4 minute read
Spreading the joy of making music around the world
case studies
Spreading the joy of making music around the world
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Jody Ashfield, CEO of Percussion Play, tells the story of a family business that has won a Queen’s Award
The story of Percussion Play goes back to the 1990s when my father Robin, an entrepreneur, set up and owned a playground company. The experience of building playgrounds and creating sensory gardens for communities led him to identify a gap in the market for outdoor musical instruments that looked beautiful, were high quality, weather-resistant, fully accessible for everyone to use, and that
were tonally precise. Sensory gardens offer gentle stimulation in a therapeutic environment, and provide outdoor music works harmoniously when combined with these spaces.
I was working with my father in the family business and, sharing in his vision, we co-founded a company together and, in 2011, went through a significant re-brand when we created Percussion Play. It’s a genuine family-run business, which I believe comes across in everything we do.
Robin, left, and Jody Ashfield from Percussion Play
In the early days, people hadn’t really come across outdoor musical instruments, ones that were properly tuned at least. However, as soon as we could show people and have them play and hear the beautiful sounds that could be created, without any musical capability, they became excited and understood the benefits for everyone in the community.
Effectively marketing and communicating all of this has probably been one of our biggest challenges but we now sell to over 60 countries worldwide, with our instruments installed in playgrounds, schools, nursing homes, hospitals, hospices, museums and family-attractions plus many other settings.
We really feel that we’ve created a global outdoor musical movement to bring a sense of fun to playing percussion in the great outdoors, for everybody.
Last year we were delighted to be named a winner of the 2021 Queen’s Award for Enterprise – one of the highest accolades and most prestigious awards a UK-based company can win. The Queen approved the Prime Minister’s recommendation that we should receive a Queen’s Award for Enterprise in the International Trade categoryacknowledging our outstanding growth in overseas sales over the past three years.
To say we were pleased is an understatement - we were thrilled and honoured to have been chosen. Over the last few years, we’ve seen an everincreasing demand for high-quality crafted and harmonized instruments - sales have increased by 85 per cent, and our international orders account for 72 per cent of total sales- we can really say that we’re flying the flag for Britishmade products.
Our outdoor musical instruments can benefit everyone who plays them:
• Children get the chance of ‘free play’ where they can be creative, collaborate with peers and also learn musical tunes to practise and perform. The instruments can also help with building confidence.
• Those with physical disabilities are often unable to take part in outdoor activities, yet our musical instruments are all designed to be inclusive, no matter what your physical disability is, you’ll be able to play our instrument.
• People with sensory impairments can benefit from music therapy that aids cognitive, emotional, and social issues as well as the physical needs of people.
• Autistic children benefit from playing music because it stimulates both hemispheres of the brain which helps to open up an alternate avenue for communication. People with autism can often struggle to interact with others, by playing music together, children can make interpersonal connections in a way that works for them.
percussionplay.com
27 www.smeweb.com SME magazine
