White Papers

Sounds of Progress: Putting Music to Work for Blind, Low Vision, Partially Sighted and Visually Impaired People

Percussion Play has collaborated with the Royal Society for Blind Children (RSBC) and The Amber Trust to explore how to make outdoor music-making more accessible for young people who are blind, have low vision, or are partially sighted. The research involved two events at the RSBC’s Life Without Limits Centre in London, featuring group and individual musical workshops and instrument demonstrations for blind and visually impaired children and adolescents in the UK. Additionally, Percussion Play hosted the RSBC at its headquarters in Hampshire to gather feedback on the design of instruments, aiming to make them more user-friendly for blind, low-vision, and partially sighted users. The findings from this research have contributed to the creation of this White Paper titled 'The Sounds of Progress,' which includes verbal feedback and outlines potential ways to use music to develop more inclusive play environments.

Young at Heart: The Benefits of Music & Outdoor Musical Play for Older Adults

In April 2024, a new white paper was launched to highlight the positive impact of music and musical play on the quality of life for seniors. The paper outlines several benefits that music can offer to seniors, such as fostering community, boosting mood, stimulating memory, encouraging movement, activating creativity, reducing anxiety, and improving coordination.

Creativity is the New Literacy: The Benefits of Libraries for Communities & The Role of Music

This white paper maps out how a library, as a public space or place, operates in many ways within a community. It examines the role libraries have in producing social well-being and building a sense of community. It considers the educational, cultural, and economic roles of public libraries. It explores the existing and possible ways in which music—especially hands-on musical play—can play a significant role.

Beating the Drum for Equality The Benefits of Music for Those with Developmental Disabilities and Special Educational Needs

Studies that investigate the impact of music on adults and children with developmental delays and/or with Special Educational Needs (SEN) are growing in number and it should be no surprise that their findings suggest that playing musical instruments can have significant benefits for those living with these types of disabilities and disorders.

This White Paper explores the benefits of music and outdoor musical instruments for individuals with special educational needs such as sensory processing disorders and developmental disabilities.

Five Notes For All: The Power of the Pentatonic Scale

Making music that sounds good has never been this easy. Why? The fundamental reason is the use of the pentatonic scale. Consisting of five notes and found in practically every form of music in the world, the Pentatonic scale contains almost no clashing or dissonant notes. Put another way, you can play almost any notes of a pentatonic scale in almost any combination, and they’ll sound great together.

It’s wonderful to improvise using a scale that always sounds good. So, what is a pentatonic scale and how did it come to be? This white paper explores the theory behind the scale, it's origins and relevance today.

Music Matters: The Importance of Music Education

I would teach children music, physics, and philosophy; but most importantly music, for the patterns in music and all the arts are the keys to learning. Plato

This paper focuses on the benefits of music in education and how it can be used to develop language, spatial-temporal awareness, social skills, creativity, and imagination in children. We look at how introducing musical studies in early childhood also fosters a positive attitude towards learning and how playing musical instruments, particularly ones in an outdoor setting can lead to very positive physical health benefits.

Music For Mood and Memory - The Benefits of Music For People Living With Alzheimer’s and Dementia

Listening to and playing music is an activity that enriches us throughout our lives, from birth to death and it is a medium that has been proven time and time again to promote happiness in your life and in the lives of those around you.

Music is not just for the purposes of art, entertainment, and pleasure but is also medicine for the body and soul. It is intrinsic to all cultures and playing music is one of the few activities that involve using the whole brain.

In this whitepaper, we will look in-depth at how playing music has surprising benefits not only for learning language, improving memory and focusing attention but also for physical coordination and development.

Sounds and the Spectrum: The Benefits of Music For Children with Autism

Read our report on how music is helping those with autism find their voice and thrive.....

Come One, Come All: The Benefits of Music-Making Within the Community

Music is like physical exercise: it's for all ages and for all people. And like physical exercise, participation in music leads to good health and wellbeing.

This paper explores how inclusive outdoor community music spaces engage people of all ages, cultures, and abilities. How music-making brings people together in a way that few other activities can - fostering both individual growth and community development.

Without a doubt, music is best experienced with other people, communities need music - music brings communities together.

Hitting The High Notes - The Benefits of Music for Mental Health

There are acknowledged to be over 200 classified forms of mental illness that we are aware of today. These range from clinical depression and bipolar disorder to dementia, schizophrenia, and anxiety. Unfortunately, these illnesses are becoming more and more prevalent in society today, and this worldwide trend is sadly on the increase. Although many of these illnesses rely on prescription medicine for their management- there are more holistic and natural ways to alleviate some of the sufferings. One proven way is through music and music therapy.

In this whitepaper, we will ask if music and music therapy could provide the best, and certainly the most accessible, holistic approach to improving mental health available to us today.

Play, Percussion and 'Post-Age' Pedagogy: The Positive Effects of Intergenerational Music-Making

The emergence of targeted intergenerational play-programmes is a relatively recent pedagogical and therapeutic turn - though one which has already begun to pick up momentum. Intergenerational play programmes, workshops and therapies are springing up everywhere: fast-establishing themselves as a genuine way of improving the cognitive function, social capacity and physical and psychological wellbeing of children and adults alike.

In this whitepaper, we will begin to examine the benefits of the establishment of these programmes for senior citizens, school-level children and communities at large. Specifically, the paper will look into the vital role that music-making can play in drawing the best out of these types of programmes and facilitate authentic cross-generational connection.

Music as Medicine: Combating PTSD With Music and Music Therapy

This White Paper explores how music and music therapy are being employed to facilitate healing; in particular how veterans are finding relief from the symptoms of PTSD through music.

Posttraumatic stress disorder, more commonly known as PTSD, can change a person’s life for the worse and is a serious condition that afflicts many people all over the world. Treatments range from psychotherapy to medication, however, music and music therapy is showing great promise in relieving the effects of PTSD. Numerous organizations, most notably groups that help war veterans and other military personnel, are discovering that music can be a powerful tool in relieving the effects of this crippling disorder.

Clinical studies can vouch for the health benefits of music therapy programs and the beauty of music therapy is that it helps people in a physical, mental, emotional, and social way.