pBone Music UK

NEW. PODCAST. OUT. NOW. 🎧

We’ve done it. We’ve only gone and done it. We’ve joined all the other middle-aged blokes and started a podcast. But don’t worry. We’re not trying to sell you powdered protein or supplement subscriptions (for now). Nope, the pBone Music UK team will be bringing educators the latest products, news, and reviews.

Say hello to Sound Decisions 👋

We’ll be focussing on how instruments and solutions from across the music industry can directly help hubs and those delivering music in the classroom and beyond. We’ll be giving you updates from events. We’ll also hear a lot about Jonty’s van.

Our first episode talks about the Bandbox Trio from but in this clip, Jonty shares how we’ll be basing our insights on real experiences from hubs - in this case a visit to our friends at 🤝

New episodes of Sound Decisions will drop weekly and you can find video episodes on our YouTube channel. You can listen on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Amazon Music, and all those links can be found on the Podcasts page of our brand new website 👀 link in the bio for all of that.

Whether you’re a brand wanting to share your latest releases, a hub keen to get the message out about an exciting new project, or you just fancy 15 minutes of fame and fancy a chat with us, please reach out!

We hope everyone is enjoying their summer - keep your eyes peeled for more pods, highlights, and exciting new website news when things kick back into action for September 🏫

The Class of 2026 ✏️ 👨‍🎓

2026 has been a wonderful whirlwind - shows like the Music and Drama Expo and NAMM, concerts and performances from partner hubs, exciting new products, brilliant brass and more music tech magic…it’s been a lot.

If you’re revelling in the success of end of year concerts, or you’re racing around to sort that last bit of admin before the schools take a breather over the summer, here’s to the weekend.

And if you’re one of those super organised folk thinking about next year already, get in touch to see if we can help with your events, conferences, instrument audits and more ahead of 2026/2027.

School’s out 🏫

Tech without the toothache!

Music tech can make things easier, more efficient, and more experimental for musicians. Triggering samples, recalling presets, quantising beats, or another bit of terminology to show we know what we’re talking about. But in the classroom, it can cause some added stress, too. That’s why we are delighted to partner with Music Tech Hub and Bradley Smith, who delivers resources and teaching materials that make it easy for hubs, schools, and anyone delivering music to get stuck into everything from Digit Music CMPSRs to scratching turntables.

It’s low-anxiety, teacher-led WCIT music technology.
�We’ve partnered up to create a brand new scheme of work for the Yamaha FGDP-30 finger drum pads. We think that these nifty beatmakers are an excellent introduction to percussion and bring tech into the classroom in a simple but smart way. Now, you can pair them with high-quality video resources, slides, and in-depth guides from Music Tech Hub, along with a complete scheme of work for Year 4 students.

It has already been successfully rolled out at one music hub, and students from The Premier Academy in Milton Keynes joined us at Yamaha Music HQ to try out the activities for themselves. They also got a chance to try out Bradley’s amazing CMPSR resources, too!

The FGDP-30 package offers CPD at the beginning of the term to build confidence in the instruments and resources, with fully planned schemes that include slides, video walkthroughs, setup guides, and more.

If you’re interested, head to https://hub.pbonemusic.com/pages/music-tech-cpd to find out more and register your interest!

We were delighted to attend Where Will Music Take You? at The Bridgewater Hallrhall hosted by Lancashire Music Hub 🎶

Young musicians from across Lancashire, including the County Ensembles and school choirs, were joined by professional alumni and the Music Hub maestros for an incredible evening. We were treated to a wide repertoire, including Finlandia, From Now On, a number of medleys, ending with an uplifting encore of Bring Me Sunshine.

We’ve highlighted the wonderful work that Lancashire are doing in making music inclusive and accessible to children and young people in their area, through award-winning schemes like the Lancashire Mobile Music Vehicle and the recently revamped Accessible Instrument and Technology Library, but there’s lots more music-making in the North West that you might not know about.

The ensemble contained a number of Yamaha Youth Ambassadors. This groundbreaking scheme, in association with Yamaha Music and pBone Music, has given young performers access to quality progression instruments from Yamaha. Artist days and training events have given budding percussionists, woodwind players and more the chance to build their knowledge and expertise with access to world-class Yamaha Music Global artists. The ambassadors have even featured in a global marketing campaign!

It was wonderful to see primary schools from across Lancashire join the orchestra with their school choirs. Through our school engagement project with Lancashire Music Hub, we delivered more than 5,700 instruments to around 350 schools using a bespoke web portal. Through a curated list of products for Primary, Secondary, and SEND, schools could select the instruments that would make an impact in their setting, while taking away the stress of storage and logistics for the hub, along with valuable engagement in the area. It’s great to know that everything from beginner percussion to rock and pop instruments and music technology is inspiring learners in Lancashire.

The event at Bridgewater Hall would not have been possible without the incredible efforts of Lancashire Music Hub, who share our goal to make music a lifelong passion for all children and young people.

A special mention to Ben Rapp, Deputy Head of Service, who is leaving for Australia in a matter of days. A fitting swansong for a passionate educator who will continue to inspire young musicians in his next role and the years to come.

Every young person deserves the chance to experience the joy of making music.

That’s why Lancashire Music Hub with the help of Ben Sellers, created the Accessible Instrument & Technology Library – a growing collection of inclusive instruments, music technology and practical teaching resources designed to help remove those pesky barriers.

Supported by pBone Music, we’re excited to introduce Version 2.0.

With new accessible instruments including Ableton Move, Arcana Strum, Clarion and inspiring iPad apps, classroom-ready teaching guides and step-by-step video tutorials, the library now offers even more ways for teachers to create engaging musical experiences for every learner.

Explore the new library today on the Lancashire Music Hub website, where you can find all of the resources, including integration with Charanga and backing tracks, along with everything you need to make music inclusive.

FOUR costume changes?! 🕺

Yep, we might tell you that music is about communities, friendships, developing new skills, building confidence and resilience, having fun, and finding your passion. And that’s all true. But it’s also about getting to wear really cool outfits without judgement.

Andy Harris, Brass Music Leader for Sheffield Music Hub certainly knows this to be true. And although his gladrags caught the eye of our cameras, the 2026 Brass Extravaganza really was about everything that music can do to inspire young people. It can bring energy and enthusiasm to older, experienced musicians, too. Musicians from the Sheffield Music Hub Senior Brass Ensemble and Old Silkstone Band or just that singer-songwriter bloke wandering about with the camera - nights like this can really remind you of how lucky we are to have music in our lives.

Andy has performed on stages of all shapes and sizes, at pop concerts, with brass bands, and everything in between. And it’s exciting to see how many young musicians in Sheffield are getting bitten by the brass bug (disclaimer: not a real bug, but another good reason to buy a plastic trombone every now and again).

Our best days at work are the ones where we get to see inspirational educators working together with children and musicians to remind us what it’s all about. It’s chaotic. It can make you laugh and cry and whoop and holler all at once. And it brings people together.

Thank you to Andy and the hub for getting young people across the city as excited as we are about music.