William Adam Trumpet Scholarship
(est. 1998) The son of Andrew Walker Adam and Wilda Blose Adam, William Adam was born on October 21, 1917 in Kansas City, Missouri. Before he graduated from Fort Collins High School in Colorado at the age of 16, he traveled with big bands. He continued to perform professionally while attending the University of Denver, University of Southern California, and Pasadena Junior College.
Professor Adam graduated from Colorado State University with a Bachelor of Music degree in performance and from the Eastman School of Music with Master of Music degrees in Theory and Composition. He studied with such world-renowned teachers as Mabel Keith Leike, Hyram Lammes, Herbert L. Clarke, and Harold Mitchell. While performing with the Denver Symphony Orchestra and the NBC Radio Orchestras, he taught high school. In Los Angeles, he played in radio show bands and at the Paramount Theater. In 1947 he came to the IU Jacobs School of Music as a trumpet professor.
The William Adam Trumpet Scholarship was established in 1998. Richard Fanning, one of his former students, led the effort to create this fund in honor of Professor Adam's 80th birthday. It provides annual scholarships to undergraduate or graduate students who are majoring in trumpet, jazz, or music education.