Abstract
The kobyz is a historical Kazakh musical instrument which received new forms of life in the 21st century, while preserving the “kuy” as its main instrumental genre. The present article is devoted to studying the contemporary kobyz performance school in Kazakhstan. The topicality of the theme is connected with the necessity of studying the traditions of the Kazakh musical performance on the kobyz, comprehending the continuity of the musical-pedagogical connections and bringing out the individual particularities of the artistic individual character of outstanding representatives of the kobyz school in the context of the processes of the overall globalization of the space of musical performance. The kobyz performing school of Kazakhstan is endowed with a set of specific characteristic features stipulated by the historical circumstances of its development, contemporary technologies, new trends and genres, as well as the particularities of the Kazakh system of musical education. Indication of the crucial figures in the formation of the kobyz school makes it possible to determine the essential differences of the individual performance styles, as well as to disclose the most topical questions of methodology of instruction and notation of kuys for the kobyz. Keywords: kobyz, traditional musician, Kazakh music, individual style, performance school.