“La Marqueta Music March” celebrates East Harlem’s rich heritage of both Puerto Rican and African-American music and culture with a unique fusion between a traditional holiday season “parranda” — a music parade rooted in Plena and Bomba music styles — and a second line jazz march.

The parranderos will be anchored by members of the renowned ensemble Los Pleneros de la 21 (LP21), led by the organization’s founder Juan J. ‘Juango’ Gutiérrez and accompanied by students from LP21, and joined by saxophonist and Blue Note recording artist Immanuel Wilkins and friends.

The music march will launch from the southern end of the covered La Marqueta at Park Avenue and E 111th Street (under the Metro North tracks) and slowly wend its way northward to E 115th Street for the finale, making stops along the way at various Harlem Night Market vendors (@harlemnightmarket). Free Puerto Rican style hot chocolate and a limited supply of hand-held percussion instruments will be given away to fans during the finale, which will be followed by an additional set by Immanuel Wilkins and friends.    

Presented in partnership with Metropolis Ensemble  and Uptown Grand Central.

Make Music New York is thrilled to present the commissioned World Premiere of “Street Motets for New York City” by award-winning British composer Pete M. Wyer, written to commemorate the ten year anniversary of their collaborative partnership. The work is a ‘motet’ in the broadest sense — not a religious piece per se, but a meditation and a blessing of good wishes to NYC residents.  

Launching from La MaMa Experimental Theatre Club at 3:20pm, fifty choralists curated by conductor James John will break into smaller enesembles — grouped into sopranos, altos, tenors and basses — and embark on separate routes through the streets of East Village, Greenwich Village and Washington Square Park, all synchronized through the use of guide music played through ear buds on their smartphones. Each pair will intersect with others at various points in their journey to delight bystanders with unexpected bursts of harmony and all singers will converge at Astor Place Plaza at 4:00pm for the program’s dramatic finale.       

Singers from The Queens College Vocal Ensemble Aaron Copeland School of Music, under the direction of conductor James John, warmed up for their Make Music Winter program by performing a related new work by Pete Wyer, “Street Motet #2: Whatever Happens Next,” on December 13 at Lefrak Concert Hall. Check out a video performance of thid World Premiere on YouTube at this link: “Whatever Happens Next.”

Pete M. Wyer is an award winning composer from England committed to experimentation and innovation. He has been recognized for visionary work, receiving numerous commissions from organizations across the UK and USA. Through his creation of Time Structured Mapping and innovations in spatial audio, he is widely regarded as one of the most pioneering composers of his generation.

James John is in his 12th season as Artistic Director of Cerddorion Vocal Ensemble. He is also Professor of Conducting and Director of Choral Activities at the Aaron Copland School of Music (ACSM), Queens College-CUNY, where he directs the Queens College Vocal Ensemble and Queens College Choral Society and heads the graduate program in choral conducting.

Join The Kensington Stewards for a Winter Solstice celebration designed for the whole family!

Featuring a holiday sing-along led by Deidre Rodman Struck, and free hot chocolate!.

Taking place from 5-7pm at Kensington Plaza (Beverley Road and Church Ave) in Brooklyn, just next to the Church Ave station on the F and G lines.

The Bronx Music Heritage Center (BMHC) hosts its 10th anniversary  Make Music Winter program in the Melrose section of the Bronx with a procession, or parranda – the Puerto Rican tradition of caroling. Based on the music of plena and other holiday songs from the island, this festive parade will be led by members of the Bronx music and cultural community, including Jorge Vázquez, Matthew Gonzalez and Bobby Sanabria. Each stop along the parranda will be a different casita, the little houses that evoke the houses of the countryside in Puerto Rico,. The parranda will wind its way through Melrose Commons stopping at the various casitas, community gardens, and other special locations in the neighborhood, ending at the casita renowned for its musical legacy: Rincón Criollo Centro Cultural, aka “La Casita de Chema.”

For more information visit: www.bronxmusichall.org & www.facebook.com/bxmusic

Harmonica virtuoso Jiayi He, a teacher at Brooklyn Music School and featured performer on America’s Got Talent, will lead a crash course in how to play the harmonica and lead participants in a jam session to showcase their new skills with performances of holiday classics such as “Jingle Bell,” “Deck the Halls,” “Here Comes Santa Claus,” “Silent Night,” “When the Saints Go Marching In,” “Ode to Joy,” “Edelweiss” and “Amazing Grace.” Players of all skill levels are welcome and this is a perfect program for beginners and kids!

Players of all skill levels are welcome and this is a perfect program for beginners and kids! Free Hohner harmonicas will be provided on a first come, first served basis until supplies last. 

 To register to participate and to reserve a free harmonica, please email Jiayi at: HarmonicaDay@gmail.com

Kalimba specialist Kevin Nathaniel has assembled an all-star ensemble including fellow mbira players, percussion, xylophone, guitar and flute, to lead an interactive music experience with jam friendly instruments available for public participation.

No registration is required, just show up at Astor Place Plaza and grab a handheld percussive instrument or kalimba to play along, and once you've found your groove, take your turn on the jumbo kalimba for a spotlight performance with the band!

Kevin Nathaniel is an internationally celebrated kalimba and mbira player. He plays traditional, jazz, and contemporary music — all using kalimbas — and also builds many of his instruments. Kevin has worked with Alice Walker, Oprah Winfrey, Jonathan Demme, Madonna, Niles Rodgers, Ephat Mujuru, Dumisani Maraire, Bobby McFerrin, Tito La Rosa, Nana Vasconcelos, Carlos Roberto, and many more.

Special thanks to the Village Alliance.

For the eleventh consecutive season, the North Flatbush Avenue Business Improvement District (BID) @northflatbushbk teams up with Make Music New York and Porch Stomp! to bring you another exciting year of music and dancing to celebrate community and the winter solstice.

During Flatfoot Flatbush, dancers, fiddlers and pickers parade down the sidewalks of the ever-busy Flatbush Avenue in Park Slope/ Prospect Heights (Dean Street to Sterling Place) playing old-time tunes featuring stringed instruments while flatfooting, a form of percussive dancing from Appalachia. The day begins with a warm up and quick flatfooting workshop hosted by Megan Downes (City Stompers), which will take place at 2:00pm. Immediately following, the flatfooting parade will kick off and traverse Flatbush Avenue stopping along the way at local businesses to bring holiday cheer (starting location and route to be shared in weeks to come) The parade will finish at the 6th Avenue Triangle (intersection of Flatbush, 6th, and St Marks Avenues), with percussive dance performances of multiple cultures, including a rendition of the mystical Abbots Bromley Horn Dance by Ring o'Bells Morris and Half Moon Sword, a longsword dance from Northern England traditionally done on the shortest day to mark the birth of a new year, and participatory group dances led by Brooklyn Contra and the City Stompers. 

Starting at 5:30pm, the fun continues at an indoor after-party at Lips@333 (333 Flatbush Avenue) a new weekday co-working lounge collaboration between 333 Lounge and Lips Cafe, featuring more music and dance, and an open music jam lead by the Flatfoot Flatbush Band. A special performance by Brooklyn-based steppers to showcase a percussive, highly-energetic art form first developed through the song and dance rituals performed by African-American fraternities and sororities. In stepping, the body becomes an instrument, using footsteps, claps and spoken word to produce complex poly-rhythms. The after party doubles as the North Flatbush Avenue BID member holiday party, and will bring together businesses and neighbors in the district to share in holiday cheer.

Guitar, mandolin, fiddle, banjo players and other stringed instrumentalists are encouraged to join the Flatfoot Flatbush String Band! To join, just email mmnyporchstomp@gmail.com no later than December 18th to obtain music scores and detailed instructions. Dancers and boosters are welcome to simply stroll on up!

Are you a dancer, instructor or troupe leader that represents a different style of rhythmic dance? If so, consider complementing our flatfooters with a performance of your own ­— from tap to Irish jigs to square dancing — by contacting the parade organizers at info@northflatbushbid.nyc. 

In a celebratory program led by NYC singer/songwriter and ukelele whiz Gwendolyn Fritz, players of all skill levels are welcomed to participate in this group play-along. Song selections will include classic holiday and repertoire tunes for the ukulele.  

To register to participate, email gwendolynfitzmusic@gmail.com. 

Gwendolyn Fitz is an award winning jazz-pop singer-songwriter with a love for story-telling. Classically trained as a flute player, Gwendolyn picked up the ukulele in 2016 to write the type of songs you would find in a romantic-comedy based off her life in NYC. The songs from her 2022 debut "I'm a Dreamer" EP were considered by Mahalo Magazine to be "storytelling at their finest," and "[music] that will stay stuck in your head for days." Her single, "Mind Made Up," earned her a spot as a finalist in the 2023 Coffee Music Project, allowing her to perform at the 2023 New York Coffee Festival.

Tilted Axes: Music for Mobile Electric Guitars, returns to The Hugh plaza with a new program, “Into the Middle,” consisting of original music and solstice favorites.

Led by composer and performer Patrick Grant, Tilted Axes is an orchestra of guitarists who perform original, untethered music via portable mini-amps accompanied by percussionists. The project is informed by urban street band traditions, avant-garde theater and ancient music, and creates interactive spectacles that spark community conversation.

Join Tilted Axes for Our Winter Solstice Finale!

Calling all acoustic instrumentalists—flute, violin, trumpet, accordion, and more! On the winter solstice, we're putting together a spectacular finale, and we want YOU to be part of it.

Our “Into the Middle” finale is a one-of-a-kind mash-up of holiday melodies in C major, layered over our dynamic rhythm section. Together, we’ll create an unforgettable solstice sound cloud to celebrate the season.

If you're ready to make music magic with us, send an email to peppergreennyc@gmail.com by 12 noon on Friday, Dec. 20 for details, sheet music, performance info.

Schedule:

· General Call: 11:00 AM for a run-through
· Performance: 1:00 PM
· Finale: After 2:00 PM

Let’s make this solstice unforgettable—we can’t wait to hear from you!

https://www.instagram.com/tiltedaxes/
https://www.facebook.com/tiltedaxes
http://tiltedaxes.com/tiltedaxes.html

Special thanks to supporter BXP.

Conductor Douglas Anderson and producer Melissa Gerstein again team up to lead “Mobile Hallelujah,” bringing the oldest continuously performed piece of Classical music to the streets of NYC. Participating singers will gather at seven popular midtown locations to sing the famously uplifting “Hallelujah Chorus” from George Fredric Handel’s Messiah, surprising passersby with seemingly spontaneous outbursts of the most famous choral piece in history.

Pop-up locations and approximate performance start times
(travel time is worked into the schedule):

o  12:00pm at the main branch of the New York Public Library, 476 5th Avenue (on Fifth Ave between the lions)

o  12:15pm at One Vanderbilt Ave (in front, next to the exit from Grand Central Terminal)

o  12:30pm at St. Patrick’s front steps

o  12:45pm at Duffy Square (7th Ave and 46th St, in front of the George M. Cohan statue)

o  1:00pm at Carnegie Hall, 881 Seventh Avenue (On 57th St., in front of main entrance)

o  1:15pm in the 59th St. Subway Station (At Turnstyle Underground Market)

o  1:30pm at 10 Lincoln Center Plaza (In front of the fountain, facing east]

Any singer who knows their part to the chorus is welcomed and encouraged to participate simply by showing up to their preferred location by the start time, but if you know you will be participating please RSVP via the Google document at this link:  https://forms.gle/dqUXazYccJBDWipS9

 Questions can be addressed to Melissa at: mmnymobilehallelujah@gmail.com

 In preparation, prior to the evening of the vocal parade, you can also download the sheet music for free here. And if you want to practice your part ahead of time, free files are available on Cyberbass.