Monday, April 20, 2009
Comprehensive Musicianship
Comprehensive Musicianship is a curricular philosophy that emphasizes an integrated approach to music education in which students in all musical settings learn to perform, analyze, and organize sounds. Sometimes referred to Comprehensive Musicianship through Performance (CMP), it has its roots in the 1959 “Contemporary Music Project” and can be utilized in both performing and non-performing groups.
The aforementioned 1959 project is sometimes called “The Young Composers Project” because it involved assigning young composers to universities or schools to write music for their performing groups, increasing community awareness of contemporary music. However, after the project was piloted, it became clear that music courses were “taught in isolation and fragmented fashion” and too often focused only on performance (Abeles, Hoffer, & Klotman, 1995, p. 290). Students needed to learn how to identify relationships among all areas of musical study to develop competency in analyzing, organizing, and performing music, therefore preparing them for all forms of music, including contemporary.
Although CMP was originally focused on upper-level education, the National Association of Music Education (MENC) has developed national standards based on the CMP philosophy for all ages of students in all music courses. For example, in a performance class centered on the CMP curricular philosophy, students would not just learn to read printed music for the sake of a performance product. They would learn the historical background of a composition they were performing, performance practices of the time, and something about the composer and why the he wrote it. There would be time to analyze the theoretical aspects of the composition or compare works from the same time period or by the same composer as well as to evaluate recorded performances and the ensemble’s own efforts. On the opposite end of the spectrum, a music theory class would not focus strictly on analyzing the form and structure of music. Students would use their understanding of music theory to write their own compositions or arrangements and to improvise within a given idiom. Aural discrimination skills could be honed through sight-singing or sight-reading performance. The CMP philosophy seems easiest to integrate into a general music curriculum, especially at the elementary level. The whole purpose of a general music class is to give students a broad range of experiences in singing, playing instruments, reading and notating music, arranging, improvising, analyzing and describing, evaluating, relating music to other art forms, and learning the historical and cultural implications of music.
The CMP curricular philosophy was designed to expose collegiate music students to necessary performance, analysis, and organizational tools so that as teachers they would be “sufficiently equipping to teach contemporary idioms” (Abeles et al., 1995, p. 297). However, educators in all age settings can follow the philosophy to create well-rounded musicians at even the youngest grade levels.
Abeles, H. F., Hoffer, C. R., & Klotman, R. H. (1995). Foundations of music education (2nd ed.). Belmont, CA: Thomas Higher Education.
The aforementioned 1959 project is sometimes called “The Young Composers Project” because it involved assigning young composers to universities or schools to write music for their performing groups, increasing community awareness of contemporary music. However, after the project was piloted, it became clear that music courses were “taught in isolation and fragmented fashion” and too often focused only on performance (Abeles, Hoffer, & Klotman, 1995, p. 290). Students needed to learn how to identify relationships among all areas of musical study to develop competency in analyzing, organizing, and performing music, therefore preparing them for all forms of music, including contemporary.
Although CMP was originally focused on upper-level education, the National Association of Music Education (MENC) has developed national standards based on the CMP philosophy for all ages of students in all music courses. For example, in a performance class centered on the CMP curricular philosophy, students would not just learn to read printed music for the sake of a performance product. They would learn the historical background of a composition they were performing, performance practices of the time, and something about the composer and why the he wrote it. There would be time to analyze the theoretical aspects of the composition or compare works from the same time period or by the same composer as well as to evaluate recorded performances and the ensemble’s own efforts. On the opposite end of the spectrum, a music theory class would not focus strictly on analyzing the form and structure of music. Students would use their understanding of music theory to write their own compositions or arrangements and to improvise within a given idiom. Aural discrimination skills could be honed through sight-singing or sight-reading performance. The CMP philosophy seems easiest to integrate into a general music curriculum, especially at the elementary level. The whole purpose of a general music class is to give students a broad range of experiences in singing, playing instruments, reading and notating music, arranging, improvising, analyzing and describing, evaluating, relating music to other art forms, and learning the historical and cultural implications of music.
The CMP curricular philosophy was designed to expose collegiate music students to necessary performance, analysis, and organizational tools so that as teachers they would be “sufficiently equipping to teach contemporary idioms” (Abeles et al., 1995, p. 297). However, educators in all age settings can follow the philosophy to create well-rounded musicians at even the youngest grade levels.
Abeles, H. F., Hoffer, C. R., & Klotman, R. H. (1995). Foundations of music education (2nd ed.). Belmont, CA: Thomas Higher Education.
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