The Music Extension "Section" was organized in 1946 as part of the Division of University Extension. It did not have a full-time director until 1948. In 1962 the music Section of the University Extension was reorganized, changing the name to "Extension in Music" and placing greater emphasis upon educational quality.
During this time, the Extension in Music held an administrative role, cooperating with the School of Music, the University Band and local and state organizations, such as the Illinois Arts Council, by bringing campus-sponsored music education to various communities around Illinois. The Extension in Music conducted extramural credit and non-credit classes, clinics, workshops, and demonstrations on the Urbana campus and all over the state for professional musicians school music educators. It provided consultation services for community and school music projects. It administered research projects and conducts curriculum surveys in an effort to improve music education. And it published musical compositions and bulletins to keep people informed about music events and educational opportunities throughout Illinois.
Until 1962 the Extension in Music administered the annual All-State Music Competition, a music competition for elementary and high school students. The annual event was taken over by the Illinois High School Association in 1963. The Extension in Music also provided audio-visual material to schools for music education. In 1966, when it took over sponsorship of Youth Audiences, Inc., it began providing live concerts to young Illinoisans. In 1973 the University-wide Division of University Extension was reorganized, and the Office of Continuing Education and Public Service was created on the Urbana campus to handle the sections transferred to local campus control, among them the Extension in Music.
A year after it was founded (in 1949), the Extension in Music began offering an annual Illinois Summer Youth Music Camp (ISYM), which continues to the present. ISYM began with two four-week-long camps held on the Urbana campus, one camp for junior high and and one for senior high school students. ISYM expanded significantly between the 1990s and the early 2010s, eventually offering programing in jazz performance, hip-hop beat making, and musical theater. Throughout the 2010s and 2020s, ISYM reorganized the structure of the camp, reducing the length of the camp to two weeks and eventually one week for both the junior and high school sections. Throughout ISYM's history, camp staff were drawn from both the tenured faculty and graduate students.
Sources:Helen Farlow, "History,", p. 37, The University of Illinois Division of University Extension, 1933-1968, A Progress Report, Concert Guides, RS 31/1/804.
"Coming Events, 1966-67," Extension in Music announcement, Conference and Clinic Announcements, RS 31/11/802.
"Summer is Icumen In," Extension in Music and Illinois Summer Youth Music Camp announcement for 1968, Conference and Clinic Announcements, RS 31/11/802.
Board of Trustees Transactions, 57th Report, March 21, 1973, pp. 183-84; July 18, 1973, p. 326.
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