C O M P R EH EN S IV E

M U S IC IA N S H IP

H istory
April 1965, Northwestern University

in Evanston, Illinois
Scholars, educators, theorists,
composers, historians, and
performers participated in the said
project to examine the contents and
orientation of basic college music
courses in history and thoery

Two Aspects:
1. Concepts
2. Skills
Related Music Courses:
3. Composition
4. Analysis
5. History

College M usic Program

1. Content and orientation should serve all

music degree students regardless their

specialization
2. Training incorporate conceptual
knowledge with technical skills and
ability to communicate the content of
the musical work
3. Courses should be designed to
synthesize knowledge acquired in all
other musical studies
4. Studies should relate contemporary
thought and practices with those of
former times

5. Courses should be considered as

evolving and open-ended disciplines.
The student must be given the
means to seek and deal with
materials outside and beyond his
formal education in music.
6. Relevance of musicianship training
to professional studies should be
made clear to the student.
Musicianship training is based on the
students own musical development
and expressive needs.
7. Musical courses/topics are related to
each other.

4 Areas in Assessm ent (IM CE)

A. Descriptive Competence

The student is expected to listen to specific

musical examples from various periods
and describe:
1. The musical elements relevant to
structure
2. The formal elements relevant to the
example
3. The relation of musical and formal
elements to the expressive character of
the example
4. The relation of musical, formal, and
expressive elements to the stylistic factors
in the example

B. Performing Competence
The student is expected to demonstrate his:
1. Literacy in conventional notation and
terminology and other systems of
notation
2. Ability to study and perform a solo and
an ensemble work
3. Ability to evaluate performance, including
his own with respect to technical
accuracy and interpretation
4. Ability to coach and instruct in a variety
of situations
5. Knowledge of musical repertoire in
general and program-building in his own
field of specialization

C. Creative Competence
The student is expected to demonstrate
his ability to:
1. Write examples illustrating a variety of
melodic and rhythmic construction, and
harmonic and contrapuntal procedures
2. Write examples illustrating the
characteristics of various styles
3. Adapt and rearrange music from the
original medium to a different medium
4. Improvise on a given style or in his
personal idiom
5. Compose an original work for available
performing resources

D. Attitude
The student is asked the degree of
importance he attaches to specified
activities and experiences outside his
class work

7 Basic Concepts
Tone
Rhythm
Melody
Harmony
Form
Tonality
Texture
Uses spiral form of curriculum
From general to the specific and from

the simple to the complex

Zones
Zone 1:
General music consisting of singing,
playing of rudimental instruments
(recorder, autoharp, bells), listening,
composing, discussing, research,
introduction to graphic
representation of musical sounds
Zone 2:
Essentially a continuation of zone 1 but
with greater emphasis on
performance, introduction to reading
and writing of actual musical

Zone 3:
Introduction to performance on various
traditional instruments and singing
as a technique; vocal, brass,
woodwind, percussion and string
categories; selection of major
instrument (vocal); continuation of
activities from 2 zones
Zone 4:
Formation of ensemble groups that
permits playing for special interest
combinations. Continuation of
listening, composing, analyzing work
along with ensemble performace

Zone 5:
Continuation of ensembles, addition of
music theory or music literature
courses.