Andante Percussion was formally established by Sam and Frank Hodgen in November 1986. The inspiration for the business came from the Pipe Band that Sam was Pipe Major of. They had extreme problems with their drums as the structure of the drums were not strong enough to cope with the new woven Kevlar top playing head. They then looked at what was available on the market and found nothing with any improvement over what they were already working with. As Sam has spent twenty years in engineering and design he then brought this to bear on the designing and manufacturing of a new drum.

Andantes intentions for the future is to continuously explore and advance the Percussion Instruments for Marching Bands.