Lubov Bilas: A Prominent Figure in the Development of General Music Education in Ukraine in the Second Half of the 20th Century

The article is dedicated to the 100th anniversary of the birth of Liubov Bilas, an outstanding educator, teacher-methodologist, and Honored Educator of Ukraine. It highlights her musical and pedagogical activity and the role of her contributions to teaching musical and aesthetic disciplines in the second half of the 20th century. Among her key achievements was the experimental testing and implementation of a system of music education in general education schools based on the relative solmization method. The article focuses on the period of Liubov Bilas’ pedagogical work at Stebnyk Secondary School No. 6 (now Stebnyk Gymnasium No. 6 named after the Heroes of the Anti-Terrorist Operation, under the Drohobych City Council) from 1966. As an innovative teacher, Bilas was the first in the Lviv region to experimentally apply a system of musical education based on modal solmization in general education schools. She convincingly demonstrated the advantages of this method and its effectiveness in developing students’ musical abilities. In addition to her pedagogical work, Liubov Bilas promoted this method. The school regularly hosted national and regional workshops on the implementation of the relative solmization system at music lessons in institutions of general secondary education. Liubov Bilas’ pedagogical work at Stebnyk Secondary School No. 18 (now Stebnyk Gymnasium No. 18 under the Drohobych City Council) from 1986 contributed to the school receiving the status of a gymnasium “with an advanced study of music”. This institution later became a base for the Music and Pedagogical Faculty of the Ivan Franko Drohobych State Pedagogical Institute. L. Bilas’ work at the Department of Methodology of Music Education, Singing, and Choral Conducting at Ivan Franko Drohobych State Pedagogical Institute (in the 1990s) further spread the method among future educators, where she taught a special course and trained a whole generation of follower teachers. She was awarded the title “Honored Educator of Ukraine” for her tireless work and dedication. Tireless efforts marked the life of Liubov Bilas for the sake of the development of general music education and arts. She was deeply convinced that music, embodied in song and dance, is the nation’s code, passed down from generation to generation, ensuring the immortality of its people.