bringing spectacular performances of music arranged for 10 pianos, 20 pianos, or even 40 pianos to the show’s international audience of music industry attendees. This year Roomful of Pianos will unite the national piano community on Make Music Day, with piano showrooms like Heid Music hosting events around the nation.

This event will be hosted by Emily Volland. Born and raised in Stevens Point, Emily is a classically trained pianist and vocalist. Her love for music and the performing arts started at the age of seven, when she began piano lessons to keep up with her older sisters. Though she’s since sold out for the corporate world, you can still catch her performing at the occasional gig around central/southern WI, giving private lessons, or enjoying Madison’s great live music scene.

Songs to play include: Bohemian Rhapsody, Debussy Nocture, and Espana. Arrangements will be provided on paper, and you can explore them in advance here.

Thanks to Virtual Sheet Music for contributing free, multiple piano arrangements for this year’s program.

You Participate Kazoo Choir

5:45-6:00 PM | MYArts, 1055 E Mifflin St, Madison, WI 53703

The YOU PARTICIPATE KAZOO CHOIR kicks off your evening of Make Music Madison with YOU making the music. Come join your kids, neighbors and friends and we’ll provide a kazoo for you to keep. From 5:45pm-6:00pm at the front entrance to MYArts, we’ll play such favorites as “Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star” and maybe if we can work up to it, “On, Wisconsin”. Looking forward to KAZOOING with YOU. It’ll be a HOOT.

Stridulations for the Good Luck Feast Percussion Workshop

7:00-8:00 PM | Orton Park, 1103 Spaight St, Madison, WI 53703

We are excited to feature Stridulations for the Good Luck Feast by composer and percussionist Billy Martin, as a new national project for 2023. Stridulations is a set of interlocking rhythmic pieces that anyone can join, whether or not they read music. Following an ingenious system of Xs and dots, participants play rhythmic cycles on any instrument or voice, locking together like a Samba band, or stretching out to sound like crickets calling to each other across a field.

This workshop will be lead by Devin Drobka, one of the most in-demand and creative musicians in the midwest for the past 15 years. Audiences around the world have been enthralled with his wide sonic palette and limitless rhythmic possibilities on the drums. A deep love of jazz, metal, folk, hip-hop, ambient, idm, and classical music has helped shaped Devin’s unique voice and vision on the drums both as a leader and as a sideman. His highly personal and creative drumming can be heard within the realm of jazz having performed with Greg Osby, Jerry Bergonzi, Dayna Stephens, and Joe Lovano as well as indie- folk bands like Field Report and indie rappers R.A.P. Ferreira and Serengeti. Devin can be heard on over 50 albums of genre bending, original music for which he is an advocate for.