Comprehensive musicianship (CM) is the teaching of the many aspects of music, including performance, history, theory, and composition, as interrelated topics in an integrated manner (Garofalo, 1983). The purpose of this study was to document the awareness, acceptance, and implementation of CM by high school band directors in Illinois and Wisconsin, and to determine factors that influenced its use. An internet-based survey was used to gather data from members of the Wisconsin Music Educators Association and the Illinois Music Educators Association.

Scores for each participant's CM awareness, acceptance, and implementation were calculated from survey responses and then analyzed and compared across the variables of school enrollment, band enrollment, experience, and state. Awareness scores suggested that directors had moderate, but not extensive, knowledge of CM. Acceptance scores demonstrated moderately strong support for CM, but evidence led me to conclude that many participants found it to be impractical for their programs. Implementation was inconsistent, with many different techniques being used, albeit infrequently.

Four-way analyses of variance demonstrated that directors in large schools (1000+ students) had significantly higher levels of CM implementation ( p = .01) and awareness (p = .03). Participants from Wisconsin had significantly higher levels of awareness (p < .001) and acceptance (p = .01) than did participants from Illinois. Factors that encouraged CM included coursework, conferences, books, articles, and personal contacts. Wisconsin directors reported that the Wisconsin Comprehensive Musicianship through Performance Project had a strong influence on their awareness and implementation. Inhibiting factors included lack of rehearsal and preparation time as well as administrative and community pressure to stage frequent public performances.