Music, memories mark Summer Music Clinic’s 75th year

Theresa McKinley earned donuts – literally – when she began working at UW–Madison’s Summer Music Clinic in 1977.

“Some of my very earliest memories are from Summer Music Clinic. My father was as an administrative assistant when I was young, and I always looked forward to the days I would be allowed to help him in the office. I’d have to wake up at 6 a.m. so we’d have time to stop to pick up donuts for the office. All day my brothers and I inserted name tags into badges, sitting at the adult’s desks and pretending to be important when the faculty came in,” she says.

McKinley continued to help out until she was old enough to attend clinic as a student herself. She studied French horn and voice for seven years, starting the summer before seventh grade and progressing to the honors group level. Since then she has worked as a counselor, in time “graduating” to a floor counselor and eventually leading the clinic staff as co-coordinator of counselors.

“Summer Music Clinic has had a lasting effect on my life,” she says now. “It challenged me to extend myself further musically, of course, but also socially, intellectually and emotionally. It was a complete experience for developing me into a better person.”

Today McKinley is house operations manager at UW-Green Bay’s Weidner Center for the Performing Arts. Her father, Dennis McKinley, is now director of alumni relations at Edgewood High School in Madison. He also remains active in music education.

His tenure in the Summer Music Clinic began in 1962, when he attended as a band/percussion student and worked as a librarian. He continued his involvement until 1991, serving as a librarian, administrative assistant (the donut years) and finally as co-coordinator.

“The impact that the clinic had on my life has been immeasurable,” he says. “Professionally speaking, it’s exposed me to many of the top directors and music educators in the country, and helped me to learn a lot of music literature.”

Summer 2004 marks the clinic’s 75th anniversary. Since 1929, nearly 1,000 student musicians have polished their musical talents each summer under the tutelage of almost 2,000 music educators from across Wisconsin. Clinic program manager Anne Aley says that some 4,000 staff members and as many as 75,000 students have taken part since the doors first opened.

“It’s remarkable – when Summer Music Clinic began music education was still in its infancy. Since then, the clinic has survived the Great Depression, the World War II housing squeeze, the polio epidemic, anti-Vietnam War riots and increasing competition from diverse opportunities,” she says.

The first clinics were for band directors only. However, offerings soon expanded for orchestras and choruses. The 1933 Chicago World’s Fair invited several clinic groups to perform at “Wisconsin Days”; later in the decade, Milwaukee Lake Front Festivals showcased various clinic ensembles.

The clinic’s popularity zoomed during the 1950s. WHA radio broadcast the camp concerts statewide. In 1960, director Emmett Sarig commissioned a special “Wisconsin Finale,” combining the clinic band, orchestra and chorus, from UW School of Music composer Hilmar Luckhardt. Lindley J. Stiles, then dean of the School of Education, wrote lyrics.

Summer Music Clinic moved to the new Humanities Building when it opened in 1969. Richard Wolf directed during the anti-war riots: “I vividly remember looking out the window and seeing the National Guard in full combat dress with fixed bayonets, lined shoulder to shoulder, and tear gas heavy in the air,” he says. “Parents were apprehensive about sending their children to our campus.” Nevertheless, Wolf says, some 2,000 enrolled in that particular year.

This year, the Summer Music Clinic will celebrate its anniversary with a gala concert, free and open to the public, featuring honors-level senior high school student ensembles on Friday, July 2, at 7:30 p.m. in the Wisconsin Union Theater. The concert will be broadcast live and statewide on WHA radio. In addition, final concerts, also free and open to the public, will take place on Saturday, July 3, starting at 8:30 a.m. Programs listing the specific morning schedules will be available in the lobbies of the Wisconsin Union Theater and Mills Concert Hall in the Mosse Humanities Building.

A commemorative dinner featuring speakers from the clinic’s past will precede the concert on July 2. Reservations are available from Aley by phone at (608) 263-2242 or by email at maaley@wisc.edu. She also invites clinic alumni and other friends to share their memories at the Summer Music Clinic Web site.