Music Day
Nationwide initiative for the diversity of musical life - across all ages, cultures, and genres
Music Day has been held annually since 2009 on the initiative of the German Music Council, since 2019 always on June 21, and is sponsored by the Federal Commissioner for Culture and Media and the Society for the Exploitation of Performance Rights (GVL). Music Day is intended to celebrate the diversity of musical life nationwide - across all ages, cultures, and genres.
Whether outdoors or indoors, whether professional or amateur musicians, ensembles, choirs, clubs, schools, music academies, clubs, symphony orchestras or opera houses and theatres, whether music retailers or cultural meeting places, whether in refugee accommodations or daycare centers: Everyone is invited to participate in Music Day with a musical activity of their own.
With Music Day, the German Music Council has set itself the goal of
- raising public awareness of the importance of music's community-building powers
- raising awareness of the value of creativity
- raising public awareness of the importance of music making for the individual and the community
- making cultural diversity visible as a necessary foundation for a successful musical life
- making visible the diverse forms of musical expression and the civic commitment behind them
- creating a nationwide platform for music making
Music Day 2023
Join-in Action #TdMXV
In 2023, Music celebrated its 15th anniversry! In honor of this special occaions an extradordinary campaign took place: You have the opportunity to send in a video recording of your own arrangement of the beginning of Johann Sebastian Bach’s 3rd Brandenburg Concerto. Whether your version is jazz, electro, polka, or metal, whether it’s played with cooking pots or Theremins or simply used as a basis for free improvisation – diversity was questioned. Thanks a lot to all the participants and their contributed material!
Special thanks go to the Albrecht Beck Foundation for the support of Music Day this year.
Statements on Music Day 2023
Simpleshow: Music Day
Voices on Music Day
Making music together, whether singing or playing an instrument, promotes the development of cognitive and social skills. That's why I was so enthusiastic right from the start about the initiative to give every child an instrument, which has now been successful in so many places. It enables chil-dren to participate in culture regardless of their budget. Music Day sends out a special signal to safeguard cultural education and the wealth of cultural diversity in Germany, which I hope will be heard politically. I am certain, however, that the numerous events throughout Germany will once again reach hundreds of thousands of music enthusiasts - and convey one thing above all: Music is not only educational, it's also fun."
President of the German Bundestag (ret.)
Every day, every hour, music is present in Germany - in public events, in educational institutions, in the media, in the private sphere. Music is actively practiced, studied, composed, downloaded, or danced. Above all, more music is being heard today than ever before. And yet there is cause for concern - for example, about access to music education, the protection of creative achievements, the funding of the cultural infrastructure, or the presence of different musical genres in the media. Music Day provides a forum to raise public awareness of the extraordinary diversity of music within a larger cultural policy framework and, most importantly, to focus on the people who shape and or-ganize that diversity. It is a day of musical celebration and reflection on music and its future. For this reason, too, I wish this initiative of the German Music Council a lasting impact.”
Former Minister of State
Music - You ‘Better Git It in Your Soul' and it was 'Only Rock 'n' Roll, but I Like It!’ Since then it's been 'Let the Music Play' for me. In peaceful hours it’s the 'Sound of Silence'. In other moments the motto is: 'Singing in the Rain', because 'Music is in the Air'. So they say ‘Video Killed the Radio Star'? - Aha, but it doesn't matter whether it's the 'Brown-Eyed Handsome Man', the 'Clarke Sisters', or 'Mr. Tam-bourine Man', no matter if it's a 'Liebeslied' or if it smells like 'Papaya Coconut Banana' or 'Dead Leaves and the Dirty Ground'. No matter if you're a 'Loser', a 'Sad Girl', or 'Starman', the main thing is that 'You've Got the Music in You'. To all musicians everywhere: ‘Thank You for the Music'. You enrich every day of my life with music. And 'When the Music's Over' we all shout, 'Don't Stop!' – so that there can still be 'Eine kleine Nachtmusik' in the evening. Musicians in order of mention: Charles Mingus, The Rolling Stones, Barry White, Simon & Garfunkel, Gene Kelly, Caterina Valente, The Bug-gles, Chuck Berry, The Go-Betweens, Bob Dylan, Absolute Beginner, Alexander Marcus, The White Stripes, Beck, Lana Del Rey, David Bowie, New Radicals/Abba, The Doors, Fleetwood Mac, Mozart.”
Member of the Bundestag and Cultural and Media Policy Spokesperson for the Bündnis 90/Die Grünen parliamentary group
Music touches us. Through its immediacy, it unfolds a tremendous effect and power that hardly anyone can escape. It is able to express what words cannot. Music can increase joy and happiness just as it can give courage, comfort, and even ease pain and suffering. Music connects. It creates community and knows no boundaries. Especially in times when intolerance is on the rise and differ-ences seem increasingly insurmountable, music can help us reflect on what unites us all. Because music connects - and is as diverse as humanity and life itself.”
Member of the Bundestag
