Walking you through the process of creating a community-build outdoor musical garden, trail or playground

STAGE ONE: Starting!

Maybe you've seen a music park working in another community, or seen outdoor musical instruments in a park or family attraction while on vacation or visiting relatives and felt sure they would benefit your community. Outdoor music projects often start with a vision of a person or a small group of people who passionately believe that music is something absolutely everyone in their local community should have the opportunity to access and enjoy. Thinking of taking the plunge? This guide has been written to assist anyone tasked with delivering a music project for their community and to help bring your project ideas to life.

A music park or musical trail will provide an inclusive community place for individuals, families, or groups of friends to stroll, unwind and create great music together in a fun and carefree way. They’re an excellent way to encourage more people to become involved in music-making, a unique way to celebrate the arts in a community, and provide 'interactive' and inclusive fun, family-friendly experiences.

Music can bring a diverse group of people together in the community simply because it transcends language limitations - providing its language of rhythm and melody to enable its players and users to communicate with each other non-verbally.

Outdoor musical instruments are an innovative and delightful way for children and adults to enjoy the outdoors. Because they are fully inclusive, accessible, and multi-generational, they make music-making possible for all ages and abilities. Grandparents can play alongside their grandchildren (or even great-grandchildren!), and children with disabilities - who are often left to sit and watch their non-disabled friends and siblings play - can now play side-by-side in a sensory-rich playground environment.

Speak to Others

Many community groups will have fundraising experience or expertise in managing this type of project and want to share that expertise with you. We have worked with Rotary, Lions, and Kiwanis, as well as enthusiastic parents and grandparents who wish to make a difference. Please feel free to contact us, and we can try to connect you with someone who can pass on some valuable experience.

Form a Committee

Regardless of the size of your budget, building a musical playground or trail will be a challenge. You’ll need a supportive team of individuals with various skill sets to bring different perspectives to your team, project, and design.

  • Parents and Carers with good communication skills
  • Business leaders with connections within the community
  • Individuals with fundraising experience
  • PR and Marketing Specialists
  • Construction Workers / Project Managers/Landscapers and Landscape Architects
  • Financial Management

Additionally, the cooperation of different professionals and roles is ideal to ensure a cohesive and practical approach. Council officers and members, children’s services professionals, planners, developers, architects, landscape architects and designers, and parks and recreation managers are just some of the people who have, or should have, an interest in promoting enjoyable play spaces for the community. Also, the outdoor musical instruments are only one part of the overall design. A combination of landscaping, planting, and community art installations, for example, complementing one another within the overall design of the area, can cultivate a greater sense of place and reap enormous benefits for families and the wider community.

For a bit of inspiration and to see how a group of like-minded individuals can take action, see our Case Study 'Ireland's Most Inclusive Playground and read how a determined committee in Greystones, Co Wicklow envisioned a musical playground that was inclusive and accessible to all children and went ahead and made it a reality.
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STAGE TWO: Location, Location, Location!

Once the idea is formed, you need to decide where the community music park or musical trail would be best placed. Look at what facilities already exist to determine how best to develop an existing play area, local-park or open space into your communal music park or trail. Building within an existing park can often cut project costs dramatically.

Your music garden will become a destination, drawing families from other areas - therefore, choosing a location that’s easily accessible is ideal. Ensure the space is away from dangerous roads, pollution, or too much noise, which will detract from the music. Children with different abilities can play together in well-designed musical play spaces. Parents and carers who are themselves disabled should be able to access the musical park or playground to accompany their children.

Local or Parish Councils own most existing playgrounds. The design, installation, and maintenance of children’s play areas are likely to be their responsibility; therefore, they must fully support your project. Hopefully, they’ll be willing to provide land to build on and contribute financially. Tell them that your music garden or trail will become a source of community pride, a play space loved by the community. Creating successful musical parks or trails that meet the needs of children and the communities they live in will almost always need prospective users (and neighbors of the scheme) to articulate their concerns, needs, and aspirations. A thriving community engagement process will help create a site that the community likes and which meets its requirements.

Maybe your project is broader and includes other play or playground equipment as well as outdoor musical instruments. If so, you may want to read the following;

RoSPA has plenty of tips and advice on designing safe play spaces:

RoSPA Advice & Information & RoSPA Play Area Design Tips .
Also, KABOOM! works with communities to build incredible, kid-designed playspaces, and they have created a fantastic Guide to organizing your community to create a community-built playspace

STAGE THREE: Speak to us!

Once you have chosen and gained site approval, delve into the Percussion Play website to watch and listen to our outdoor musical instruments. Our website is designed to make selecting suitable instruments easy for you. With lots of photos, videos, and technical information, we have equipped you with all the information you need to make choosing your outdoor musical instruments straightforward and enjoyable. The number and type of instruments you select is up to you, but we can help you prepare a design that will fit your available space and, of course, your budget. We can even create a design for you; by supplying us with a photo of your outdoor area, we can create an image of the instruments in place - great for motivating your fundraising team and explaining to your community what you intend to make.

600x600 ViSit Example for Guide to Community Music Trail Article

Designed to save our customers time and money when selecting a group of instruments, we have created several outdoor music ‘ensembles.’ These ensembles are a great way to get your outdoor music project moving quickly and easily and will ensure the combination of instruments will together sound harmonious. We have large and small ensembles that comprise many aspects of percussion. Percussion Play Ensembles can be viewed here

Download our App, which includes a comprehensive resource for landscape architects, playground designers, park and recreation professionals, or playground committees. Information on the App consists of; installation instructions, videos, dimension and plan drawings, product certificates, and lots and lots of images.

Alternatively, to incorporate our products into your plans quickly, our CAD & 3D drawings, product specifications, media files, and more are now available for free download at CADdetails.com. This is an online source for manufacturer-specific building product information for input into working plans and specification documents.

Our Case Studies page gives many examples of successful community music projects that may help inspire and motivate you.

Article - Guide to Creating A Community Music Trail or Garden

STAGE FOUR: Funding & Finances

Every penny counts in this kind of project, and searching for and pursuing funding sources is often the most challenging part of the process. Whether you approach your local authority to fund the project, apply for different grants or funding streams or fundraise yourselves, you must start reaching out to the community for help. Approaching and gaining the support of local businesses and organizations for sponsorships, donations, or volunteers can create partnerships with opportunities that benefit all involved.

Within our website's technical information downloads page, you can find high-resolution product photographs for creating mood boards and collages to show everyone what it is you're planning and build your case for fundraising. Pinterest, Juxtapost, or Dribbble are all free on the internet, and the concept is simple. If you find something you like on the web, save it on your ‘mood board’ online. It’s effectively a digital pinboard where you can bookmark – or “pin” – images you like or find online and organize them into your own “boards.” We’ve created several ‘boards’ of our own Pinterest Page

A fundraising strategy to consider all types of funding sources is essential. Do not become too dependent on any one source in case they’re not successful. As well as independent fundraising (collections tins, car boot sales, and sponsored events), other options may be worth pursuing -

  • Take a look over on our Fundraising and Grants Page
  • Set up an Online Donation site e.g. GoFundMe
  • Websites such as Easy Fundraising
  • Search Grants for projects that regenerate public parks of national or local heritage value.
  • As your music park or trail should be inclusive, explore grants for children and young people with additional needs and disabilities
  • Local fundraising groups (Rotary, Lions, Church) - We have many beautiful stories to tell of projects completed thanks to the generosity of local service clubs such as Rotary, Lions, and Kiwanis. For example, the Montezuma Lions Club, who helped see the local Elementary School playground receive a wonderful new musical makeover. Or Beaver Dam Rotary who created an excellent riverside music trail in their downtown area.

Article - Guide to Creating A Community Music Trail or Garden

STAGE FIVE: Going Ahead

Building your community music garden or project with volunteers instead of professionals will take time and effort, but the benefits go beyond saving money. Involving the local community is an excellent way for families or individuals to meet and for new residents to get involved. Once finished, the community will have created a space for everyone to be proud of.

Whatever your project's size and complexity, we recommend that you have a few skilled individuals to hand. Our comprehensive installation instructions will guide you through the nuts and bolts of the project, but a little experience or skilled labor is always a good idea. A bonus is that once your volunteers have done a great job, many will have picked up some valuable skills along the way!

Product-specific installation instructions are sent with each product, although you can download a replacement if required.

We also make all our products as readily assembled as possible; any assembly required is laid out to ease the installation process.

Case Study - Children's Healing Center (600x600 Children's Healing Center

Wait! We can provide further assistance

Percussion Play works with several partners who are experienced and professional playground specialists worldwide. This means that our customers get the best possible service from what is often a local supplier, as well as being able to access the best outdoor musical instruments on the market.

Let us know what you are looking for, and we can put you in touch with one of our partners with no obligations. Please feel free to contact us

We are happy to help.

Article - Guide to Creating A Community Music Trail or Garden