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!
Duo Percussion Becomes Percussion Plays Newest Reseller
Two friends who bonded over their love of family, music and the great outdoors have recently set up their own outdoor musical instrument business and become the latest preferred reseller of Percussion Play.
Duo Percussion, based in Iasi, Romania, is the brainchild of Oana Piclea and Raluca Spinu.
The friends, who are both mothers, first met ten years ago in a previous job and remained firm friends ever since. Keen to set up a business together and united by their love of music, the pair decided to join forces to launch their brand-new business ‘Duo Percussion’ and introduce outdoor musical instruments to a range of clients across Romania.
Oana said: “We first found Percussion Play by chance, while searching for innovative ways to spend more time outdoors with our kids; we were searching for something that would help us connect more,...
World Autism Awareness Day: Music Opens Communication Channels for Autistic kids
World Autism Awareness Week takes place this year from Monday 30 March to Sunday 5 April.
Autism is a lifelong developmental disability that affects how people perceive the world and interact with others. A person with autism experiences their surroundings differently to others, which can impact their communication skills and their ability to relate to others. Autism is a spectrum condition meaning that while all autistic people share certain characteristics, they can experience the condition in different ways. People from all nationalities and cultural, religious and social backgrounds can have autism, although it appears to affect more men than women. In 2020 the CDC determined that approximately 1 in 54 children is diagnosed with an autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and an estimated one-third of people with autism are nonverbal.
World Autism Awareness Week and World Autism Awareness Day (2 April) aims to put a spotlight on the hurdles that people with...
Bring a little Cuban Energy, Rhythm and Soul to Your Outdoor Space With Colorful Conga Drums
Bright, colorful and hugely entertaining, our Conga Drums are most certainly one of our most popular products and it's not hard to see why. Fantastic value for money, the Congas are an instrument of improvisation, making them fun outdoor percussion equipment for kids of all ages - there's just something about playing them that brings out the child inside, whatever age we are! There is a drummer inside almost each and every one of us if we're prepared to let go of our inhibitions and just give it a go, and hey, kids shouldn’t have all the fun right?
Playing Congas is a superb energy outlet. If you or your child have lots of built-up energy and really want to thrash out some beats these outdoor Conga Drums are extremely tough and durable. Admit it: it feels good to hit things, and drumming can even improve a bad mood by releasing endorphins!...
How music is connecting people amid the COVID-19 pandemic
“Music is the moonlight in the gloomy night of life.” These words from the famous 18th-century German writer Jean-Paul couldn’t be more timely: they might just as easily have been written yesterday. Here at Percussion Play, we hope that you all are staying as safe and well as possible in these ‘unprecedented times’.
Thankfully, amidst all the chaos that seems increasingly to be circling around us, people are finding new and inspiring ways to remain powerfully connected to one another, even whilst physically separated. Videos from all across the world have begun to spring up, showing communities of neighbors - between apartment blocks, along streets - coming together in solidarity to make music.
All over Italy, for example - currently, the country most severely affected by the virus to date - many of those in quarantine or self-isolation have met, at a distance, to sing, dance and play music together from their respective homes and balconies. One...
Music and Poetry - World Poetry Day
Poetry and music have been intertwined for thousands of years with artistic expressions being related, connected or inspired by the other. The two art forms possess certain similar elements, such as meter (a unit of rhythm in poetry) and rhyme, and so, across the years, many composers have been inspired by poetry, with some even setting these poems to music.
What makes a poem sound pleasing to the ear? A solid rhythm for one thing — something we know a good song also depends on. Ballads, or "story songs," have been around for centuries, many of the best known were sung first in the Middle Ages and the tradition continues today in modern songs. From the great Rogers and Hammerstein, to the Beatles and Bob Dylan, their finished works have become the gems that we now know, both musically and lyrically. We can also see the tight relationship between poetry and music if we examine children’s music, with many of the well-known nursery rhymes and songs rooted in poetry. Through these lyrics,...
Snowdrops and Babel Drums in Bloom!
Snowdrops: Theirs is a fragile but hardy celebration … in the very teeth of winter – Louise Wilder
Earlier this week we took advantage of a rare sunny morning to take these photos of our Small Babel Drum installed next to a bank absolutely covered in pretty white snowdrops.
Snowdrops are the first call in a new year to step outside and visit a parkland or garden. After a long winter, their brilliant white petals and green leaves are a welcome sight and one of the first flowers of the year to come into bloom - a sign that the gardens are coming back to life.
What's not to love about these pretty white flowers? Their scientific name is Galanthus...