comprehensive musicianship through performance
Reflections on Building Relationships in CMP Michael G. George
From the very beginning of my 22 years of active involvement with the Comprehen- sive Musicianship Through Perfor- mance (CMP) Proj- ect and Committee, it was clear to me
that there was a high level of expertise regarding the process of teaching and learning music among committee members. As I pondered how I could best support the Project and its advocates, I chose to focus on several very critical facets of the Project – building relationships, teamwork and partnerships. These facets were critical at the very beginning of the project when seven music educators and a Steering Committee of three gathered for a planning retreat at Lawrence University in 1977, and they are still critical today.
The teachers who were part of the original group were nominated by peers through- out Wisconsin based on the consistently outstanding performing groups that were a result of their teaching and leadership. When they gathered in Appleton, they didn’t necessarily know each other. Before
much progress could be made on planning for a long-term professional development project (CMP) and securing buy-in to commit time and energy, several facets of teamwork needed attention – particularly, they needed to know and trust one another and build working relationships. During the retreat, time was devoted to establish- ing several…
Factors that are critical to building community and effective teamwork:
• We believe that each team member has something to contribute.
• We believe that an open, risk-free environment will bring out the best from each team member.
• We recognize and respect everyone’s unique identity.
• We believe team members are reliable and dependable.
• We have collectively helped to define a sense of purpose for our teamwork.
• We believe the work we do makes a difference.
The very insightful work of the original committee in 1977 resulted in a planning model and framework for teaching and learning music that is still the basis of the CMP Project today.
When the 10 members of the CMP Retreat group left Appleton in summer of 1977, each of them had accepted responsibility to advance the new CMP model individually. For instance:
An informal “contract” was developed between the seven participants and the
“I believe in the value of partnerships and through my experience I’ve identified several factors that lead to effective, and often, long lasting partnerships.”
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September 2026
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