The Development of Russian and Ukranian Trombone Schools from Their Inception to The Present

I have chosen as a topic of my dissertation development of the Russian and Ukrainian trombone schools. These two schools have undergone tremendous development, which is primarily due to the methodological achievements of the educators. I completed part of my formal training in Ukraine, and while participating in their local and national competitions I observed that playing differs significantly from location to location. For example, there were significant differences between the Leningrad and the Moscow representatives of the Russian school. At that time the question of why these differences occur sparked my curiosity and later, triggered the decision to seek the causes of these differences. Russia lived in isolation from Europe in the XV.th century. The same befell Ukraine when it became part of the Russian Empire. The Orthodox Church's rejection of instrumental music greatly influenced the development of the musical culture of these countries. Western Ukraine was a notable exception. Being under the rule of Poland at that time allowed the musical guilds to flourish. The XVII.th century brought significant changes. Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich contracted foreign musicians and brought them to Russia. Later, under the reign of his son Peter I, the first school for military musicians has been established. By a 1711 royal order, every regiment had to establish an orchestra. As the schooling of military musicians in Russia just started, trained musicians had to be contracted abroad. Many excellent musicians including trombonists were brought to Russia at that time. These musicians arriving mainly from German-speaking countries started to educate the local youth, predominantly orphans and children from less fortunate families. Studying the lives of the founders of Russian and Ukrainian schools one often comes across people who have been brought out of poverty by joining military brass bands, and after appropriate basic training continued their studies on undergraduate and graduate level. After the completion of their studies they joined top symphony and opera orchestras, continued their careers as teachers, often leaving behind a lasting legacy