EVOLUTION OF SCHOOL ORCHESTRAS IN ASIA AND AUSTRALIA

Abstract

The article examines the historical and cultural features of the emergence and development of the tradition of school brass bands in the countries of Asia and Australia. This performance genre is widely popular and is an important component of the educational process. Thanks to the improvement of the design of wind instruments, the process of playing them has become much easier and it has become possible to involve school-age children in it. Therefore, the organization of training on wind instruments in junior and high schools contributed to the training of future orchestra players. Materials on the emergence of the first brass bands in Japan – “jinta” (informal street band) and “shonen ongakutai” (youth band) – which later served as models for the organization of school bands, are highlighted. These historic types of orchestras existed at the end of the 19th century, and the founding of the first school orchestras, the “Furitsu Daiichi-Shogyo Band” in Tokyo and the “Zushi” high school orchestra in Kamakura date back to 1928. It was found that the greatest attention and interest to school orchestras in many Asian countries and in Australia recorded in the 1960s. During this period, the Association of New South Wales held the 1st National Competition of Australian School Bands (1962), the Ministry of Education of Singapore launched a school band training program (1965), and in Japan the number of students in music education increased from 20 to 250 thousand people. The purpose of the study is to highlight the national features of development, to identify catalysts and to highlight promising directions for the development of orchestral ensembles. In the countries of Asia, the traditions of ensemble performance have ancient origins, original national collectives exist even now. What attracts fans to their performances is that music is often combined with a dance show. Some traditions of national instrumental music are used in school orchestra festivals. It is assumed that the results of the article will have useful findings for leaders of school brass bands and will help in choosing an educational trajectory.