Moscow Military Music College

The entrance to the building

On August 1, 1937, the conductor and director of music of the Central Military Band of the People's Commissariat of National Defense Semyon Cherneysky founded the college, which was built as a boarding school for potential military musicians in the Red Army.[1] Pupils ages of 12 and older at first spent 3 years in the boarding school. They have been regular participants in parades on Red Square since 1938. The school was affiliated with the Suvorov Military School in 1944 and was renamed the Moscow Military Music College in 1960. Since 1981, the college has had a four-year term of study for its cadets. The central training band wing of the college plays not only in Russia, but also in military tattoo events in Switzerland, Germany, France, Italy, England, Poland, and the Czech Republic. It has been a regular participant in the Spasskaya Tower military tattoo festival since 2006.[2] Its mission is to train young boys inclined to serve the Army and Air Force as bandsmen, conductors and band drum majors.

Shortly before its 80th anniversary the "Valery Khalilov" honorific title was bestowed on the college on December 26, 2016 by Ministry of Defence General of the Army Sergey Shoygu - a day after the aircrash that killed Valery Khalilov and 91 others off Sochi while the Alexandrov Ensemble was on its way to perform for Russian troops deployed in Syria.[3] The decision was made public by the Ministry of Defence spokesperson Major General Igor Konashenkov.

The cadets of the college at the 2018 Moscow Victory Day Parade.

The cadet band

The college is more famous internationally for its Corps of Drums, a participant in the Moscow Victory Parade of 1945 and a regular participant in Revolution Day (1938 to 1990), Victory Day (1965, 1985, 1990, 1995–2008, 2012-), and until 1968 May Day military parades. The corps is led by a Drum Major and has been, for about 8 decades, the formation that has been beating the drum cadences that precede the march past segment of all the parades held on Red Square of national importance. The Corps's instrumentation includes snare drums, fifes, trumpets, trombones, glockenspiels and during occasions, bass drums, tenor drums and chromatic fanfare trumpets. A Turkish crescent from the college was used as its symbol in the Revolution Day and Victory Day parades from 1975 to 1990, later replaced in 1995 by the college's colour guard squad carrying the collegiate Regimental Color (a new color was granted to the institution in 2008), preceded in parades by the Commandant of the College. It also maintains a Marching Band (Russian: Марширующий оркестр) that is employed in ceremonial events hosted by the college, mostly made up of the musicians of the band wing. As an affiliate of the Suvorov Military School and therefore the oldest in operational service, it maintains the privilege granted in 1944 to wear uniforms similar to those used in the school. Today, a modernized form of the 1945 dress uniform, since 2018, is used for parades by both the Corps of Drums and the training drumline and band wing. It is a recipient of the Lenin Komsomol Prize of 1987, awarded in recognition of the college's golden jubilee year.

• Lieutenant Colonel Leonid Bank (1937-1939)
• Boris Lvovich (1939-1940)
• Colonel Vladimir Zlobin (1940-1957)
• Colonel Nikolai Nazarov (1957-1958)
• Colonel Konstantin Kamyshov (1958-1960)
• Colonel Arkady Myakishev (1961-1970)
• Colonel Vladimir Volkov (1970-1975)
• Colonel Vladimir Detisov (1975-1982)
• Colonel Konstantin Romanchenko (1982-1986)
• Colonel Arkady Dzhagupov (1986-1993)
• Colonel Gennady Afonin (1993-2005)
• Colonel Alexander Gerasimov (2005–Present)[4]

• Dmitry Atovyan
• Vladimir Kaminsky
• Alexander Poplavsky
• Nikolai Mikhailov
• Alexander Sladkovsky
• Valery Khalilov
• Serguei Kostiuchenko

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  Corps of Drums during the Moscow VIctory Day Parade.
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  During a concert in Moscow.
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  The cadets of the college military band in Bern. (marching band formation)
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  Concert band formation
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  Corps of Drums on parade
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  During the 1977 October Revolution Parade. Notice the Corps of Drums marching in the lead of the parade preceded by the Corps Drum Major and the College Turkish Crescent
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  Alexander Sladkovsky, an alumnus of the school and currently the director of the Tatarstan National Symphony Orchestra

• Suvorov Military School
• Military Band Service of the Armed Forces of Russia