This master´s thesis deals with the personality and works of the 20th century American composer Aaron Copland. In its first part it brings his biography together with a summary of his most important pieces. The second part of the thesis focuses on Copland?s Duo for Flute and Piano written in 1971. Besides the information about the historic context of the piece and its characteristic it contains an interpretative analysis and a parsing of the Duo?s recordings.

The diploma work is dealing with an influence of postural muscles on preschool children singing expression as weel as on connection between a posture and a breathe. The aim of this diploma work is not just a clarification of this issue, but primaliry it is an aspiration of creating a methodology of exercises, which leads to an improvement of children`s singing. Experimental part of this diploma work is concerned with a verification of created methodology on constant group of preschool children. An audio CD with records of children singing expressions, which confirms reached verdicts, is included.

The diploma thesis Brass music today - performation, function, reception is focused on brass music in historic-cultural analysis with overhang into form which can be seen nowadays. As a fundamental research method is chosen the method of qualitative and quantitative field research, which author answers the designated research questions. Diploma thesis is set into historic-cultural development of the brass music phenomenon, in order to provide comprehensive view on the examined subject.

Mgr. Petra Kolátorová Abstract: Thesis dealt with the Serenade E major Op. 22 (B 52) and the Serenade for Wind Instruments Op. 44 (B 77) of Antonín Dvořák in the view of the musical genre of the orchestral serenade. It answered the question of influence and meaning of the Dvořák's Serenades among Serenades of his contemporaries, the question of place of this genre among the other musical genres and the question of reflection of music criticism at that time. Analysis of both works and their comparison with the selected works showed the way how the expectation of this genre reflected in the compositional ways and methods of both Dvořák's Serenades. The composer in his Serenades depicted all layers of meaning of this genre as was such a noble simplicity, oscilation of the genre between chambre and orchestral music between artistic or rather entertaining character of music, continuity of original serenades and history of the genre. Dvořák had created the works which in certain aspects foreshadowed near future (neoclasicism).