Illinois Summer Youth Music (ISYM)

🩺Are you a school nurse on summer break or a traveling nurse between assignments? Illinois Summer Youth Music (ISYM) is hiring a nurse for 2026 summer!

Spend three inspiring weeks on the beautiful UIUC campus, supporting talented young musicians with a competitive salary.

To apply or learn more, contact: Terri Daniels, Director of Public Engagement, UIUC School of Music, [email protected]

Conducting our Sr. Chorus for the 2025 session is Ben Luginbuhl!

Ben Luginbuhl is currently in his 27th year of teaching vocal music at Normal Community High School. During his tenure, he has also taught general music and chorus at every grade level K-8 at two middle schools and elementary schools within the McLean County Unit 5 school district in Normal, Illinois. At NCHS, Ben is the music department chair and directs 5 curricular and 3 extra-curricular choirs, including the NCHS Madrigal Singers, Court Singers, and two a ca****la ensembles. He is also vocal director and pit conductor for NCHS musical productions, and has also taught AP Music Theory and American Popular Music. He received his Bachelor of Music Education degree, with highest honors, from the University of Illinois, and has received master’s degrees in both Education Administration and Music Education from Illinois State University. In 2010, Ben became a National Board Certified Teacher, renewing in 2021. In the 2018-2019 school year, Ben was humbled and honored to be named a Top Ten Finalist in the Illinois Teacher of the Year program.

Ben has served as President and Senior Chorus Chair for ILMEA District 3. He also is active in the American Choral Directors Association (ACDA), serving as the Illinois District 3 representative, and currently serving as state President-Elect Designate and High School Repertoire & Resource chair. He has been the guest conductor of the ILMEA Districts 2, 5, & 8 All-District Junior Chorus, as well as several public school and church choir festivals throughout the Midwest. He enjoys adjudicating choir festivals and has spent over 20 years as a section leader and conductor at ISYM Choir Camps at the University of Illinois. Ben, his wife Kristy, and children Cade, Cole, and Charis reside in Bloomington.

Read more about our faculty by clicking the link below! Stay tuned for more upcoming posts on our amazing faculty for this year's session of ISYM!

https://music.illinois.edu/engagement/isym/about/illinois-summer-youth-music-faculty/

Up next, directing our Jr. Choir for the 2025 session is Julia Beer!

Julia Beer has taught high school and junior high choral music throughout the state of Illinois since 1992. In 2014, she accepted a position as choral director and general music instructor within the McLean County Unit District 5, located in Bloomington, Illinois. She currently serves as the choral director for George L. Evans Junior High School in Bloomington, serving students in grades 6, 7 & 8, including extracurricular Honors Choirs, small ensembles and a district wide summer music program.

Before coming to Unit 5, Ms. Beer served as choral director at Eureka High School & Middle School, in Eureka, IL (1992-2001), and Stillman Valley High School (2009-2014). A native of Catlin, Illinois, Ms. Beer received her Bachelor of Science and Master of Music Education degrees from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. She has conducted the Junior Chorus for ILMEA Districts 2, 4 and 5 and serves as the ILMEA District 3 Junior Chorus Chair. Ms. Beer has worked as a counselor, instructor and conductor for the Illinois Summer Youth Music Program since 1998. She is an active clinician and adjudicator throughout Central Illinois and maintains a private piano studio in Bloomington, where she lives with her four children.

Read more about our faculty by clicking the link below! Stay tuned for more upcoming posts on our amazing faculty for this year's session of ISYM!

https://music.illinois.edu/engagement/isym/about/illinois-summer-youth-music-faculty/

Conducting our Orange Jr. Band is Rachel Maxwell!

Rachel Maxwell currently serves as the Director of Bands at Traughber Junior High School, SD #308, in Oswego, IL. Mrs. Maxwell has taught all levels of instrumental music for 32 years, starting in the West Aurora School District (1993-95) and currently in the Oswego School District (1995-present).

She has taught music education courses at VanderCook College of Music in Chicago and North Central College in Naperville, IL. In addition, she serves on the editorial review board of NAfME’s Teaching Music magazine. Mrs. Maxwell is a nationally active guest conductor, clinician, and adjudicator. She has had the privilege to work with groups across the country, including the Anchorage, Alaska Public Schools, the Music for All National Summer Symposium, the California JH All-State Band, the WV JHS All-State Band, the NC All-State Middle School Band, ISYM at the Univ. of Illinois, Il State Univ. Junior High Camp, and several ILMEA District Level Festivals.

A proponent of new music for young bands, she is part of the team from Oswego SD #308 that commissioned and premiered Sheltering Sky by John Mackey, Sol ye Sombra by Donald Grantham, Atmosphere by Scott McAllister, Our Cast Aways by Julie Giroux, Dream of Ember, Dream of Star by David Biedenbender, and Forward/Still by Omar Thomas. She has independently commissioned several works and is also involved in several consortium commissions, including those with composers Dana Wilson, The N-BEAM Group, Randall Standridge, Roy Magnuson, Brian Balmages, Katahj Copley, Aakash Mittal, Alex Shapiro, Haley Woodrow, Joni Greene, Ivette Herryman Rodriguez, and Aaron Perrine. She is also a founding member of The Kneel Consortium.

Under her direction, the bands at Traughber JHS have performed at The Midwest Clinic (three clinic presentations and one rehearsal lab group), the Illinois Music Educators Association All-State Conference (three formal concerts and four clinic presentations), the University of Illinois Super-state Festival and at the ASBDA National Convention.

Mrs. Maxwell has degrees from Illinois State University (BME), The University of Illinois (MME), and Aurora University (MAEL). She is currently a Doctor of Musical Arts candidate at Boston University. She is a member of The National Association of Music Education, Illinois Music Educators Association, American School Band Directors Association, National Band Association, National Council of Supervisors of Music Education, Pi Kappa Lambda, Phi Beta Mu, and several honor societies.

Rachel Maxwell is a multiple-year nominee for the Music Educator Grammy Award, 5-time recipient of the National Band Association Citation of Excellence, Chicago-land Outstanding Music Educator Award, National Recipient of the Jim Ott (Drum Corps International) Scholarship as a member of The Phantom Regiment Drum and Bugle Corps, ASBDA/UMI Outstanding Young Band Director Award-Junior High Division for the North Central Region of the United States and a Golden Apple nominee.

Read more about our faculty by clicking the link below! Stay tuned for more upcoming posts on our amazing faculty for this year's session of ISYM!

https://music.illinois.edu/engagement/isym/about/illinois-summer-youth-music-faculty/

Conducting our Blue Jr. Band is Moulee Gupta!

Moulee Gupta currently serves as one of the band directors at Carl Sandburg Middle School in Mundelein, Illinois. Mrs. Gupta started teaching at CSMS in 2013, and has over twenty years of teaching experience including general music and band at the elementary, junior high, high school, and collegiate level. In addition to teaching 7th and 8th grade band at CSMS, Mrs. Gupta oversees the Performing Arts Department, directs and choreographs the school musical, and sponsors the Tiger Dance Ensemble. She is also the Assistant Marching Band Director for her alma mater Lake Park High School in Roselle, Illinois.

Mrs. Gupta received her Bachelors in Music Education from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign in 2002. She received her Masters in Music Education from Vandercook College of Music in Chicago in 2008. Since then, she has taken several continuing education courses and enjoys learning and exploring new ways to teach students.

Mrs. Gupta loves spending time with her family and loves to travel. She lives in Schaumburg with her husband and two sons ages 15 and 12. Their most recent international adventures were exploring Colombia in December of 2024 and Ireland in March of 2025. Mrs. Gupta’s love of all things Disney is unmatched. She worked at Walt Disney World in Florida for a college internship and worked at Disneyland in California as a Performing Arts Stage Manager. You can expect to hear many Disney songs at her band concerts. Mrs. Gupta lives by Walt Disney’s quote, “If you can dream it, you can do it.”

Read more about our faculty by clicking the link below! Stay tuned for more upcoming posts on our amazing faculty for this year's session of ISYM!

https://music.illinois.edu/engagement/isym/about/illinois-summer-youth-music-faculty/

We are excited to have Spencer Hile serving as Director of the 2025 ISYM Harding Senior Band with Jaquan Wiley serving as assistant for this ensemble!

Spencer Hile joined the Hersey band program in 2021. At Hersey, Mr. Hile teaches Concert Band, Symphonic Band, Percussion Ensemble, Jazz Ensemble 1, and the Marching Huskies. Mr. Hile also coordinates all aspects of the Band Program and coordinates the annual Chicagoland Invitational Concert Band Festival. He also is the founder and conductor of the Encore Wind Symphony which is a summer youth honor band composed of students from across McHenry County. Previously he was the band director at McHenry High School in McHenry, Illinois where he taught two jazz bands, three concert bands, percussion ensemble, and music theory. Under his direction, the McHenry Symphonic Band performed at the University of Illinois Superstate Concert Band Festival, Illinois Music Educators Conference, and was one of sixteen high school bands from across the country selected to perform on the featured stage at the 2020 National Concert Band Festival.

Mr. Hile’s interest in music began when he was required to join the band for his freshman year at Highland Park High School by his high school band director, Dr. Jim Hile. After the kicking and screaming subsided he discovered a deep appreciation for the most important instrument… Euphonium. In 2016, he graduated Summa Cum Laude from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign with a degree in Instrumental Music Education.

Outside of teaching and music, he is training to run his fifth marathon, obsessing over Apple products, and questioning why he ever became a Chicago Bears fan.

Read more about our faculty by clicking the link below! Stay tuned for more upcoming posts on our amazing faculty for this year's session of ISYM!

https://music.illinois.edu/engagement/isym/about/illinois-summer-youth-music-faculty/

Moving on to Bands, we are excited to have Dr. Melissa Gustafson-Hinds serving as Director of the 2025 ISYM Sousa Senior Band with Nate Maher (MM'24) serving as assistant for this ensemble!

Melissa Gustafson-Hinds is in her 17th year as Director of Bands at O’Fallon Township High School in O’Fallon, Illinois. In addition to her teaching duties at O’Fallon Township High School, Melissa Gustafson-Hinds serves as Performing Arts Department Chair at OTHS and the Illinois Music Educators Association Band Division President. The OTHS Band Program has recently earned the honors of the John Philip Sousa Sudler Flag (2022) and Sudler Shield (2023) for the OTHS Band Program. Under her direction, the OTHS Marching Panthers have been consistent Bands of America (BOA) Regional and Super Regional finalists, Grand National Semi-Finalists, and a Grand National Finalist in 2018. In 2015 and 2022, the band marched in the Tournament of Roses Parade in Pasadena, California. The Marching Panthers recently performed in the 2023 Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade. The concert ensembles have performed at Carnegie Hall, the Illinois Superstate Concert Band Festival, the Music For All National Festival, the ILMEA State Convention, and the Midwest Clinic. The O’Fallon Township Band Program was honored with the NBA Program of Excellence Blue Ribbon Award (2019), along with multiple Music For All Advocacy Awards. Melissa Gustafson-Hinds is a newly inducted member of the American Bandmasters Association.

This year, Melissa Gustafson-Hinds will serve as the Assistant Band Director for the 2026 Bands of America Honor Band for the Tournament of Roses Parade.

Melissa is originally from Monmouth, Illinois. She holds degrees from Illinois State University, the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, and the University of Missouri St. Louis. She has been teaching in Illinois public schools for 31 years.

Melissa is married to Evan Hinds; together, they have a daughter named Evelyn, who is 9.

Read more about our faculty by clicking the link below! Stay tuned for more upcoming posts on our amazing faculty for this year's session of ISYM!

https://music.illinois.edu/engagement/isym/about/illinois-summer-youth-music-faculty/

🚨Introducing the 2025 ISYM Jazz Faculty 🚨

Saxophone - Dr. Robert Brooks
Saxophone - Dr. Reginald Lewis
Saxophone - Stefan Loest
Trumpet - Dr. Ansyn Banks
Trombone - Rich Dole
Piano - Leon Lewis-Nichol
Bass/Guitar - Larry Gray
Bass - Dr. Emma Taylor
Drums - Dr. Max Osawa

Read more about our faculty by clicking the link below! Stay tuned for more upcoming posts on our amazing faculty for this year's session of ISYM!

https://music.illinois.edu/engagement/isym/about/illinois-summer-youth-music-faculty/

Conducting the 2025 ISYM Junior Orchestra is Tamra Gingold!

Ms. Tamra Gingold has been the Urbana High School Orchestra and All City Strings Director for 22 years in the Urbana School District #116 teaching grades 5-12. She provides private instruction for violin, viola and cello. She received a Bachelor’s and a Master’s Degree in Violin Performance and Music Education from the University of Illinois in 1999 and 2002. She received her National Board Certification in 2009. She performs in several professional orchestras, the Bandoneon Massacre Tango ensemble, Sculds of Braggy Swedish group, and plays the Guitarron in the newly formed Mariachi Libertad. She is the sponsor and one of the directors for the Mariachi Tigres de Urbana. Tamra is an active member for the Holocaust Educational Committee and the Champaign-Urbana Jewish Federation Educational Committee.

Tamra is the District 3 ILMEA representative for the 5th/6th grade Festival.

Tamra is the Educational Coordinator and section leader for the Urbana Pops Orchestra, where she mentors and works with student interns and professionals. Tamra loves to play string instruments, but her passion is focused on teaching young people and helping them discover their love and passion for the arts.

For more information on Ms. Gingold and our other faculty for this summer, check out our website at https://music.illinois.edu/engagement/isym/about/illinois-summer-youth-music-faculty/

We are very excited to announce that Dr. Rebecca MacLeod, Daniel J. Perrino Endowed Chair in Music, will serve as the 2025 ISYM Senior Orchestra conductor with April Whyte and Angie Duenas serving as assistants! Read more about our faculty by clicking the link below! Stay tuned for more upcoming posts on our amazing faculty for this year's session of ISYM!

https://music.illinois.edu/engagement/isym/about/illinois-summer-youth-music-faculty/