Janusz Miketta – organizer and reformer of music education in Poland

Abstract

Janusz Miketta (1890-1954) – Polish musicologist, pedagogue and music life organizer. He studied philosophy at the University of Warsaw. He completed his music studies at the Music Institute in Warsaw and in Leipzig, as well as at the F. Chopin Higher Music School in Warsaw. Next, he was the principal of the Music School in Warsaw and from 1919 – the director of the Music Society and the S. Moniuszko Music School in Lublin. In 1924, he started his teaching career at the F. Chopin Higher Music School in Warsaw and later at the M. Karłowicz Music School in Warsaw. In the years 1926–1931, he was a desk officer for music affairs in the Ministry of Religious Denominations and Public Enlightenment and from 1931 – the secretary of the Local Sightseeing Society in Warsaw and Stanisławów. From 1945 to 1948, he was the head of the Music Education Section of the Music Department in the Ministry of Culture and Art and the chairman of the Program Committee of Music Education in the above-mentioned Ministry. Based on Janusz Miketta’s own concept of music education, the Ministry of Culture and Art issued a directive of 7 December 1945 on a special system of music education. Music schools in Poland were divided into vocational ones (lower, middle and higher) and those providing music appreciation classes. This three-stage structure made it possible to adjust teaching program to new needs and select a specialization based on the degree of a pupil’s talent. As a result of reforms introduced in the 1949/1950 school year, schools providing music appreciation classes were liquidated, though the three-layer structure of the school system was maintained. This schooling system, with minor changes, is still in operation in Poland. In the years 1948-1954, Miketta was a professor of the State Higher Music School in Cracow.