Histories

ITG Awards of Merit

William Adam

William Adam was born in October 1917, in Fort Collins, Colorado and began trumpet studies at age nine with Ben Faults, 3rd cornetist of the John Philip Sousa Band. Bill Adam learned to play by ear, imitating great sound in a melodic context. At 10, Bill hitchhiked to study with John and Mabel Leich in Denver, Colorado, being taught through demonstration of the ideal, rather than from criticism of physical technique.

Adam attended the University of Colorado at Denver, earning his Bachelor’s degree in Trumpet Performance and later studied at the Eastman School of Music, earning two Master’s degrees, one in Music Theory, and the other in Composition. William studied with Hyrum Lammers, in Los Angeles, and the likes of Harold Mitchell, Herbert L. Clarke, Louis Maggio, and William Vacchiano.

In 1946 Mr. Adam became trumpet professor at the School of Music at Indiana University, and succesfully held this position for 42 years, retiring in 1988. Students from that studio succeeding in orchestra, band, jazz, studio work, teaching, and other fields, are vast. Mr. Adam performed and lectured at the first ITG Conference in 1975. The University of Illinois, University of Nevada, University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music, Appalachian State University, UCLA and many others throughout the United States have hosted his clinics.