Features of Training Combined Orchestras for Socially Significant Events

Since the beginning of the 21st century, there has been an active development of military music festivals in our country, one of the main elements of which is the performance of a combined orchestra. This led to a wide interest among the authors of the article in studying the history of its origin and the fields of its application. Training combined orchestra for performance at socially significant events includes three stages: preliminary, main and final. The first is characterized by the implementation of organizational work, which includes clarifying the thematic focus of the event, its duration, the amount of resources and funds. These criteria determine the content of the musical material, the high-quality preparation of which largely determines the success of the performance of the combined orchestra. When instrumenting musical compositions, not only the level of professional training of the groups is taken into account, but also the acoustic features of the intended performance venue. An important element in the preliminary stage is to ensure the unity (tonality, instrumentation, form, etc.) of the musical material (scores and orchestral voices) and the careful preparation of the teams “on the ground” under the guidance of their conductors. The main stage of training includes solving the performing and technical tasks of the entire combined orchestra. At this stage, the groups are arranged taking into account the composition of the participants of the event, their uniforms and the order of exit (departure), synchronicity and unity in the performance of drill techniques are practiced, and rehearsals are conducted as part of a combined orchestra. To coordinate the actions and manage the musicians, the head of the combined orchestra attracts assistants from among the conductors of the drum majors, who duplicate the instructions using a tambourstock. The coherence and organization of the musicians’ actions ensures the dynamics of rehearsals, which usually do not take enough time. At the end of the training, dress rehearsals and runs are held, which, in fact, are the final stage of a large, time-consuming and interesting work.

1. 300 let shtatnym voennym orkestram Rossii: materialy nauchno-prakticheskoi konferentsii [300 Years of the Regular Military Bands of Russia: Proceedings of the Scientific and Practical Conference]. Moscow, Voennyi Universitet Publ., 2011, 60 p.

2. Slabakov B.I. Materials on Concert Activity of Russian Army Orchestras (Disabled Concerts), Trudy Fakul’teta Instituta voennykh dirizherov [Proceedings of the Faculty of Institute of Military Conductors]. Moscow, 1965, issue 9, 16 p.

3. Tutunov V.I. Istoriya voennoi muzyki: uchebnik [History of Military Music: textbook]. Moscow, Muzyka Publ., 2005, 496 p.

4. Mayakin T.K. Voenno-muzykal’naya kul’tura Rossii (istoriko-kul’turologicheskii analiz) [Military and Musical Culture of Russia (Historical and Cultural Analysis)]. Moscow, 2010, 140 p.

5. Berlioz H. Bol’shoi traktat o sovremennoi instrumentovke i orkestrovke. Ch. 2 [A Treatise Upon Modern Instrumentation and Orchestration. Part 2]. Moscow, Muzyka Publ., 1972, pp. 504—509.

6. Voenno-orkestrovaya sluzhba Vooruzhennykh Sil Rossiiskoi Federatsii. 100 let (1921—2021) [Military Orchestral Service of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation. 100 Years (1921—2021)]. Moscow, Krasnaya Zvezda Publ., 2021, 212 p.

7. Sakov S.V. Orkestrovoe tutti [Orchestral Tutti], Cand. art his. sci. diss. Moscow, 2004, 181 p.

8. Dunaev L.F., Ermolenko A.L. Terminologicheskii minimum po instrumentovke: uchebnoe posobie [A Basic Glossary of Instrumentation Terms: textbook]. Moscow, 2008, 28 p.

9. Nisenbaum A.A., Sobakina O.V. The Peculiarities of Orchestration in Compositions for Parade Ground Concerts of Wind Bands: The Present-Day State of the Problem, Sovremennye problemy muzykoznaniya [Contemporary Musicology], 2023, no. 4, pp. 104—121. DOI: 10.56620/2587-9731-2023-4-104-121 (in Russ.).

10. Gayanov M.R. Peculiarities of Methodical and Practical Work with Percussion Instruments Group in the Course of Preparation of the Consolidated Military Band for Musical Support of the Military Parade, Aktual’nye voprosy ispolnitel’stva i metodiki obucheniya igre na dukhovykh i udarnykh instrumentakh: materialy Vserossiiskoi mezhvuzovskoi nauchno-prakticheskoi konferentsii [Current Issues of Performing and Methodology of Teaching Wind and Percussion Instruments: Proceedings of the All-Russian Interuniversity Scientific and Practical Conference]. Moscow, Voennyi Universitet Ministerstva Oborony Rossiiskoi Federatsii Publ., 2022, pp. 25—37 (in Russ.).

11. Keldysh Yu.V. (ed.) Muzykal’naya ehntsiklopediya [Encyclopedia of Music]. Moscow, Sovetskaya Ehntsiklopediya Publ., 1981, vol. 5, 1056 p.

12. Nisenbaum A.A. Tamburstock: Its Practical and Aesthetic Functions in Conducting Parade Concerts, Observatoriya kul’tury [Observatory of Culture], 2023, vol. 20, no. 2, pp. 136—143. DOI: 10.25281/2072-3156-2023-20-2-136-143 (in Russ.).