Russian military bands

Russian military bands fall under the jurisdiction of the Military Band Service of the Armed Forces of Russia, which is the official music service for the Russian Armed Forces, and led by the Senior Director of Music, a billet of an officer with the rank of a Colonel or a general officer.

[1][2] All bands, active or reserve, are composed of graduates from the military music training centers stationed anywhere in the country, as well as of civilian conservatories.

"For a country that has not just one of the largest armed forces in the world but also has produced some of the greatest composers and musicians, the modern day military band tradition of Russia traces its origins to decree No.

Russian bands have evolved in every period since then, and as parts of the armed forces military bands were utilized more in wartime and peacetime ceremonial duties during the Imperial era, bandsmen and field musicians (drummers, buglers, fanfare trumpeters and fifers) having fought in almost every military operation fought by the army and the navy.

For example, in the 21st Division of the Narodnoe Opolcheniye, a 14-member jazz band appeared, who at the beginning of the war gave many concerts for soldiers and commanders.

Close it the end of the war, Marshal of the Soviet Union Georgy Zhukov gave Order Number 071 to the directive of the Main Political Directorate of the Red Army, making regimental and divisional bands into regular units in the forces.

The repertoire of the military band service spans across hundreds of pieces, which included ceremonial and marching music, as well as patriotic songs.

In connection with the changing socio-political conditions and new ideological guidelines, a new system of musical education in the military was created.

[37] In October 1964, the first group of foreign students from the Mongolian People's Republic became enrolled in military musical institutions.

In subsequent years, the number of students that came was expanded, with some coming form Bulgaria, the German Democratic Republic, Afghanistan, Burkina Faso, Yemen, Ethiopia and Vietnam.

The position was toned down following the Second World War, however the appointment of drum major was revived in the early-60s as style that could be differentiated with the Western version.

During the Imperial period and up to the early decades of the Soviet Armed Forces these fanfare trumpets were kept as an important regalia for the unit, having the same status as a regimental colour, the first such instruments were granted as battle honours in 1737 and Guards Fanfare Trumpets with the Ribbon of St. George debuted for the Imperial Guard in 1805.

They first appeared during the October Revolution Day parade of 1981, and the Special Exemplary Military Band of the Guard of Honor Battalion of Russia pioneered the use of the drums when they first adopted them for state arrival and wreath laying ceremonies in 1978–1979.

[45] These drummers typically carry large or small sized side marching snare drums fitted with rubber or cotton slings, during the 1980s the drums were painted red and white with the red star cap badge of the Soviet Armed Forces in the center and gold borders.

Today, of all select cities that have had massed bands formation for major parades during the 1980s, only five now maintain the practice for major national holidays (Moscow, Krasnodar, Sevastopol (introduced 2018), Yekaterinburg (reinstated 2020) and Khabarovsk (introduced 2017)), formerly it was standard use in the massed bands in St. Petersburg, Kazan and Rostov-on-Don, among other cities.

In Moscow, the field snare drummers of the massed bands today wear the same uniforms as the fanfare trumpeters to honor their Imperial predecessors.

Corps of drums are always made a separate part of military bands and are usually led by a drum major in the place of the director of music of a certain band and are the first formation to march past the saluting grandstand in parades, with its drummers first sounding a drumbeat cadence that keeps the parade on the beat before they march past.

This had been the arrangement seen during the 1945 Victory Parade in a modified form that had begun in the 1930s under Major General Tchernetsky, the founding Senior Director of Music of the Armed Forces.

In Moscow and several other cities (like Khabarovsk, Rostov-on-Don and Yekaterinburg), the form is that the chromatic fanfare trumpeters and field drummers, as well as glockenspiel players, are at the front ranks of the massed bands (composed of around 1,600 musicians from within the Moscow area), followed by the trumpeters, trombonists, the percussion battery, French horns, woodwinds and the bass section (tubas, euphoniums, tenor horns, sousaphones and wagner tubas).

In the 2019 Victory Day parade in Ufa, Bashkortostan, a modified form of the Imperial and early Soviet massed bands formation was used.