This doctoral thesis, The Contribution of Elly Bašić to Croatian Music Pedagogy and Culture, explores the work of Elly Bašić, a music pedagogue, throughout the analysis of her contribution to the development of music pedagogy and culture in the 20th century Croatia. The analysis of Bašić’s work and influence, in the context of the development of music pedagogy in Europe, provides an insight into the totality of both the creation and implementation of her professional but also her academic work known as Functional Music Pedagogy (FMP).The first part of the thesis includes the analysis of the hitherto unanalyzed and unpublished archive material. The material primarily included documents from the rich professional legacy of Elly Bašić, also the documents from the institutions in which she worked and implemented her FMP and thirdly, the relevant secondary literature. The analysis and the valorization of archive material present the entire music-pedagogical work of Elly Bašić chronologically. Her work consisted of four developmental phases: the first phase was the search and creation of new approaches in music pedagogy (1929-1945), the second phase was research and experimental i.e. scientific verification of her approaches (1945-1961), the third phase was the implementation and institutionalization of the FMP (1961-1978), and the fourth phase was the final confirmation of the FMP results confirmed by the results achieved in the institutions (1978-1998). In the first phase, from 1929 to 1945, Elly Bašić’s worked in her Music School “Beethoven”. Helped by some of the most influential persons of Croatian music culture (Šulek, Janigro, Papandopulo, Sachs, Prišlin, Feller, Lhotka-Kalinski, Bašić, Dugan, Šugh-Štefanec, Lorković, Pomykalo, Nochta, Vaulin, etc.) all interested in her idea, Elly Bašić searched for a new, innovative and modern ways for music education and teaching. During her 16 years long career at “Beethoven” school, she conducted both practical and experimental and musicological studies, exploring new paths for the development of music pedagogy so that every child can develop its inborn predispositions. During the second phase, from 1945 to 1961, she examined, searched and formed both the knowledge of music pedagogy and the teaching procedures resulting in the creation of the FMP nucleus. She presented FMP publicly in 1952 for the first time and, in the same year, the pedagogy was officially accepted by the Croatian Ministry of Education. In the second phase, Elly Bašić’s pedagogical work included several institutions – the newly opened City Music School in Zagreb, the Academy of Music, and the Academy of Dramatic Arts in Zagreb. The third phase, from 1961 to 1978, was marked by the implementation of FMP in institutions for music education - Music Academy in Sarajevo and Functional Music School in Zagreb, while the fourth phase brought confirmation of her influence and importance of her music pedagogy on the development of the Croatian music education system. It was based on the results of students educated by the officially accepted pedagogical principles of FMP. The chronological analysis of Elly Bašić’s professional phases demonstrates the richness of her research in various fields. The pluralism of the topics addressed in her published scientific and professional papers and presentations at numerous international conferences and professional congresses implies the interdisciplinary of FMP comprising three fields: syncretic theory and practice in music education, ethnomusicology, and music therapy. The results of this study show that the most valuable contribution with the broadest social implications of Elly Bašić’s entire work as a music pedagogue is the creation of an authentic music pedagogy (FMP) – the first in the history of Croatian music education. Functional Music Pedagogy confirms Elly Bašić's significant place in the history of both Croatian and world music pedagogy and culture. The second part of the thesis presents the basic pedagogical principles of FMP, and their contextualization within the framework of the European pedagogical approaches (Montessori and Waldorf) and within music-pedagogical concepts (Dalcroze, Orff, Kodàly) indicating their common features. The pedagogical ideal of FMP is not to train a talented and privileged child to be a top musician, but to use music in order to educate every child, respecting its own world of potential expressive abilities. The basic principle of FMP is that not a particular child, but every child has the right to music culture, affirms it as a unique music pedagogy, and classifies it in the context of significant contemporary pedagogical disciplines. Excellent knowledge of the child's psyche and exceptional creativity in finding new ways and methods that enable the development of children's musical expression in accordance with innate abilities positions Elly Bašić among the greatest names in humanistic music pedagogy.