Spring / Summer 2026 music thread

[northerngoldilocks]

Time for a new thread as the old one is filling up and think we can claim its spring now!

Come and talk about music lessons, choosing instruments, exams, auditions, specialist schools, orchestras or whatever other music activities are going on. Everyone is welcome, from those with total beginners to those whose children are studying music at advanced levels. Ask for advice or share successes or struggles.

@Ubertomusic My daughter had exactly the same problem. Her allergy got worse over time and it really curtailed her playing. She’s currently at a JD and one of the tutors herself has a nickel allergy. On her recommendation she got her mouthpiece coated with gold and it’s made a world of difference. The company she used was Brass Care, and they were very quick (https://brasscare.uk/mouthpiece-plating.html) A year on and the coating is holding up really well.

She’s heading off to Conservatoire in September so is looking to get a spare mouthpiece, but is still planning on using her original one as her main. Paxmans let her try a mouthpiece with a plastic rim but she didn’t like the feel of that one so the hunt for another mouthpiece continues!

Has anyone had to wait more than a week for ABRSM face to face practical exam results recently? Over the last 7 years we have consistently received results between 48 hours and 72 hours post exam (and with three children x 2 instruments each that’s been a lot of exams). We’re waiting on a result for my youngest and it’s been over a week. I know in the greater scheme of things that’s nothing (I remember the days when you waited 6 weeks for them to arrive by post) but it does seem unusual. The ABRSM website says 1-2 weeks and can be as much as 28 days so we are well within all of that. It’s just our experience has always been much quicker. Over invested parent here I know.

We’r in the same boat @MockCroc- waiting for a practical piano exam result that DS sat last Wednesday so it’s over a week. This is first time we did it through school so that might be one of the reasons. As it’s his 2nd study and I’m much more relaxed but starting to wonder whether I shall nudge the school just in case they forgot the release the result?
BTW does anybody know if both result and released show ‘pending’, does it mean even the school haven’t received the results?

@chickentikkasalad - oh no! The wait is painful. But I can confirm that it will still show pending until the school releases the result to the candidate or until a certain period of time has passed since the results were received (ten days or something). Dd's still shows as pending on our computer even though she's had the results and mark cert etc.

Hope they come soon for you both @MockCroc !

Thank you @catclarks ! I've sent DD's old mouthpiece to Doodles for gold plating as it was urgent for her rehearsals and concerts. We'll see how it goes and I've saved your link too.

Apparently, it's a known thing among female players. I think we'll still need to get a steel or titanium one later on but at least I will be able to manage the costs (we'll need to upgrade instruments too fairly soon 🙈 ). She needs at least two, for trumpet and cornet, and she's still growing and developing her sound so I don't even know at the moment which model to go for. I've heard titanium gives a different tone too so not sure how it's going to work for British brass band sound.

School gave her Warburton with a plastic rim yesterday as a short term solution but she doesn't like the feel, just like your DD. I hope gold plating will help for the time being.

Thank you for letting me know changofname! Ill
send you a private message if that’s ok.

@chickentikkasalad my DS’s music organisation like to email out the results to teachers and pupils before they release them on the ABRSM website so that might make it take longer to get results.

Thank you @StuntNun! That might be what’s happening here as well. I’ll learn to be patient one day 😂

They do occasionally take materially longer if there was a query or review of the marking. One time DD and friend did the same exam on the same day in the same centre, one took 2 days one took several weeks. Hopefully yours are just waiting to be released by the applicant and fingers crossed for nice shiny results!

I enter my own kids so have both applicant and candidate logins on my email address (we had to make candidate logins for the theory otherwise it may have been optional). I can release it to myself if I want. Or I forget and then the next week I get confused by another "your exam results have arrived" email.

Thank you - I was wondering whether they were generally slower at the moment. Sounds like we are not alone. The generally super-fast turnaround raises expectations!

I think ABRSM must be monitoring this thread. The results have arrived this afternoon! I've only had them uploaded overnight in the past so only checked on a whim. I hope everyone else's come in soon too.

I decided to ask the school yesterday and they also released the results to DS! Happy days…He had distinction on g4 piano now!!

That’s great news @chickentikkasalad. well done your ds!

dd is dealing with the fact that her teacher wants her to delay her cello g8 until October. As per her usual it has sent her into a bit of a spiral about not being good at the instrument rather than the truth which is that she’s done very little practice as she’s too busy rehearsing a musical which is being out on in the first week of July and also prepping for the IBO which she has the week after. Music has rather fallen off her schedule.
She’s still doing her g7 voice, but that takes a lot less practice than the cello for her and as she’s singing nearly very day for musical rehearsals, her voice is getting a lot of practice.

@chickentikkasalad brilliant news! @QueenMabby - always best to wait if you're not sure and October isn't a bad time as long as she'll have more time then? I rememer DD being cross when some of hers were delayed though. I guess the alternative would be to learn another piece and do a holiday recording after more practice time if she thinks that the winter is going to be busy too?

I was thinking maybe going for performance rather than practical @QueenMabby and getting it knocked off over the summer. Might have a local conservatoire student who could come and give her some practice support over the holidays as well? (At this level they don't have to be a cellist as she would be looking for help with the performance rather than the notes and technique.)

Congrats to your DS! 😁

Thanks all. She’s doing performance grade (piano g8 at Christmas will be practical) but through school so they want to do the recording. The issue seems to be that all her pieces CAN be good, just not all at the same time! One of her friends is a cellist and post-diploma so she might be an option. Something to think about.

Re mouthpieces, mine is a horn player and he uses PHC which have interchangeable components. He has a gold plated rim on his.
We’re nervously awaiting degree results. He got 100% on chamber assessment and 88% on doubling instrument recital. He’s likely to have passed his actual recital. But as it’s a non compensating degree he has to pass the academic project too, regardless of marks already accumulated. This is far from certain and he’s failed the equivalent module every year so far. I’m nervous.

Fab news on the recital, congrats @Siriusmuggle ! Fingers crossed for the academic pass!

Re. mouthpieces, I looked at some modular systems from Germany, they look very interesting as you can tailor rims for jazz and other groups/genres and get titanium rims not the whole mouthpiece, but I couldn't get my head around specifications as I know next to nothing about brass. DD has a long way to go till conservatoire so these system would probably be too advanced for her level anyway. American brass forums are full of info, but they have a different sound and I'm not a musician so don't understand some nuances they discuss.

Brass is a different world for us non musicians. I’ve picked up a bit over the last 15 years but I’m mostly bamboozled.

@chickentikkasalad congratulations to your child, it's a nervous time waiting.
I don't think it's bad waiting to do grade 8, mine has been playing around grade 8 pieces for a couple of years but will do the exam in autumn to give the best chance for it all to come together.
@Siriusmuggle hope you get good news soon.

Hi everyone, hoping for some advice about flying with a violin. We live in mainland Europe and visit the UK 2/3 times a year, for several weeks at a time. We always fly rather Ryanair or Easyjet because they're the only ones that fly in/out of the right airports
Since my DD started on the violin last year we have taken it with us to practice. She originally had a 1/10th which just fit within the hand luggage size, but she's recently moved up to a 1/8th and the case is now too big (62cm long, the limit being 55cm). I know they have a specialist instrument transporting service but we have heard that it's not to be trusted. The violin is not actually ours - it's been lent to us by her teacher, is 100+ years old and rather valuable, and I am terrified of something happening to it!
Do you fly with instruments? Would we have to book a seat for it if we want it to come with us in the cabin? Or do you think we might get away with booking a normal hand luggage bag and hope they don't measure it?

There are violin onlyh cases you can get - so the bow goes in hold luggage and the violin in hand luggage

Thanks @Londonmummy66 .Would that be less long? The problem is the length, other dimensions are fine.

I'm wondering if it might not be better to buy a separate violin to keep in the UK to avoid flying with it at all. I'm completely new to the world of string instruments - do you have any suggestions for places to buy from?

I was just going to suggest getting a cheap one to leave if it's family you are staying with but the issue is they will grow quickly and move through the sizes. Maybe look at renting options? Or at least leaving a bow so you can get the shorter case.