The teaching of music at the Faculty of Education dates back to its beginnings in 1946. The first instructor in charge of conducting a music education seminar was PhDr. Bohumír Štědroň (1905–1982). The system of departments and the content of teaching were refined gradually. Excessive fragmentation of individual seminars has led to the rapprochement of related disciplines. Thus arose the field of music education focused on music science and music education. Practical subjects, including instrumental playing and singing lessons, were taught at the Faculty of Education under the guidance of Bohumír Štědron. Other subjects were taught at the Faculty of Arts, together with students of Musicology (supervisor PhDr. Jan Racek). The length of the study at that time was four years and was divided into the field of Musicology, Musicology and Education, and later into the field of Music Education.

Thanks to the authorized teachers, especially B. Štědroň, gradually inconsistent curricula, lectures and seminars were systematized. Influential personalities of the time contributed to the development of quality and to a deeper theoretical and practical basis of music education (Josef Veselka, Gracian Černušák, Jan Kunc, Václav Kaprál, Jan Trojan, later Ladislav Daniel and others). Among the graduates of Music Education at the time, in addition to some of those already mentioned, the names Vladimír Jůva, Antonín Tučapský and Zdeněk Zouhar also appeared.

After 1951, PhDr. František Lýsek became the head of the department. Between 1953 and 1959, the faculty was transformed into a provisional two-year Higher Educational School, which was a very unfavorable period. However, at the head of the music seminar, František Lýsek kept improving and supplementing the base of teaching and methodological materials. He and his colleagues did not stop working in research (youth musicality research) and publishing. Prof. PhDr. Frantisek Lysek, DrSc., made history as a successful choirmaster (Brno Children's Choir, 1945), and co-created the form of music education at the Faculty of Education.

Since 1959, the status of faculties of education has been restored to higher pedagogical schools. That brought an extension of studies with it (lower primary school - 3 years, upper primary school - 4 years), but on the other hand, a critique of the study system with three-member study combinations, playing the violin for all students, fragmentation of the schedule, etc. The scientific and educational direction of the workplace and the entire faculty stabilized, among other things, thanks to new teachers, only in 1964, when the faculty was incorporated into the newly named J. E. Purkyně University (since 1989 again as Masaryk University).

After the departure of František Lýsek in 1970, the Department of Music and Department of Art (Department of Aesthetic Education) were temporarily brought together under the leadership of doc. PhDr. Evžen Valový, CSc. This integration created greater interdisciplinary overlaps, both artistic and scientific. At the same time, two departments are being set up within the department, music education (doc. Jan Kostečka) and art education (doc. Ladislav Perůtka). In addition to teaching and popularizing, Evžen Valový devoted himself to scientific research in the field of music psychology, semantics and aesthetics. In addition, like František Lýsek, he dealt with choral singing (the monograph Choral Singing in Bohemia and Moravia). His name is also significantly associated with the history of the Musica viva in schola conferences, in which he has always promoted those aspects of music education that have a direct impact on the training and practice of music teachers.

The basic concept of MVIS conferences was later focused on the confrontation of international tendencies with domestic approaches, on the initiative of the new head of the department, prof. PhDr. Miloslav Buček, CSc. His name has appeared on various artistic and scientific councils at the faculty and university level, as well as within the Ministry of Education and the Czech Music Society. During his time, he participated in artistic events inside and outside the university. He took part in the celebrations of the 75th anniversary of MU (1994, installation of a concert organ at the auditorium of the Faculty of Law), was an active organ player and led the MU Choir for thirty years.

In the 1990s, the view of the study system and graduates' employment changed. The scientific knowledge arising from the grant tasks was gradually applied to practice, and the praxeological and axiological activities were emphasized. The social standards of teacher education at the turn of the millennium were also being delt. The Department of Music renewed previously established student competitions and strived for a greater connection between professional and educational training of students. Scientific activity was also on the rise, mainly due to the opportunities in the international area and also due to the greater involvement of members of the department in research. There was a greater convergence of departments, art schools and institutions with a similar focus. In 1994, doc. Michal Košut was appointed head of the department and the workplace has been extended by other internal and external employees. After Michal Košut (professor, since 1999), doc. PhDr. Bedřich Crha, CSc. and doc. Mgr. Vladimír Richter were heads of the department.

The beginning of the new millennium was accompanied mainly by the technicalization and modernization of studies, from the introduction of the Masaryk University Information System to the equipping of departments. The Department of Music continued the tradition of music education and emphasized the needs of the graduate's artistic and educational profile based on social tendencies. To this day, it is permanently evaluated within the research of the department and individual members, including doctoral students. In general, the scientific focus of the department in the last decades has been mainly on musical preferences and attitudes to music, folk songs and folklore, as well as on new approaches to music education such as multimedia and modern technologies. As part of national trends in the digitalization of education, the department has participated in a nationwide project preparing methodological materials and materials for the use of modern technologies in music education at primary and secondary schools. The department's equipment is also permanently modernized and adapted to current requirements, not only in terms of technology but also musical instruments (new upright pianos and grand pianos, digital pianos, guitars, modern didactic tools etc.).

Since 2018, the Department of Music has been an institutional member of the EAS (European Association for Music in Schools). In the same year, prof. Michal Košut, Ph.D., was replaced by doc. PhDr. Marek Sedláček, Ph.D., as the head of the department.

By 2020, a total of three choirs, the Masaryk University Mixed Choir (choirmaster Jan Ocetek), the Faculty of Education Choir (choirmasters František Ostrý, Markéta Musilová) and the MUNIvoices mixed choir focused on modern popular music and musical (choirmaster Adéla Jurčíková). The Collegium musicum chamber orchestra (conductor and artistic director Eduard Tomaštík) and the cimbalom ensemble MUNIcimbal (artistic director Eduard Tomaštík) are also active.

(Reference: ČAPKA, František and Ivan NĚMEC. Half a Century of the Faculty of Education, Masaryk University in Brno 1946-1996. Brno: Ando Publishing, 1996, pp. 53-57. ISBN 80-860-4700-8.)

FORMER MEMBERS

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