International Music Day

Initiated in 1975 by Lord Yehudi Menuhin, the 1 October International Music Day is to encourage the promotion and application of:

• musical art among all sections of society;
• UNESCO ideals of peace and friendship between peoples, of the evolution of their cultures, of the exchange of experience and of the mutual appreciation of their aesthetic values;
• the activities of the International Music Committee, its international member organisations and national committees, as well as its programme policy in general.

In Lord Menuhin’s 1975 letter to all IMC members, the following activities for this Day are suggested:

Music Events:

• invite leading composers, interpreters and musicologists to give lectures, and to speak of the importance of music, of its place in modern life, of the ideals of UNESCO and of the activities of the IMC
• organize meetings of artists, competitions and musical quizzes;
• organize exhibitions of musical instruments, records, posters, paintings, sculptures, caricatures, or photographs on musical themes;
• invite delegations of musicians of other national committees to participate in this International Music Day, as well as prize winners of the IMO Rostrums, arid composers and arid interpreters from different continents;
• ask major interpreters in your country to give concerts on International Music Day for which they would agree to contribute either all, or part of the proceeds to the Musicians’ International Mutual Aid Fund.

Radio and television programmes

• broadcast concerts, as well as talks and debates with the participation of major personalities who are also music lovers such as painters, writers, and even politicians; and
• leading members of the IMC will broadcast special messages.

Press and Recordings

• publish articles in the press to draw the public’s attention to International Music Day; and
• organize the exchange of tapes arid records1 using them for demonstration purposes.

The struggle against the pollution of the sound environment

• propose to local authorities that, on this Day, they should order a few minutes of silence in towns; this period of silence would be used for listening to music to be played in public places such as parks arid main squares.