comprehensive musicianship through performance
Drawing Lessons With CMP Patty Schlafer, CMP Committee Member
One of the delights of writing for the CMP pages of Wis- consin School Mu- sician is that given time, you can un- doubtedly connect the CMP model or a comprehensive way of thinking to most
any topic important enough to be a theme for a professional journal. In the face of the many educational changes thrust upon teachers yearly, Leyla Sanyer (our North Central NAfME president, past president of WMEA and long serving member of the Wisconsin CMP Committee) would confidently urge teachers to simply con- tinue thinking and planning with the CMP model and then cleverly fit the comprehen- sive approach into the newly mandated template required by the current educa- tional initiative of your school district, state mandate or federal law. Essentially the ubiquitous slogan we see everywhere: keep calm and carry on.
“Well-Rounded With Music” – a perfect fit for CMP. We assume a well-rounded edu- cation is better than a specialized course of study and I am willing to share some thoughts on why I think CMP can be of service to any music teacher. Feeling very nostalgic about the 40-year-old Wisconsin CMP Project, I can’t help but think of the past to try to understand the future.
On first brush, the idea of “well-rounded” brought me to the idea of drawing a perfectly round circle. I remember the days before you could simply deposit a perfect circle from the shapes tab in your formatting palette (exhibit A). In all cases, unless I wanted a roughly drawn shape of a circle (exhibit B), I knew the drawing of the perfect round would require some sort of traceable guide, either the coffee cup on my desk, the portable mirror in my purse, or the current political pin attached to my coat.
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In print, an overview of the CMP model is one thing, in action, another! There is not enough space in this one article to fully illuminate the artful use of the five points of the CMP model and how it can help you instruct in a well-rounded, comprehensive manner. However, there are plenty of opportunities for teachers to delve into the process of planning for meaningful experiences and teaching with intention during the various workshops offered here in Wisconsin and Illinois. Here are a few opportunities.
• Wisconsin CMP Summer Workshop, June 25-29, 2018 UW-River Falls
• WI CMP Winter Workshop, February 2-3, 2018
Exhibit A Exhibit B
My point you wonder? If you want your round to be well-rounded, it helps to have a guide! Offering your students a well- rounded experience in your classroom can be done and CMP can help. Taking the time to use a carefully developed model for planning what occurs in your classroom is the ticket for assuring your students, parents and administrators that what goes on in your room in not a spe- cialty niche class (read: easily reduced or eliminated), but a well-rounded music curriculum.
Wisconsin Center For Music Education, Waunakee
• Illinois CMP Summer Workshop, June 18-22, 2018
Northern Illinois University, Dekalb, IL
• Host a CMP workshop of your own. Contact CMP Chair: Miriam Altman:
maltman@usmk.12.org
The participants at the 2017 WI CMP workshop were gifted these three resources from CMP Committee Chair Randy Swig- gum. These might be helpful professional reading and listening for folks who have experienced the CMP model and are look- ing for inspiration and provocation: The Music Teaching Artist’s Bible: Becoming a Virtuoso Educator by Eric Booth, 2009 Oxford University Press; Why Classical Music Still Matters by Lawrence Kramer 2009 UC Press; Sound Reasoning: A New Way to Listen by Anthony Brandt, www.
soundreasoning.org.
I conclude with thoughts from others about the CMP model, the summer workshop and its lasting impact on teachers and stu- dents. First a wonderful observation made by Dr. Janet Barrett (professor of music education at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign) after observing the teachers at the 2016 CMP Summer Workshop at Lawrence University in Appleton:
“I finish with another Bernstein quote: “To achieve great things, two things are needed: a plan and not quite enough time.” In a short week’s time you have propelled music teachers along this con- tinuum toward great music, great
September 2017
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