Piccolo is the brainchild of Abi Cotton and Anna Scantlebury, first best friends, and now singing business women! We had our BIG IDEA in November 1999 over a bottle of wine in Covent Garden, ran out to Hamley’s to find a suitable cuddly toy to mentor us, and hit upon a cute Penguin. Said penguin accompanied us home on the train and was christened ‘Piccolo’ over a second bottle of wine, then, creative juices flowing, the ‘Hello song’ was written and sung, to bemusement of fellow travellers, and THE PLAN was hatched.

Our idea was interactive and live musical fun for kids, that was enjoyed just as much by the parents. We knew singing often saved the day for us, in the long hours looking after wee ones – it had the power to turn the mood around and lift spirits like nothing else (except maybe a Spa weekend, with champagne breakfast and granny at home with the kids…)

March 2000 saw our launch with 8 friends’ children who’d been press-ganged, with the idea of a trial for 6 weeks. By the end of the trial we had 20 children coming along and Piccolo was off at a high speed waddle. Each year we added more sessions and Piccolomusic grew mainly by word of mouth.

There was hardly anything on offer for pre-schoolers, apart from toddler groups and coffee mornings, and certainly nothing musical. We rehearsed hard, finding the best ways of getting children and adults singing along.

The sessions are always live, with guitar and other instruments, so we are not ‘tied’ to a CD player, but can respond to the children in the group, and change the session when it’s needed to make sure it runs smoothly and is full of fun. We have masses of percussion instruments for the children to get stuck into, develop their listening skills with ‘loud/soft’ ‘fast/slow’ and STOP! They adore the puppets at the end and enjoy learning how to hold hands and dance in a circle or in a partner song.

Abi’s background is in personnel and training/NVQ assessing, and Anna was still a part time solicitor when the business began. We both wanted to find a more creative, fun filled job, and Piccolo was just that. Anna gave up her legal career in 2003 to focus on Piccolo full time. By then all four of our children were at school, so we dived in head first to writing and recording songs, developing the training arm of the business and singing, singing, singing! We were running 10 sessions a week, with around 300 children, and delivering schools’ workshops, conference seminars, training courses, the list goes on.

The business continued to grow and we took on freelance staff to help out at the very busy sessions. Our website became more central and online sales took our songs all over the UK, and abroad.

Anna’s family expanded (unexpectedly!) in 2007, with the arrival of Ben, so maternity leave meant we relied heavily on our freelancers, in particular Diane Robson who played guitar. Ben’s arrival meant we were inspired all over again to write more songs for babies and toddlers and we were able to road test them on him!  After 6 months off, Anna returned and Piccolo again started to broaden its business, adding Music Licensing and larger retail sales. We now have over 30 Licensees, UK wide, who pay a modest fee each year to use our songs in their businesses. They also sell our CDs as do several shops and on line stores, including iTunes and Amazon.

2010 saw us celebrate our 10th birthday with a BIG SING to raise money for Teenage Cancer Trust and a family musical show ‘Shake rattle and Sing’ at Northern Stage – a sell out, and something we’re planning on doing again soon.

We have always taken opportunities to develop our business and sessions, we love going on training workshops, often with 20 000 Voices or Sing Up or at The Sage. Most recently we both gained an Elementary Certificate in Kodaly Musicianship, after a hard year of evening classes and an arduous exam! A strange feeling going ‘back to school’.

Today Piccolo runs sessions throughout the week in Tyneside and has developed strong links with many Local Authorities, Music services and Childrens’ Centres, The International Centre for Life, charities, nurseries and schools. The team has grown to include Diane Robson, Pauline Brandon, Rosie Robertson and Emily Portman. We’re always on the look out for new trainees especially guitarists!

The story continues, with new ventures such as Ukulele groups for adults, Sound Ideas networking events for those wanting to use more music in their work, and Shows to tour the region.

To be continued….!