Junior Session
June 18-24, 2023
Senior Session
June 25-July 1, 2023
We invite young musicians, music lovers and those who enjoy all forms of music and creativity for a week of music and memory-making on the UW–Madison campus. There is a creative artistic path for everyone! With sessions for both middle and high school students, Summer Music Clinic offers the opportunity to:
- Learn from experienced educators and music and arts professionals from around the country and UW–Madison
- Develop new music and artistic skills and enhance existing ones
- Meet and collaborate with those who share your interests and connect your life and academics with the arts
- Develop and express your unique, creative style. Learn to tell your story in multiple ways through the arts
- Enjoy new experiences in a welcoming, supportive community on the UW-Madison campus
Residential campers live in Ogg Hall and rise for breakfast at 7 a.m. Commuter campers join around 7:30 a.m. and spend the day in student chosen music and arts class experiences with peers until 4:20 p.m. Evenings include indoor and outdoor social activities as well as all camp inspiring performances by guest artists, faculty members and fellow students.
The week culminates with performances and presentations for family and friends to celebrate and share your hard work!
Ogg Hall has spacious double rooms, air conditioning, and small refrigerators. Each student is paired with a roommate in the same grade. Specific roommates may be requested, but many campers meet for the first time when they arrive. Counselors go out of their way to make it easy to get to know everyone.
Starting in 1929, Summer Music Clinic is the second oldest music camp in the USA by one year to Interlochen Center for the Arts. Encompassing the Wisconsin Idea, the mission of SMC is to be a true “clinic” for teachers, students, community, pre-service educators, and all to come and learn and grow together during the summer in an immersive arts experience.
Summer Music Clinic Information
Summer Music Clinic works in partnership with the UW–Madison Mead Witter School of Music
Teachers and counselors
"I've never seen any other music education program of this structure and size have such a broad-reaching and long-lasting impact on young people. These young musicians grow and bloom exponentially over one brief summer week. This is possible because of two pillars of the program: 1) incredibly talented educators who love teaching more than anything, and 2) incredibly caring camp counselors who work tirelessly to create a safe, supportive, and fun community. Summer Music Clinic is much more than a music camp; it's a game-changer."
Elizabeth Snodgrass, Program Manager of Summer Music Clinic 2018-2019
Our highly qualified teachers are chosen for their excellence, diverse perspectives and backgrounds, creativity and care as music educators and are drawn from the Madison area as well as greater Wisconsin and the U.S. Instructors bring their own unique style of teaching and musical experiences to their classes, offering current, wide-ranging opportunities for students.
Experienced and caring counselors are part of what makes Summer Music Clinic so special. Several were campers themselves and know the value of having a friendly and reliable support system while away from home. These supervisors — usually college students or young educators — ensure campus life is fun and safe for all who attend, resulting in a welcoming and inclusive community.
Commitment to diversity, equity and inclusion
Summer Music Clinic and Badger Precollege are guided by values for inclusivity and equity and strive to provide access to any middle or high school musician who wants to participate. Summer Music Clinic and Badger Precollege uphold the University of Wisconsin–Madison’s commitment to promoting equity, diversity and inclusion as we seek to create programming that embraces the richness of diversity and the importance of an inclusive community of students, faculty and staff. We strive to increase accessibility to quality precollege programs for ALL students.
Our students are the embodiment of our hopes for a better future, and they deserve a platform that encourages dialogue and harnesses the unbridled passion for social justice that they possess. To this end, we endeavor to educate and entrust our community to use their voices to foster meaningful change for a more inclusive and just world by providing a welcoming environment for inquiry, reflection and shared accountability.
We further recognize that this is an ongoing task, and we are dedicated to investing the time and effort required to bring about such change.
Badger Precollege supports diversity initiatives in all of our programs by developing innovative, inclusive curricula designed to promote critical thinking, cultural competencies and social justice. We provide faculty, staff, families and students with resources to continuously engage in our joint efforts to combat inequities in our community and beyond.
We lead by example in hosting the annual Latino Youth Summit on the UW–Madison campus and by offering LGBTQ+-inclusive housing options in our residential programs. Our top priorities are to foster strategic partnerships to increase diversity admissions and to fully leverage available funds for scholarships. Learn more about our commitment to diversity, equity and inclusion.
International Participants
Support for international participants
At Badger Precollege, we provide international students with engaging coursework and programming while offering different levels of support to ensure the best experience possible. In addition to the traditional program opportunities, international students have access to:
- A Badger Precollege community manager who will work closely with international students to create a fun and educational atmosphere while in the program. The community manager will be available for students to communicate any ideas, concerns or issues relevant to the programs.
- An orientation session that covers all relevant information for the program and any questions that students or their families may have. It will cover technologies used in the program, what to expect within each synchronous course set up, expectations for the program and work done outside of course time, time zone set up and many other topics.
English proficiency recommendations
To be successful in Summer Music Clinic, we suggest that students demonstrate at least intermediate-level English through a minimum TOEFL score of 80 or IELTS score of 6.5 or Duolingo English Test score of 105. If you do not have a test score available but would like to see if your English is proficient for Summer Music Clinic, you may request a phone or video interview with Summer Music Clinic program staff. To schedule an interview, please email smc@wisc.edu.
June 18-24, 2023
June 25-July 1, 2023