The Evolution of Comprehensive Musicianship through Performance (CMP)-A Model for Teaching Performing with Understanding in the Ensemble Setting

Abstract

Principles and practices of comprehensive musicianship have occupied a place in music education for many years. Many of these initiatives descended from educational reform efforts begun in the post-Sputnik era. In 1977, a group of music educators gathered on the campus of a small Midwestern college to explore new possibilities for comprehensive musicianship in the ensemble setting. This study traces the unique outcomes that resulted from the collective vision of the founders of the Wisconsin Comprehensive Musicianship through Performance (CMP) Model and Project. The CMP Project and Model are introduced as an example of holistic music teaching and learning in the ensemble setting that emerged from best practices during a climate of education reform in the post-Sputnik era. In 1977, a group of music educators met at Lawrence University in Appleton, Wisconsin (M. George, personal communication, September 9, 2007). These music educators gathered together to examine music teaching and learning in performing ensembles. While they were well aware that students in their particular region played and sang with technical prowess, these music educators believed in the possibility of broadening the musical experience for students in band, choir, and orchestra. They envisioned a musical education with breadth and depth that was multi-faceted and would more fully engage students in the ensemble setting. Their ideas were not isolated; rather, they were inspired by earlier events both in music education and in general education. These music educators sought to transpose selected elements of these events to the ensemble setting during a period of educational reform in the post-Sputnik era.1 A number of authors have written extensively, describing many of the developments and initiatives related to comprehensive musicianship (Keene, 1987; Mark, 1996; Mark & Gary, 1992). While these authors have provided detailed descriptions of many events in contemporary music education having to do with comprehensive musicianship in the United States, the initiative begun in 1977 is largely absent from the literature. That project is Comprehensive Musicianship through Performance (CMP)2, the outgrowth of the collective vision of that group of music educators. The purpose of this study was to examine events leading up to the 1977 meeting and to describe the unique outcomes that resulted. The primary method employed is historical; however, due to the nature of the CMP Model, I also include a review of relevant literature in order to frame the context and illuminate the content of this distinct model. Both are useful in sharing the vision enacted as a result of the 1977 meeting. By employing recent techniques that connect literature and primary sources (both interviews and written), I hope to tell a story that continues to have relevance for music teaching and learning (Heller & Wilson, 1992). Data sources include interviews with two of the three members of the original planning committee - one member is deceased - and teachers who participated in the original project. I sought to contact each of those eight teachers, and after repeated attempts was successful in establishing contact with two. These narratives contribute a point of view that highlights the unique beginnings of Comprehensive Musicianship through Performance through a personal lens. Zooming Out-Four Significant Events in Contemporary Music Education that Informed the CMP Project Of the many initiatives in contemporary3 music education of the post-Sputnik era, four were particularly significant leading up to the 1977 meeting (M. George, personal communication, September 20, 2007; W. Schmid, personal communication, November 2, 2007). These initiatives were the Contemporary Music Project, the Manhattanville Music Curriculum Program, Yale Seminar, and Tanglewood Symposium. A brief review of those events will be useful in establishing a contextual framework that sets the stage for the Wisconsin gathering. …

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