Make Music Upper Perk

Make Music Upper Perk – ALWAYS ON JUNE 21st!

Make Music Upper Perk will be held on Monday, June 21, 2021. We hope to be live and in-person in 2021 along with a virtual presence, circumstances and best public health practices permitting.

Make Music Upper Perk went virtual on Sunday, June 21, 2020. This year, unlike other years, folks from all over the country, and all over the world, were able to watch and hear the musicians at Virtual Make Music Upper Perk 2020! 

Don’t worry if you missed it, because this year, all the recorded music and the livestreams are still available to view, free of charge, on the Facebook – Make Music Upper Perk page and YouTube – Virtual Make Music Upper Perk 2020 channel.

Frequently Asked Questions

Why decide now about June 21^st?

If MMUP has to go virtual, then we need to start working on it now, letting musicians, venues, and volunteers know our plans, and to allow time to handle the technical issues (time for the musicians to record and time for MMUP to set up the new schedule and technology needed).

Why decide to go virtual? Why not hold it as usual on June 21^st, or hold it as a modified event (e.g. only outside venues)?

Some venues, volunteers, and musicians, have already informed us that due to COVID-19 they will not be able to participate this year, as they originally planned. We have every reason to believe this would be an issue for many people the closer that we get to the date of the event.

At many of our outdoor venues, the audience members would still be very close together (e.g. Mario’s Pizza and Frozen Treat). If it were to rain, the option to go indoors might not be an option, due to space and possible ongoing physical distance restrictions.

When will there be music? Will any of it be live?

The music will still be made on Sunday, June 21^st, and hopefully many of the performances will be live, and scheduled so as not to overlap! This year, unlike other years, folks from all over the country, and all over the world, will be able to watch and hear the musicians at Make Music Upper Perk! Another added bonus is that this year you won’t have to miss any of it or worry about running from one venue to another before your favorite act leaves the stage, since the recorded music and the livestreams will stay on the Make Music Upper Perk Facebook page and YouTube – Virtual Make Music Upper Perk 2020 channel – past the time they are posted!

Is it still free?

Yes, Make Music Upper Perk will always be free and open to the public. While one will have to have an internet connection of some type, the Facebook MMUP page will be open to the public (no logging in or Facebook account needed), and the YouTube app and website are also open and free to the public.

All pre-recorded music will appear on both sites. Music that is livestreamed will most likely only be available on Facebook.

Make Music Upper Perk is ” a one day celebration of the role of music in our lives”

Upper Perkiomen Valley, Pennsylvania (northeastern PA, 40 miles north of Philadelphia, 17 miles from Allentown, 10 miles from Quakertown)

photographer – Kristi Morris of Littlewing Studio

photographer – Kristi Morris of Littlewing Studio

We invite everyone to watch and be part of our eighth year celebrating music in the Upper Perkiomen Valley; all day, all free, and all online on Facebook and YouTube!

Make Music Upper Perk (MMUP) is part of a world-wide celebration of music held every year in 108 countries on the summer solstice, June 21st; always free and open to the public. MMUP is an all-volunteer event. No one, not even the musicians, is paid.

Musicians come from the Upper Perk Valley and surrounding areas, and include amateurs and professionals; ranging in ages from 5 years old to 80+?, playing and singing all types of music from folk to Celtic to punk rock; jazz to pops orchestra to Sousa.

Mark  your calendar to today for Make Music Upper Perk 2020 – Sunday, June 21st.

Volunteers are welcome (and encouraged) to sign up as well.

We are always looking for folks to help with publicity, social media, a “maestro of spontaneous fun” (set up mass performance opportunities; sing-alongs, drum-alongs, guitar-alongs, etc,) blog writers, musician outreach, student outreach, bakers, roadies, videographers, photographers, and more. Check out our detailed volunteer information and sign up today! While we won’t need many volunteers for our Virtual Make Music Upper Perk 2020, we hope to be back in public community spaces in 2021.

Make Music – where everything is free and it’s all open to the public! We are part of the international event; “Launched in 1982 by the French Ministry for culture, the Fête de la Musique is held in more than hundred countries in Europe and over the world. It takes place every 21st June, the day of the summer solstice in the northern hemisphere.” 

Make Music Upper Perk is officially part of  Fete de la Musique – look for us on their world map!

“National Music Day is music in the streets, music in your church, music in the cafes, the parks, and wherever you feel like playing. National Music Day is the one day a year we celebrate the central role of music in our lives and our country through free, open, and accessible events throughout the U.S. and the world.”  http://nationalmusicday.org/

Every June 21st is National Music Day.

If you would like to add your venue and find your own musicians (whether it be a church choir, a brass quartet, or one person with a guitar) and merely list that event on the website program, that too would be fine. Tell us, and  it will be included in the publicity and in the online program.

More FAQs about Make Music Upper Perk

And keep checking back here, and on Facebook,  and on Twitter @MakeMusicUP, for more information on #MMUP20 and #MakeMusicUpperPerk

Make Music Upper Perk  is a free event organized by volunteers, co-sponsored by ValleyArtScene and Grace Notes Piano Studio.

See what happened at Make Music Upper Perk over the last 7 years by checking out photos,  and longer videos, and other postings at our MMUP Facebook page (and like us on Facebook, while you are there), as well as taking a look around this blog and on Twitter.

Our roving photographers, Kristi Morris of Littlewing Studio (Pennsburg, PA) and Art Olsen have taken many wonderful photos during Make Music Upper Perk over the years. Photographs from last year’s event, Make Music Upper Perk 2019 and 2018 may be viewed online by filing the links below (anyone interested in digital copies or prints should contact the photographers);

• Make Music Upper Perk 2019; Pixieset (Jake Wink, Susan Royer, Lee Schultz, Erin Dry, and Alex Foreman photographers) – to download photos; enter your email address and enter password – 3846

• Art Olsen Photos  (Art Olsen photographer) – no password needed to enter site, just to download

• Littlewing Studio  (Kristi Morris photographer) – password to enter site is 0621

Littlewing Studio MMUP18

Art Olsen Photography MMUP18

We also made the local papers:

Annual Music Festival Hits All the Right Notes Across the Valley (2015 article)

Annual Music Festival Celebrates Abundance of Local Talent (2014 article)

A special thank you to those

who supported us financially in 2020!

Friends

• Susan Arraje

Supporters

• Ariel and Domenik Ackermann

Patrons

• Margaret Jones Cox
• Chris and Susan High
• Nancy and David Hopkins
• The Howe Family
• Karin Lea and Rick Hummel
• Fred and Pam Morris
• The Pardun Family
• Revs. Pence and Family
• Dave and Kaitlyn Waterson

Producers

• The Grim Family
• Rosemarie and Richard Hartzell
• Michele Hohlfeld, Realtor, RE/MAX  Reliance
• Priscilla Kistler
• Art and Cathy Olsen

Maestros

• Deborah and Tim Clemens