CMP Committee Members

Miriam teaches music at Atwater Elementary School in Shorewood, WI, where she works with students in grades K-6. Previous to this role, she has many years’ experience at the middle school level. CMP has been a significant influence in her teaching for over twenty years. Her interests in non-Western musical traditions led her to study drumming and vocal music at the Dagbe Cultural Institute in Ghana, West Africa, with three intensive residential stays since 2010. Ms. Altman presents regularly at state and regional conferences, as well as guest conducts honor ensembles, such  as the 2020 Wisconsin Choral Directors Association All-State Children’s Choir. Her students have been invited to perform at a number of exciting venues, most recently the 2018 Wisconsin Music Educators’ Association State Conference.Special Interests within CMP:

• CMP and Non-Western Music – What makes an arrangement “authentic”? Why does authenticity matter? How can educators teach music and culture in such a way that respects the traditions it originates from?
• Choosing Quality Repertoire – The music we choose implicitly carries a message of value to our students, parents, colleagues, and administrators. How can we find great music of all styles, cultures, and time periods, which is also appealing to our students and worth our time?
• Student-Centered Pedagogy – How can we create more opportunities for students to experiment, lead, take risks, think, and engage within the ensemble setting? Just as importantly, how can we do this in such a way that adds to ensemble quality and excellence?
• CMP and Popular Music Styles – How can we foster student involvement in musical pursuits outside of the traditional band, orchestra, and choral ensembles? What are the best ways to help foster great musicianship skills in our kids who play and sing in rock/pop styles?

Kathy Bartling graduated from UW-Stevens Point with a Bachelor’s degree in Music Education.  She began her teaching career in Amherst, WI where she taught HS choir, MS choir and K-8 general music for 3 years.  In 2017, she retired from teaching elementary music and 6th grade choir at Waunakee Intermediate School where she had enjoyed working with music students from 1977 to 2017.She has been active in WMEA since the beginning of her career and has served as Vice-President (South Central) and general music state chairperson.  She is currently the coordinator for the MIOSM Capitol Concerts and is working with the WSMA and Wisconsin Public Television team to create general music resources for use in the state of Wisconsin.  Kathy was awarded the Kohl Award for teaching excellence in 2000. She has been a member of the CMP committee since 2005 and feels that the CMP model transformed her teaching.Special Interests within CMP:

• General Music – How does CMP apply to a general music classroom?  It’s not just for performance groups!
• Concerts That Teach – How does CMP help us enrich our elementary concerts and inform our parents about the great music education that their students receive?
• Creativity – How do we nurture and encourage creativity, composing and improvisation among our youngest students?
• Great Literature for young kids – What are the best songs that every elementary student should sing?  What are some of the best listening experiences, dances, and instrument playing experiences for K-6?

Janet Revell Barrett has been a fan of CMP for years and is honored to join the committee. She began her career teaching general and choral music in Iowa City and Madison, followed by faculty positions in music teacher education at the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater, Northwestern University, and the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. She has taught courses in in philosophy, curriculum, research methods, music teacher education, and interdisciplinary approaches to the music curriculum. Her recent publications include the revised edition of Constructing a Personal Orientation to Music Teaching: Growth, Inquiry, Agency with Mark Robin Campbell and Linda Thompson (Routledge, 2021) and the forthcoming Seeking Connections: An Interdisciplinary Perspective on Music Teaching and Learning (Oxford University Press). Dr. Barrett is the Marilyn Pflederer Zimmerman Endowed Chair Emerita at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and current editor of the Bulletin for the Council of Research in Music Education. She lives in Champaign, IL surrounded by her family and enjoying every moment as Nana to four lively grandchildren. My favorite topics include music teachers’ curriculum making, thinking about the lasting impact of educational experiences, and creating meaningful connections between music and other curricular areas such as art, poetry, and history.

Karen Bruno is primarily a choral educator who has also taught general music, collegiate music education classes, and a cat to fetch. She is currently a teacher-conductor within, and artistic director of the Lawrence Community Girl Choir program and the director of the Lawrence Community Music School in Appleton, WI. Karen holds leadership positions at the state and national level of the American Choral Directors Association and works in the areas of repertoire, advocacy and collaboration, and diversity, equity, and inclusion. She is also active within the National Guild for Community Arts Education and the National Association for Music Education. She holds degrees from Smith College and Boston University but is an entirely self-taught vegetarian culinary artist. Special Interests within CMP:

• Finding (and using, and “selling” to students) quality choral music
• Aesthetic education (inquiry-based)
• The talent myth and its implications in public school settings
• Advocating the use of CMP – an administrator’s view

Chris Gleason is currently the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction Arts & Creativity Consultant.  During his tenure as an instrumental music educator at Patrick Marsh Middle School in Sun Prairie, Wisconsin, Chris was awarded the 2017 Wisconsin Middle School Teacher of the Year, 2017 GRAMMY Music Educator Award semifinalist, and the first Wisconsin teacher to be named a finalist for National Teacher of the Year in 50 years. In 2009 Chris started the ComMission Possible Project that annually commissions a new work for band. Chris recently served as a Teacher Leadership and Engagement Specialist with the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction inspiring future education majors across the state. In October of 2019 he gave a talk at TEDx Oshkosh. Mr. Gleason is a 2018-19 NEA Foundation Global Learning Fellow who traveled to South Africa in 2019.  Mr. Gleason is the founder and organizer of the Beyond The Notes Music Festival Inc. a non-profit that has to date inspired more than 33,000 young musicians and 60 future music educators.

Paul Gregg has been a member of the CMP Committee since 2018. He is the director of Choirs at McFarland High School where he conducts three curricular choirs and the McFarland BlueNotes. He also serves as the Producer and Music Director of the annual Musical, Manager of the new McFarland PAC, and sings with the Madison Choral Project. He earned a Master’s degree from the University of Iowa in Choral Conducting, and Bachelor degrees in Choral Music and French from UW Stevens Point.  He has been a guest clinician, a WSMA Master Adjudicator for festivals, and has served on various committees and projects with WMEA, WSMA, and WCDA. He previously taught for twelve years at Luxemburg-Casco HS, adjunct voice for two years at UW Green Bay, and for six years at O’Keeffe Middle School in Madison. Paul lives in McFarland with his wife and three children.  Special CMP Interests:

• Aspects of sociology, humanity, and justice in programming
• Solid score analysis and connections to the classroom
• “Embracing the Fringe” – Trauma-informed teaching and CMP
• Advocating for a National CMP Program

Glenn C. Hayes is the Director of Bands and Professor of Music Education at the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater. His responsibilities include conducting the Symphonic Wind Ensemble, Chamber Winds, University/Community Band and the Warhawk Marching Band. Dr. Hayes’s teaching areas include conducting, music education, wind literature, student teacher supervision and marching band techniques. Under his guidance, the UW-W band program has received regional, national and international acclaim for excellence in performance both in the concert hall and on the marching field.Dr. Hayes has presented at international, national, regional and state music conferences on topics ranging from ensemble development, sensitivity of performance, literature selection, creativity in the ensemble setting and conducting. Throughout his career, he has been a tireless champion of contemporary music within the music education curriculum. As a collegiate conductor/educator/musician, Hayes has commissioned and programmed music for band and electronics, band and video and band with amplified soloists. He has also created curricula and coached/guided performers and ensembles in the realization of graphic and video scores.

Jerry Hrovat has been a Program Associate at Wisconsin School Music Association (WSMA), Wisconsin Music Educators Association (WMEA) and Wisconsin Foundation for School Music (WFSM) since March of 1998.  One of his duties is to provide support through the Wisconsin Center for Music Education to the CMP Project.Prior to joining WSMA, WMEA and WFSM, Jerry worked at Computerland and served as Assistant Manager of the McFarland High School swimming pool from 1979 to 1983. Jerry has been an avid performer both part-time and full-time with various bands from 1977 to present, specializing in numerous music genres to include gospel, jazz, big band and show band music.Jerry earned his Bachelor of Science degree in Music Performance and Business Administration from UW-Platteville.

Margaret Jenks has been teaching for twenty years at a variety of different schools and grade levels. She currently conducts elementary and middle school choirs for the Madison Youth Choirs and teaches K-5 in the Madison Metropolitan School District. She has served as a clinician and speaker at a number of state and regional conferences–especially in areas of repertoire selection and the changing boys’ voice. She has actively pursued CMP thinking and teaching since her college days at Lawrence University, where Rick Bjella was a major influence on her decision to become a music educator. Recent CMP highlights include leading workshops with teachers from across Asia in Korea and Hong Kong, as well as collaborating with colleagues from Illinois as they begin a statewide CMP initiative. Margaret has been a CMP committee member since 2000 and currently is past-chair of the CMP committee. If she suddenly were forced to choose another career, her vegetarian cooking-without-a-recipe skills are pretty sharp and her two sons, 8 and 11, already have restaurant names chosen.Special Interests within CMP:
I am genuinely interested in talking about pretty much any area of music or pedagogy, but here are a few recent favorites:

• Outcome Writing–why writing outcomes matters, writing affective outcomes, CMP outcomes and the Common Core Standards
• Repertoire Selection and CMP for the younger classes/choirs (MS-Early HS and younger)
• Issues with teaching creativity, fostering curiosity and helping communities see the relevance of a quality music education

Therese Josephson teaches middle school orchestra at Badger Ridge Middle School in Verona, WI. Ms. Josephson holds a Masters Degree in Educational Media Design and Technology from Full Sail University, and Bachelors Degrees in Music Education and Mathematics from Lawrence University. In addition to teaching full-time, Ms. Josephson is an active clinician and teacher mentor. Special interests within CMP:

• CMP for beginning instrumentalists
• Trauma informed teaching and CMP

Michael Ross has worked for the Madison Youth Choirs since 2003, first as Artistic Director, and since 2013 as Artistic/Executive Director. He was previously the Music Department Chair and Vocal Music Teacher at Madison West High School. He has both Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in Music Education from UW-Madison. Michael has been active in state music organizations, having been the choral chair for the Wisconsin Music Educators Association, accompanist for the Wisconsin Choral Directors Association’s Next Direction conference, and both section leader and accompanist for various WSMA and WCDA State Honors Choirs He is also an active clinician throughout the United States; in 2014 he conducted the WCDA (Wisconsin) All-State Children’s choir and in 2016 he conducted the Colorado Middle All-State Treble Choir. Michael is a member of the Voice Care Network.

Marcia Russell teaches middle level general music and choir at Platteville Middle School and Kindergarten music at Neal Wilkins Early Learning Center. She has a Master of Music Degree in Music Education from Kent State University, and a Bachelor of Music Degree in Voice Performance and General/Choral Music Education from Lawrence University. Ms. Russell conducts Cantabile with the Platteville Children’s Choir. She previously conducted Con Gioia and Cantilena with the Madison Youth Choirs.  She currently serves as the CMP Chair. In January, Ms. Russell was the guest conductor of the 2019 Wisconsin Choral Director’s All-State Children Choir.Ms. Russell is a member of the Mt. Vernon, Iowa High School Fine Arts “Hall of Fame”, and is a past recipient of the WCDA Outstanding Young Choral Director Award. She received the WCDA Middle Level Choral Director Award in 2015. Marcy has been a member of the CMP committee since 2007.

Patty’s interests are varied and have led to an active professional life as both teacher and performer. A UW-Madison graduate, her formative years of teaching began in the Madison Area Catholic Band Program and under the mentorship of Jan Tweed for the Waunakee Summer Band Program. She taught for the Mount Horeb Area School District for 30 years. Patty has a master’s degree in Curriculum Theory and Design where her research included a study of musical tastes of the adolescent band student.  She retired from teaching at Mount Horeb Middle School in 2018 and is enjoying an active retiree’s life of guest conducting, leading CMP workshops, and serving at Fink’s, the local diner in Mount Horeb! She joined the CMP committee in 1993.Special Interests within CMP:

• Differentiation in a music classroom
• Inclusion of pop music in a band classroom and the connection to student culture
• Outcome writing

Randal Swiggum currently serves as Artistic Director of the Elgin Youth Symphony Orchestra and is a conductor in the Madison Youth Choirs. He is also Education Conductor for the award-winning Elgin Symphony Orchestra, creating and conducting a dozen youth and family concerts each season. Under his tenure, the EYSO has more than tripled in size, drawing students from a wide geographical range of over sixty communities in Illinois and Wisconsin, with five orchestras, a brass choir, a vibrant chamber music program and performances at Ravinia, on NPR’s From the Top, and with superstars Midori and Yo Yo Ma, as well as headlining the Aberdeen International Festival in Scotland. A frequent guest conductor of orchestral and choral festivals, he recently conducted the Scottish National Youth Symphony in Glasgow, the APAC Festival Orchestra in Seoul, Korea, the first ever Pennsylvania ACDA/PMEA All-State Junior High Choir, the New York City InterSchool Festival, the Singapore American Schools Music Festival, the MENC All-Northwest Honor Choir in Portland, and American Mennonite Schools Orchestra Festival, the Northern Arizona Honors Orchestra, and both the Wisconsin Middle Level Honors Choir and Orchestra. In recent seasons, he conducted both the Illinois and Georgia All-State Orchestras.A frequent presenter at NAfME, ASTA, and ACDA conferences, he has addressed the Pennsylvania MENC on “The Art of Rehearsing,” as well as the Maryland NAfME, the ACDA North Central Division in Des Moines and Eastern Division in Hartford, CT, the Texas Orchestra Directors Association, and national conventions of the NAfME in Phoenix and Kansas City. He has conducted successful performance tours to Austria, Germany, Switzerland, Canada, Scotland, and throughout the U.S. His choirs performed throughout Italy under the auspices of UNESCO, in Brazil as guests of the city of Rio de Janeiro and Intercultura Brasil, and with the Icelandic National Symphony in Reykjavik under the direction of Lukas Foss. He conducted the University of Wisconsin Symphony Orchestra in Prague, Brno, Bratislava, Budapest, and Vienna.Swiggum is currently a Ph.D. candidate in musicology at UW-Madison and chair of CMP.

Richard Tengowski is a music teacher for the School District of Kohler in Kohler, Wisconsin. He received his B.M. in Music Education from St. Norbert College and his M.M. from Northwestern University.  He teaches middle and high school concert bands, jazz ensemble, pep band, drumline and secondary general music. He is the current NAfME North Division President-Elect (2020-21), Past-President of the Wisconsin Music Educators Association, member of the Wisconsin CMP Project and is on the WMEA leadership team developing state music standards for Wisconsin. Mr. Tengowski is a Herb Kohl Educational Fellowship Award Recipient, a School District of Kohler Teacher of the Year and was recently inducted into the Wisconsin Bandmaster Association.  Mr. Tengowski is an active clinician, conductor, master adjudicator, speaker and freelance performer. He is married to wife Beth Ellen and has four sons, Ryan, John, Benjamin and Gregory – all musicians.

Cornelia Watkins happily joined the CMP committee in 2005 when she still lived in Houston, TX, where she freelanced and taught preparatory cello and pedagogy at the Shepherd School of Music at Rice University. In 2018, no longer resist the powerful centripetal force of Wisconsin, she moved to Madison with her husband, cellist Max Dyer.  She is now a lecturer of pedagogy at Northwestern University, and plays and teaches privately in the Madison area. Corky gives lectures at conferences around the country, and is the author of several articles and two books: Rosindust: Teaching Learning and Life from a Cellist’s Perspective and From the Stage to the Studio: How Fine Musicians Become Great Teachers.Special Interests within CMP:

• Helping teachers discover how applicable and valuable CMP is in one-on-one lessons.
• Exploring the synergy between knowledge, technique, and expression, and helping students understand the connection.
• Student-centered approaches musical excellence, such as discovering why good technique is good technique or exploring musical expression through personal experiences, rather than just doing what is expected.
• Teaching technique by approaching it through the affect.
• Understanding the brain, the ability to focus, the value of trust, the significance of expectations, and the way these elements work together in the learning process.