Prof. Mieczyslawa Demska-Trebacz, Ph.D.

Professor Mieczyslawa Demska-Trebacz

Theorist of music and culture; doctor of philosophy, professor of music arts.
Born on 1 January 1943 in Zakrzówek in the Lublin voivodship. She finished the State Secondary Music School in Lublin then studied at the Department of Composition, Conducting and Music Theory at the State College of Music in Warsaw. She graduated with honours and received her MA in theory of music in 1965 (Professor Witold Rudzinski was her supervisor). In 1965-69 she studied at the Department of History and Sociology at the Higher School of Social Sciences where she wrote her second MA thesis at the Chair of History and Sociology of Culture under the supervision of Professor Slawa Krzemien-Ojaka.

Official Ph.D. presentation ceremony. From the left: J. Gudel, M. Demska-Trebacz, K. Wodzynski

Professor Mieczyslawa Demska-Trebacz began her occupational career in Lublin, her home town, in 1965. She taught theory of music at the State Secondary Music School and also lectured at the Henryk Wieniawski State Philharmonic. She also began to co-operate with the Lublin branch of the Polish Radio.
In 1967 she moved to the State College of Music in Warsaw (now the Fryderyk Chopin Academy of Music), where she has remained to this day. In 1976 she got her Ph.D. for her thesis Rhythm in the Work of Frederic Chopin (supervised by Professor Witold Rudzinski). She was nominated Docent in 1988. She received her professorship (Professor of Music Arts) from the President of the Republic of Poland in 1994. Two years later she was nominated Full Professor of the Fryderyk Chopin Academy of Music.
Mieczyslawa Demska-Trebacz has held many organisational functions at the AMFC. Among others, she has been Secretary of the Postgraduate Course, Head of the Didactic Group and Head of the Social Sciences Unit. She has also been Head of the Department of Social Sciences and Deputy Director at the Institute of Socio-Political Sciences, State College of Drama, Warsaw.

In her research M. Demska-Trebacz has focused on theory of music (musical rhythm) and theory, history and sociology of culture. She has basically pursued both these lines of research side by side, although sometimes the two have crossed. Vernacular music culture, its history and specific nature has an important place in her research output. Among other things, she has investigated the cultural history of music in the Lublin region where she was born.

M. Demska-Trębacz's teaching is closely related to her artistic and scientific pursuits. For many years now she has been lecturing simultaneously at the AMFC on the humanities in general and on music rhythm. She has written several handbooks and developed a number of didactic aids. As part of her teaching responsibilities she has also developed a number of methodological works, handbooks and organisational materials. She has also developed many programs for the humanistic education of musicians and articles on the education of artists.
Many promotional theses have been written under professor M. Demska-Trebacz's supervision (at Departments 1, 3, 4 and 5).

Parallel to her didactic and research work, M. Demska-Trebacz has always been involved in the popularisation of knowledge on Polish culture, art and music (radio, philharmonics, journals, books).
She has been given the following awards for her achievements in teaching and research: Award of the Minister of Culture and Art (for her doctoral thesis), Award of the Rector of the State College of Music/Frederic Chopin Academy of Music (several times). She has also been given the Silver and Gold Cross of Merit and the Meritorious Culture Activist Medal.

Compiled by: The Fryderyk Chopin Academy of Music