Aaron Friedman, Make Music Winter

Make Music New York, the annual celebration with over 1,000 free outdoor concerts on the first day of summer, is producing a dozen participatory musical parades on the first night of winter, Dec. 21, 2011, open to all.

Make Music Winter features a variety of works, in most cases operating as musical marches, that the public can be a part of. ARTonAIR.org's Jeannie Hopper talks to the project founder Aaron Friedman. Projects using bells, beatboxes, hubcaps, iPhones, traditional instruments, singers and more will convene at various parks and public buildings around the city. One project places musicians at every stop along the F train. You have to ride to hear the whole piece.

Aaron Friedman is President and founder of Make Music New York. In 2002, he founded an environmental advocacy group called “Silent Majority” to combat noise pollution in New York. The group’s research prompted new legislation in the City Council to regulate car alarms, and its lobbying efforts led to the bill’s passage in 2004. He is also a composer, whose teachers include Gerald Levinson, Tristan Murail, and Steve Mackey.

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