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.

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.

Stay tuned for detailed on how you can participate in this interactive sonic adventure!

Support for this program is provided by BXP.(NYSE: BXP), the largest publicly traded developer, owner, and manager of premier workplaces in the United States.

 Tilted Axes: Music for Mobile Electric Guitars, led by composer and performer Patrick Grant, 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.
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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.

Harmonica virtuoso Jiayi He, who has been featured 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!  

The Harmonica Holiday Jam will meet at the Patience Lion Statue in Bryant Park (Manhattan) at 3pm. The Lion sits on the Southern Side of the Library Main Entrance Steps on 5th Ave, and is on your left when facing the steps. Accessible by the B, D, F, M trains at 42nd St - Bryant Park, the 7 train at 5th ave, the 4, 5, 6 trains at Grand Central – 42nd St, and the N, Q, R, W trains at Times Square – 42nd St. 

PLEASE NOTE: There are a limited number of FREE Hohner harmonicas available, please register early if you are in need of a harmonica!

If you have any questions, please email Jiayi directly: HarmonicaDay@gmail.com

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

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.

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.

“Gaits” is an immersive, site-specific music procession featuring commissioned compositions by Lainie Fefferman, Jascha Narveson and Cameron Britt in which the wonders of our everyday technology transform participants’ movements into musical Improvisations. Paraders use a free app that captures the GPS coordinates and velocities of their movements to trigger a variety of twinkling metallic sounds, electric guitar chords, dulcimer notes, water splashes, car horns and applause – empowering marchers to effortlessly make music while interacting with their environment and each other.

Please register ahead of time by completing this short Google form. Prior to arriving, participants should also download the Gaits app to their iPhone from the Apple Store .

Participants should arrive between 5:30-6:15pm at the southern end of The High Line, at the base of the Gansevoort Stairs, Gansevoort and Washington Streets and will be spaced out in groups of 5-10 every 3 minutes. Elevator access is available to the left of the main entryway stairs. The procession will walk north along the elevated park.

New York composer Lainie Fefferman has written music for voices, orchestral instruments, banjoes, bagpipes, shawms, car parts, and electronic media. Her music draws inspiration from the rigorous, the gorgeous, the nasty, and the zany. She began her studies as a math major, but ended up a composer at Yale and is now working toward a PhD in composition at Princeton. Her recent collaborators include Newspeak, JACK Quartet, So Percussion, and the electric guitar quartet Dither. She has sung at the United Nations, been a rehearsal pianist at Westminster Choir College, and performed on kazoo with the Bang on a Can All-Stars.

The Gaits App is currently only available to iPhone users. Please download the app prior to arrival, at this link.