ABSTRACT

The Manhattanville Music Curriculum Program (MMCP) represents music curriculum reform efforts during an era of curriculum reform movements in American education history, the 1960s. Contemporary observers see the MMCP as one of the pivotal events in American music education history during the second half of the twentieth century. Thisstudy . constitutes a first attempt to document some of the history of the MMCP from its roots and beginnings in 1965 through its college project phase (1969-1972). Diverse sources were used, including not only archivedmaterials, but also interviews with some of the former project participants .The MMCP represents the true spirit of the new curriculum reform movement. MMCP experiences at reform reveal two compelling stories. The project was an education reform attempt driven by project members ' strong belief in pedagogical innovations. On the other hand, the barriers that participants encountered during the course of the project were vivid representations of some of the complexities involved in effecting long-lasting and wide-spread change to the status quo, something the project failed to achieve. Nevertheless, the spirit and ideas of the project continue to live through true believers in the approach, which is the real success of the MMCP.The MMCP experiences imply a powerful lesson for reformers in the future: changing the status quo is a difficult task. Significant change is unlikely without solid bottom-up support, effective implementation strategies, and adequate efforts to sustain and institutionalize new curricular initiatives so that they do not become fragile and disappear.

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