The Attached Article Will Be Published in the National Band Association Journal

The attached article will be published in the National Band Association Journal.

A Second Glimpse of Russian Bands and

Other Culture

David C. McCormick

In June 2009, I had the privilege of visiting Russia for the second time, which reinforced three impressions: 1) Superb Russian professional performances are enriched by distinct elements of Russian culture. 2) Bands in Russia and neighboring countries maintain close contact with people of their communities, something that American bands would do well to emulate. 3) Music is, in fact, an international language that provides avenues beyond music to promote understanding and mutual respect among people of various countries and cultures.

Contacts with Russian band musicians began when Anatoly Dudin attended the 2006 Midwest Clinic. Executive Director Kelly Jocius put Dudin in touch with me and we became fast friends committed to working together. Dudin is professor and head of international wind studies at the Moscow University for Culture and the Arts, a leader among band musicians in Russia, active in WASBE and IGEB (international band research society), and editor of “Orchestra,” the Russian band journal. He brought three colleagues to the 2007 Midwest Clinic, and eight attended in 2008.

In 2007 I went to the Moscow Region to work in band activities and then as a tourist to St. Petersburg, where opera and ballet in the Marriinsky Theater and the St. Petersburg Philharmonic in its home were thrilling. The 2009 visit again involved working with bands and then free time, which included the Bolshoi Theatre, Moscow. Not until after I had paid an inflated price to a scalper and got seated did I understand, with considerable chagrin, that the performers were not the famous Bolshoi Ballet Company, but were finalists in an international competition of young dancers and choreographers. With dozens of solo and duo competitors from many parts of the world, each probably having only a quick rehearsal with the orchestra, I envisioned a routine program of dancers of future, but undeveloped, promise and less than impeccable coordination with the orchestra. But, when the music began and dancers appeared, my disappointment vanished and I knew the evening’s value would exceed any admission price. The combined effect of dancers, conductor and orchestra was as artistic as any I have ever experienced. I admit to having an orchestra musician’s built-in misgivings about all conductors and to having a conductor’s built-in extreme criticism of all but a select few, but I was surprised and delighted with this conductor. He dealt with complexities that are unique to ballet, never missing a dancer’s first step, tempo change or rubato, always stretching time between beats to match a long leap, and achieving expressiveness with no impediment to the dancers. The players were precisely with him and performed expressively. An interesting sidelight on internationalization: After returning home I learned that while I was in Moscow, the absent Bolshoi Ballet Company was performing in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, and my granddaughter attended.

My glimpses of bands came in the Eighth (2007) and Ninth (2009) International Wind Orchestra Festival and Moscow Cup competition, and the honor of conducting two professional bands. The 2009 festival and cup competition involved 26 bands—professional, university, adult amateur, and youth—from Hungary, Germany, Poland, Latvia, Belarus and Russia. Everything was in the main square of Istra, a metropolitan center of the Moscow Region. Competition concerts were at one edge of the square on a permanent outdoor stage with audience seating; judging was by a panel of six conductors and composers from diverse backgrounds. After the competition, four bands played concerts on another stage more centralized on the square. Repertoire was heavily oriented toward popular (including large doses of American) and Slavic ethnic music, along with a smattering of a few serious compositions. Among the pieces played by some of the best bands were Alfred Reed’s “Festival Prelude,” a potpourri of themes from well-known symphonic pieces by Slavic composers, and a medley of songs associated with Frank Sinatra. Performance of John Warrington’s “Original Dixieland Concerto” by a university band and by a professional band was an example of the popularity of American early jazz. One interesting facet of internationalization was a Spanish paso doble composed by a Czech (Jaroslav Zerman), arranged by an Italian (Luigi de Giselle), published by a German (Musikverlag Rundel), played by Hungarians (the Mako Music School Band, Jozsef Csikota, director) and conducted by an American (me).

There were interesting comparisons of the only two university bands. Instrumentations of both are essentially the same as American or British concert bands, unlike most of the other participants that are more akin to jazz “big bands” with a few added woodwinds, horns, euphoniums and tubas. I had heard and admired the Moscow State University for Culture and the Arts Band in 2007. Its primary director is Anatoly Dudin, the central figure in establishing contact with American musicians, but in both years the band was conducted by Denis Vinogradov, a winning personality and extraordinarily competent. Band members study music at the university; the ability level is high as they are being well prepared for music professions. The University of Latvia Band is different in that there are no “music majors.” Students receive no academic recognition for participating. The conductor, Janis Purins, volunteers his services; in addition, he is extensively involved in the Latvian people’s culture. The band played expressively; player ability level is high, but each is preparing for a non-music profession (as are students at Purdue University, MIT, and other institutions that offer no music degrees) and a lifetime of buying concert tickets, financially supporting music organizations, being business leaders who select recipients of corporate philanthropy, and performing for enjoyment. American college and university bands would do well to involve more of these kinds of students.

The festival and competition were woven into the fabric of community life as part of the celebration of Istra’s municipal birthday and Russia’s National Independence Day. Performances were placed where people normally congregate, a festive mood pervaded the square throughout the two days, and each day ended with a parade of all the bands plus local singing, dancing, gymnastic and civic groups. For the grand finale, all parade units passed in review, the bands moved into massed formation, and the other groups performed individually.

Performances reflected local traditional culture and also internationalization. There were folk songs and dances, and there was rap and other African-American popular music. Dancing has greater emphasis in Russia than in America; most groups were serious ballet though some were similar to American cheerleader and pom-pom ensembles. There were majorette corps dressed in the style of American school bands. One majorette corps, part of a professional band, consists of highly-paid professional dancers performing with more complexity and sophistication than seen in America. The Russian Military Music School Band performed traditional close-order drills, but received the warmest applause for dancing and other motions associated with marching bands of American Historically Black Universities. An independent youth marching percussion group was a direct descendant of the movie “Drumline.” As the program concluded with massed bands playing marches and popular pieces, including the traditional “Istra Waltz” and a German arrangement of “St. Louis Blues March,” the festive mood was enhanced by the delightful atmosphere of the waning sun. It was all an example of music and other arts bringing cohesion to a local community and mutual appreciation across national and cultural boundaries.

The two very competent professional bands I conducted are units of regional governments, similar to American states. (Wouldn’t it be wonderful if American counties or states were to employ professional concert bands?) In 2007, it was the Moscow Region; in 2009, Nizhny Novgorod Region. Both the Moscow director, Oleg Lebedinskiy, and the Nizhny Novgorod director, Eugene Petrov, are remarkable in combining superb musicianship with ability to get financial support for music. There also is some similarity with Roman Oleksiuk, government director of culture and sports in Istra and leader of the Istra municipal band, a volunteer group of amateur musicians. Since my 2007 experiences were reported in the first “Glimpse” article, this “Second Glimpse” focuses on Nizhny Novgorod. Eugene Petrov had played tuba for twenty-five years in the Nizhny Novgorod Philharmonic (a major full-time orchestra), teaches at the local conservatory, holds high government office as the regional governor’s assistant for the arts, and chairs the dominant political party of the region. (American music could benefit from having musicians in government and political leadership roles.) Nizhny Novgorod Region encompasses the city of that name, the third largest in Russia, located on the Volga River about 300 miles east of Moscow. In addition to the Philharmonic, with its beautiful concert hall, there is a full-time opera company.

Nizhny Novgorod was exhilarating in spite of complications and problems created by the language barrier. Whenever travelling abroad, I am struck with my severe, typically American, limitations in communication. Schools of other countries have long required English from the earliest years when learning is most effective, but my only language study came in preparation for the minimal reading requirements of graduate school, and that did not include Russian. Language barriers, beginning with the Cyrillic alphabet and the presence of fewer English speakers, are more severe with Russians than with Western Europeans. I have no access to a translator at home and our Russian colleagues have only limited access, resulting in labored communications, email delays, lapses and lack of understanding. Surprises awaited on the scene. Although I had known for some months that I was to work with a band in Nizhny Novgorod, I thought it would be a student group in concert. Only when I met the band at the festival in Istra did I learn that it is professional, and only when en route from Istra to Nizhny Novgorod in the band’s van with Eugene Petrov and an interpreter did I learn that I was to rehearse the band in a clinic setting for three days.

Upon arriving at the rehearsal room, there was another surprise: The top piece on each musician’s stand was Carmen Dragon’s beautiful arrangement of “America the Beautiful,” ready to begin my clinic. Though taken aback, I was delighted because it is my favorite patriotic piece and it always makes me emotional, whether hearing, playing or conducting. I knew that Petrov had heard me conduct it with The United States Army Orchestra at the 2008 Midwest Clinic, a special event in my career, but only at this moment in the rehearsal room did I come to understand a connection between the U.S. Army performance and my invitation to Nizhny Novgorod.

These seasoned Russian professional musicians had fresh enthusiasm, inquisitiveness and receptivity. They were like sponges absorbing every suggestion, and they immediately made adjustments. Their responses to my conducting motions vastly reduced the need for verbal communication or singing. After rehearsing “America” for a while, we went on to the Charles Carter “Overture for Winds,” which I had sent ahead because its high quality is appropriate for any ensemble, including professional, yet it is within the ability level of students. As is common in guest conducting situations, most of my work probably repeated or offered only different approaches to the same elements that the host had regularly rehearsed, with improvement coming because of newness (“Hawthorn Effect”) and the musicians’ zeal.

The musicians were enthusiastic in a way that I, either as sideman or conductor, had never before experienced with professionals. About ten minutes before the scheduled end of a rehearsal, I said “We have arrived at the point in rehearsal that every professional musician likes best: Let’s go home.” There was unanimous protest; they insisted on playing “Caravan” for me to critique, and we went far beyond quitting time. After each rehearsal, many players stayed around for conversations that I found especially interesting.

On the second day, crews from the region’s two television stations arrived to film parts of the rehearsal (including “America the Beautiful” conducted with special pride) and to interview me. Any boost to my ego was tempered by knowing that it was a classic case of defining an expert as someone far removed from home. Eugene Petrov wisely publicizes the band, showing taxpayers and officials its value within community life. Each station broadcast the reports three times later that day.

Musicians of Russia and neighboring countries are well informed about American music (far more than we are about their music), and want to learn more. Having festival participants housed in a hotel that is part of a regional education center in a rural area between Istra and the main part of Moscow created opportunities for personal conversations. One distinguished gentleman continued our conversation of two years earlier concerning Glenn Miller. He has studied Miller’s life in detail and was incredulous that I, an American, knew less than he did. The only thing I had to offer that was new to him was the unproven hypothesis that Miller’s death might have been caused by an American warplane that jettisoned unused bombs and unknowingly struck Miller’s plane flying at a lower altitude in the opposite direction. A euphonium player in the professional band from Pinsk, Belarus, asked about American instruments, solo literature, and performance practices. Upon returning home, I asked Roger Behrend, distinguished soloist of The U.S. Navy Band, to make contact, and he is graciously communicating with that colleague. When conductors gathered for an evening post-festival banquet, cordiality of fellowship increased with the flow of distinctly Russian beverage well into the morning. In Nizhny Novgorod, the band manager, a career military musician, showed me an exercise book that apparently is used daily throughout their army and asked about training materials for American military bands. I thought he was asking about the premier bands in Washington, D.C., and I responded by saying that those are artist musicians who arrive at rehearsal fully trained and ready to play anything that is demanded. In retrospect, I think he might have been asking (the language problem) about other military bands. I have asked the Armed Forces Music School to communicate with him. I asked Eugene Petrov to help me find more tuba music like the Lebedev solos and Blazevich etudes, and to find brass quintet and serious Russian band music. He asked about American band literature, particularly concerted works with multiple percussion.