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Comprehensive Musicianship Through Performance (CMP)

This is a curated set of information and resources on CMP in music education by Evan Tobias – updated 2025-08-16

Contents

What is Comprehensive Musicianship Through Performance (CMP)?

  • Comprehensive Musicianship through Performance (CMP) is a model or approach for working with repertoire in ensembles (band, choir, orchestra, etc.) to teach musical concepts, skills, expressive musicianship, music history, socio-cultural issues, and other aspects of being musical.
  • CMP is a more specific application of “comprehensive musicianship” in an ensemble setting with a focus on engaging students with repertoire.
  • CMP can support you in taking a more comprehensive approach to your ensemble by combining rehearsals with units and plans to develop students’ conceptual understanding and skill development. CMP works towards supporting students in transferring their developing musical understanding and musicianship across musical contexts.

Laura Sindberg (2012) explains:

“Comprehensive Musicianship through Performance (CMP) is a framework for planning instruction that promotes a holistic form of music learning. It is a planned process to guide instruction in cognitive, affective, and skill development. Or, in the words of a good friend, “know, do, and feel.” The CMP model consists of five planning points: analysis, assessment, music selection, outcomes, and strategies. When applied to a musical composition, the result is a teaching plan that invites students to fully engage with the music as they perform, listen to, describe, analyze, compare, and explore the compositions in their band folders. Or choir folders. Or orchestra folders” (p. xi)

Laura Sindberg – from Just Good Teaching (2012)
In this brief video, Laura Sindberg outlines the five-point model that drives Comprehensive Musicianship through Performance.
In this video, Brian Weidner gives a comprehensive and in-depth overview of what CMP is, why it makes sense in ensemble contexts, discusses related pedagogical approaches, and demonstrates how to apply CMP to Vaughn Williams’s Folk Song Suite. This is a really excellent starting point for music teachers new to CMP.
A moment in the podcast where Matt Temple speaks about comprehensive musicianship through performance in Illinois.
AN open book that looks old in style but has a smooth and modern look to it with the pages open to staff notation. the badkground is blue with a candle on the left and an object on the lower right that looks a bit like a compass or coin. Above the book is something that looks like swirls indicating mageic with glowing yellow stars

Resources on CMP in Music Education

(some of the resources include affiliate links)

Books for Understanding and Applying CMP in your Band, Orchestra, or Choir

An image of young people in a music ensemble sitting in chairs with instruments looking in the other direction of the viewer at a large paper of staff notation but the staff notation is warped. The sides of the image and top and bottom around the staff notation has a combinatioin of purple, red,blue, and yellow colors that blend into one another in blocks and splotches but also give the impression that the ensemble is in some type of concert hall

Websites that Promote and Support CMP in Music Education

Articles with Practical Guidance & Perspectives on CMP in Music Education

A group of teachers standing around a table. Everyone is looking at one of the teachers, who has a book open and it seems that the teacher is saying something to everyone else. They appear to be enjoying the moment and some look like they are learning something new from the person who is reading the book. There is an energy to the group while they focus their attention.

Published Research on Comprehensive Musicianship Through Performance in Music Education

Note: You can also find numerous dissertations on specific aspects of CMP applied to particular types of music education settings.