Seth Adams

Seth Adams, Ph.D.

Assistant Professor

Pronouns
he/him
College
College of Fine Arts, Humanities & Social Sciences
Department
Music
Phone
978-934-2760
Office
Moloney Performing Arts Center, Room 323
Email
seth_adams@uml.edu

Expertise

Instrumental music education and modern band; Remote music making and telematics.

Research Interests

  • Community-engaged musical practice
  • Networked music performance
  • Creativity-based pedagogy
  • Music and social bonding

Education

  • Ph.D.: Music Education, (2024), Northwestern University
    Dissertation Title: The Internet-Mediated Musical Experience
  • M.M.: Music Education, (2012), Boston University
  • B.M.: Percussion Performance and Music Education, (2005), University of Massachusetts Amherst

Biosketch

Seth Adams, Ph.D., is Assistant professor of Music at the University of Massachusetts Lowell, where he teaches graduate and undergraduate courses in music education. Adams specializes in teaching instrumental methods, the philosophy of music education, applications of music technology, and informal/community music practices. His current research program includes examining the lived experience of real-time network-mediated music, the social bonding effects of music, and the philosophy of aesthetics in music education. 

Seth's musical background includes an eclectic mix of wind band conducting, solo marimba, jazz bass, marching band, and the singer/songwriter tradition. His approach to music education is heavily influenced by his own genre-crossing and a belief in the deliberate combination of formal and nonformal learning practices. He is a recipient of the Modern Band Higher Education Fellowship at Music Will, the largest nonprofit music education program in the United States. As a Higher Ed Fellow, Adams seeks both to incorporate modern band pedagogy in his collegiate teaching and to build partnerships with local public schools. 

Prior to his career in higher education, Seth was a Ravinia Teaching Artist in the Chicago Public Schools and director of bands at UIC College Preparatory High School. Seth also spent five years as a front ensemble music arranger and teacher in the drum and bugle corps activity (DCI), and 15 years as a full-time bassist and drummer in both Greater Boston and Chicagoland. Seth’s previous musical projects include founding the Temporal Displacement Orchestra (a group that virtually premiered Frank Ticheli’s In C-Dorian in 2020), co-founding Animal Farm (an award-winning original music act for children and families), and composing original works for percussion ensemble (including the popular TapSpace publication "The River"). 

Selected Publications

  • Adams, S. (in process). “Real time in different spacetime”: A phenomenology of advanced networked music performance.
  • Adams, S. (in process). Mediating the exquisite: Fine arts education in the age of telematics. Journal of Network Music and Arts. 
  • Adams, S. (in process). A collective case study of networked music performance among small ensembles.
  • Adams, S. (2024). The internet-mediated musical experience. (Doctoral dissertation, Northwestern University). 
  • Adams, S. (2023). Adventures in [a]synchrony: Tools and strategies for the network arts-curious music educator. Journal of Network Music and Arts 5, no. 1.

Selected Presentations

  • Adams, S. (November, 2024). A phenomenology of advanced practitioner experience of networked music performance. Paper presentation. Association for Technology in Music Instruction National Conference. Washington, D.C.  
  • Adams, S. (November, 2024). Mediating the exquisite: Fine arts education in the age of telematics. Paper presentation. NowNet Arts Conference 2024: Western Hemisphere. New York, NY (hybrid online/in-person). 
  • Adams, S. (September, 2024). A collective case study of networked music performance among small ensembles. Paper presentation. National Association for Music Education National Conference. Atlanta, GA.
  • Adams, S. (October, 2023). A collective case study of synchronous remote music rehearsal. Paper presentation. Association for Technology in Music Instruction National Conference. Miami, FL.  
  • Adams, S. (October, 2023). Exquisite encounters: Teaching toward flow, beauty, and the ineffable. Paper presentation. Big Ten Academic Alliance Music Education Conference. Minneapolis, MN. 
  • Adams, S. (June, 2023). Teaching for the exquisite encounter: A praxial approach to aesthetic music education. Graduate paper workshop. Symposium XIII for the International Society for the Philosophy of Music Education. Oslo, Norway. 
  • Adams, S. (January, 2023). The remote future is here: Digital tools for real-time music-making over the internet. Clinic demonstration. Illinois Music Educators Conference. Peoria, IL.
  • Adams, S. (November, 2022). An exploratory case study of telematic musicking. Poster presentation. National Association for Music Education National Conference. National Harbor, MD.
  • Adams, S. (October, 2022). The ‘remote’ future is here: Digital tools for real-time music making over the internet. Clinic and demonstration. DePaul University Music Education Conference. Chicago, IL.
  • Adams, S. (November, 2021). ‘Thrilling and frustrating’: A case study of networked music performance. Paper presentation. NowNet Arts Conference. New York, NY (held online). 
  • Adams, S. (September, 2018). Solfege as a unifying pedagogy in the beginning band classroom. Clinic workshop. The Conversation on Music Education at Boston University. Boston, MA