Welcome to the Percussion Play Blog
We hope you'll be a regular visitor as we share stories about the instruments we make and the people who play them.
This is where we share our passion for music in the great outdoors! We'll share with you details of exciting new outdoor music projects and designs from around the globe. We'll share with you information about the instruments we sell and a little about the inspiration behind them
Most importantly, this blog is about what we love to do the most - help you create new and exciting ways to bring music to the great outdoors.
Thank you for reading, visiting, commenting and contributing - we’re excited to have you here!
European Day of Parks - Rethink, Restore and Reconnect With Nature
Launched in 1999, the European Day of Parks (EDOP) is a commemorative day for Protected Areas across Europe. It celebrates the creation of the first national parks in Europe – a set of nine parks created in Sweden in 1909 - and aims to bring people closer to nature and raise public awareness of the importance of the natural beauty preserved in these Protected Areas. It also helps highlight the importance of conservation and sustainable management of these unique places.
There are over 500 national parks in Europe, 15 of which are in the UK, each designated as a protected landscape because of its unique qualities. Offering public recreation and enjoyment and an escape from the everyday hustle, their stunning natural beauty, diverse wildlife, and fascinating cultural heritage make these living and working landscapes truly unique.
This year we are being asked to rethink, restore and reconnect with nature and national parks are the ideal spots to do so. Within the past four decades,...
Adapting our Outdoor Spaces for Intergenerational Recreation and Address Loneliness
Mental Health Awareness Week runs from 9-15 May, and the theme for this year’s event is ‘Together We Can Tackle Loneliness' - raising awareness of the impact of loneliness on our mental health and the practical steps we can take to address it.
Music has always been a powerful way to bring people together, and Percussion Play has a vision to create inclusive musical oases in towns and cities worldwide to encourage us to connect.
Public spaces - being a place of free and open access - are traditionally linked to social, cultural, or economic exchanges, and are once again gaining increasing importance as a component of everyday quality of life, especially in urban areas. Loneliness and disconnection are on the rise, exacerbated by social distancing and the disruption of daily routines, and those disconnections manifest themselves in other health issues for individuals,...
Encouraging Deaf Children and Young People to Access Music
Deaf Awareness Week is an annual event that aims to promote the positive aspects of deafness, promote social inclusion, and raise awareness of the huge range of local organizations that support deaf people and their families and friends. It aims to celebrate exceptional individuals and showcase what we can do to champion inclusivity and be more deaf-friendly.
The theme for Deaf awareness week 2022 is Deaf Inclusion, to explore the entire theme of inclusion within our community. Emphasising the importance of mental health, and empathising with underrepresented groups amongst the Deaf such as migrants, BMIs, and women, as well as raising pertinent issues of deafness being overlooked in education, health settings, and the workplace.
According to WHO, over 5% of the world’s population – or 430 million people – require rehabilitation to address their ‘disabling’ hearing loss (432 million adults and 34 million children). It is estimated that by 2050 over 700 million people –...
Music Bridges the Intergenerational Divide
To celebrate Global Intergenerational Week starting on April 25, we are highlighting the positive effects of intergenerational music-making and its ability to promote inclusive play and bring benefits to both the very young and older adults.
The week's goal is to inspire individuals, groups, organizations, and local/national government to fully embrace intergenerational practice, connecting people of all ages, especially the younger and older generations, helping us reconnect, combat loneliness, and break down age barriers.
With a different focus every day of the week, each provides opportunities to share ideas and give inspiration. For example, and probably most poignant to Percussion Play, Wednesday, April 27, invites us to ‘Celebrate intergenerational spaces’ and join the growing movement in creating intergenerational spaces within our communities for work, rest, or play. Music "speaks" to all of us, regardless of age, language, or mobility. Outdoor musical instruments in...
Autism Acceptance Month - April 2022
Kicking off with World Autism Awareness Day on April 2, Autism Acceptance Month is an ongoing international effort to promote autism awareness and acceptance to ensure that all affected by autism can achieve the highest quality of life possible.
Designed to build a better awareness of the signs, symptoms, and realities of autism, Autism Acceptance Month focuses on providing information and resources for communities to be more aware of autism, promote acceptance and be more inclusive in everyday life.
With the prevalence of autism in the USA rising (from 1 in 125 children in 2010 to 1 in 54 in 2020), it is more important than ever that communities are encouraged to celebrate their differences and become more inclusive of individuals with autism. Music in the great outdoors promotes spontaneous, inclusive play opportunities for expression, fun, and laughter, helping support individuals with ASD and their families by strengthening the bonds of communication between parents, grandparents,...
Five Ways to Integrate Music with Reading on World Book Day
In the UK and Ireland, 3 March 2022 is World Book Day, and this year we are celebrating 25 years of changing lives through a love of books and shared reading.
World Book Day is a charity on a mission to help change children’s lives by making reading together and reading for pleasure a habit for life. It's a day of celebration of children’s books and reading and is marked in over 100 countries around the globe – although in most countries World Book Day takes place at a different time of year (usually around April 23 - Shakespeare's Birthday)
How wonderful to see that World Book Day 2022 is back to normal with children across the country dressing up as their favorite characters to celebrate books and reading. There are lots of fun activities planned as well as resources to be found and prizes to be won by visiting the World Book Day website.
World Book Day is the perfect opportunity to use outdoor musical...