Make Music New York invites composers to submit entries for this year’s “musical handshake”.

The Event: Make Music NY is a unique, free outdoor celebration called “the largest music event ever to grace Gotham” (Metro New York). As part of the third annual festival, a new addition called “Mass Appeal” brings together hundreds of musicians forming ensembles of one type of instrument, including clarinets, french horns, ukuleles, hub caps, violas, accordions, saxophones, and more, that anyone can join in on.

The Open Call: MMNY is now accepting submissions for “musical handshakes” — a single melody serving as the secret lingua franca for Mass Appeal musicians on Sunday June 21st, 2009.

These musicians will use the winning “musical handshake” to greet one another throughout the day, beyond bands of instruments, with the hope that momentary handshakes will turn into longer, improvised musical conversations. In the evening, the composition will receive its public premiere at the “Mass Appeal” afterparty in Central Park.

The winning musical handshake will be selected by a panel of distinguished judges (including Bill Bragin of Lincoln Center and Jeanette Sarkisian Wagner of NY City Center), and announced in late May, giving one composer the honor of a Mass Appeal premiere on June 21st.

Submission Guidelines:

• A musical handshake is a short melody, up to 10 seconds long, consisting of two phrases, so that two musicians can use it to greet each other with a call and response.
• Nearly all instruments and all musicians – from amateurs to professionals – should be able to play the musical handshake.
• No more than two submissions per composer will be accepted.
• Entries are due by midnight on Friday May 1st, 2009.
• Entries must be submitted in standard musical notation.
• Please e-mail submissions as PDF attachments to musicalhandshake@makemusicny.org

Or mail your composition, on a single 8.5” x 11” piece of paper, to:

Mass Appeal “Musical Handshake”
c/o Make Music New York
PO Box 1164
New York, NY 10013

• Include your name, address, phone number, and email address on the same page as your composition. (Judges will not see this information when choosing a handshake.)
• Participants must be residents of the New York City area and in attendance on June 21st.
• By submitting a musical handshake, you affirm that the composition is your own, and agree that, if selected, your submission will become the property of Make Music New York, Inc.

For further information about the Musical Handshake or about Mass Appeal, please contact Elizabeth Ferguson, Mass Appeal Coordinator, at eferguson@makemusicny.org or at (510) 316-3061.