Fase 2: Multiplicación

The beginnings of instrumental music in Jamaica tend to have its roots in classical and performance music in Jamaica during the early part of the 20th century. Before 1909 many instrumental groups, mainly orchestras, sprang up in Jamaica and then died.220 In 1929 Madam Noele DeMontagnac and her husband organized the first orchestra to have lasted over a period of years.221 This orchestra was known as the Jamaica Symphony Orchestra. Madam Demontagnac had the assistance of the conductor of the Jamaica Military Band (JMB), Major Benjamin Reid. This Orchestra served a vital role in the formation of other orchestras around Jamaica and especially in Kingston. Many of the members of the orchestra were getting individual instrumental lessons from some establishing music studios around at that time and some of the players even owned their own studios. This orchestra performed the works of known classical masters including Gluck, Elgar and Rimsky-Korsakoff. One of the problems that the orchestra faced was that many of its members came from overseas and so when they returned home after performing with the orchestra in Jamaica, their absence would deplete the membership. As a result this orchestra ended up being disbanded.

With the coming of the moving pictures of the early 1920‟s, there were many demands for theater orchestras to play before shows and to accompany silent films.222 These orchestras may have been comprised of members from the Jamaica Symphony Orchestra and also musicians who happened to be working with the theaters at the time. Some of the notable orchestras were the Palace Theater Orchestra, the Y.M.C.A. (Young Men‟s Christian Association) Orchestra and Buckley‟s String Orchestra. Throughout the 30s and 40s these

220 _{Baxter, The Arts of an Island.} 221 _Ibid.

orchestras provided service in various aspects of Jamaican Musical life. In 1941 the Y.M.C.A. Orchestra, under the direction of Sibthorpe Beckett, was augmented and became the Surrey Philharmonic. This orchestra included members of the Jamaica Military Band, especially in the brass section of the orchestra.223 The Orchestra was eventually named the Jamaica Philharmonic Orchestra. This orchestra and its members were influential in encouraging the learning of instruments around the country during the 1940s and 50s. Some of the ensembles that have been influenced include ensembles from the West Indies Training School (Northern Caribbean University), the Sybil Foster-Davis School of Music String Ensemble and a group of string musicians that were emerging from the Jamaica School of Music. These groups included school- aged students as well as adults. The Jamaica Philharmonic orchestra was also an organization that offered scholarships to aspiring young musicians in Jamaica. The orchestra had developed a fund during the 1940s and 50s that gave young musicians the opportunity to study at music institutions in Europe and the United States.224 The scholarship fund helped both singers and instrumentalists.

Much of Jamaica‟s instrumental music teaching since the beginning of the 20th

Century has taken place in the Jamaica Military Band, Alpha Boys School, through private studio instruction and in a few select high schools in Jamaica. The opportunity to learn woodwind and brass instruments has historically been a challenge in Jamaica since these instruments have to be imported to the country and as a result are costly to the Jamaican student. Many students have gotten their hands on instruments through donations from charities, sharing an instrument with a fellow student musician or they may be fortunate to get an instrument from a close relative or

223 _{Sibthorpe Beckett, “History of the Jamaica Philharmonic Symphony Orchestra….rebirth and emergence,”}

Jamaica Journal, 9:4 (1975).

friend. In any event, instrumental music teaching, especially in the school system, has faced challenges because there is little funding to support instrumental teaching and instrumental ensembles. Most schools suffer from a lack of instruments and so the recorder is the only instrument that students learn at the primary school level.225

Small jazz or pop bands have emerged as the primary exposure to instrumental music at the high school level in recent years.226 The availability of electronic keyboards has made it possible for schools to encourage these types of ensembles since to outfit a pop band is much more cost efficient for the schools.227 The challenge with having pop bands as the only form of instrumental music in the schools is that only a few students are afforded the opportunity to participate in these bands.

Steel bands (orchestras) are among some of the instrumental ensembles that have taken root in Jamaican schools.228 With Jamaica‟s close ties to Trinidad and Tobago, the steel pan has caught on quickly in Jamaica. A few schools have adopted steel band programs and there are qualified teachers available to teach in the schools. This has served as one way to involve more students in music.

Congo drumming is another way in which many schools have developed some type of instrumental ensembles. There are quite a few schools both at the primary and secondary level that have drum ensembles. The Kingston Drummers of Kingston High School is one of the leading Conga drumming ensembles in the country and they have performed locally as well as overseas.

225 _{Tucker, Music Education in the Commonwealth Caribbean: A Period of Transition.}

226 _{Mundle, Characteristics of Music Education Programs in Public Schools of Jamaica.} 227 _Ibid.

There are few traditional band systems in Jamaican high schools and those stand out because only a few of them exists. Band programs are generally expensive and suffer from a lack of trained band directors.229 Some schools have partnered with institutions in the United States and as a result they receive used instruments and also technical help from these institutions.230 There are also a few youth orchestras that are associated with private studios in Jamaica but there is very little emphasis placed on Orchestra playing at the school level. There are not many trained orchestra conductors in Jamaica and so while there are a few high school orchestras they are rare.