We’re delighted to announce that the new Make Music Day anthem for 2021 is Stand By Me kindly supported by Sony Music Publishing and Hal Leonard Europe.*
Stand By Me, first recorded by American singer-songwriter Ben E. King in 1961, who co-wrote the song with Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller, has since had 400 different recordings over the years from Mohammed Ali to The Kingdom Choir. Check out this playlist of some of our favourites.
Free resources
Free resources and arrangements of Stand By Me, including a range of different instruments, ensembles and choirs, are available to stream/view online at Sheet Music Direct here so that you can get practicing. Or create your own arrangement to premiere on Make Music Day.
A selection of arrangements are available to download as PDFs. In order to download arrangements, register your event on the Make Music Day UK website here and tick ‘MMD Anthem’ in the event categories on the event submission form. You will then be sent an email with the downloadable PDFs.
Or if you’d prefer to stick with last year’s anthem, Bring Me Sunshine, you can find free arrangements of this song here as well.
We are proud to partner with Sheet Music Direct to provide Make Music Day UK participants with 60 days of free access to PASS—the world’s premier sheet music subscription, powered by Hal Leonard. This exclusive free offer gives Make Music Day UK participants unlimited online access to over 1.1 million sheet music arrangements for every instrument, genre, and skill level, including the Make Music Day UK anthems Stand By Me and Bring Me Sunshine.
Tell the world
List your 21 June performance on the Make Music Day website for audiences to enjoy, whether it be a physical performance or online.
Song competition
In partnership with Hal Leonard Europe, we will be running a competition for the best cover version Stand by Me. Whatever your favourite style of music, create your own cover version and share it on 21 June. To enter the competition, just share your performance on social media on 21 June and tag @MakeMusicDayUK on social media and use the hashtag #MMDStandByMe so that we can find your performance. The winner will be selected by a panel of judges and win £150 of Music Room vouchers!
We can’t wait to hear your renditions on 21 June!
* Sony Music Publishing and Hal Leonard Europe Limited give permission for the creation of arrangements, performances, recording/filming performances, and downloading/copying supplied sheet music and audio assets of the work ‘Stand by Me’ solely in relation to Make Music Day 2021 on 21 June 2020. This applies to the UK only. All performances must be registered on the Make Music Day UK website. NB Public performance rights are still payable to PRS – see our Guide for Copyright and Licensing here.
