Nathaniel Adam

Specialization: Music Theory; popular-music analysis; counterpoint & musicianship skills; musical semiotics.

About: Nathaniel Adam studied music theory and piano/harpsichord at the Eastman School of Music (BM, 2006) and the University of Michigan (PhD, 2011), where his research focused on popular music, minimalist music, and Baroque performance. His dissertation explored approaches to teaching popular-music analysis with a focus on the music of Radiohead. Before teaching at Yale he held faculty positions at Central Connecticut State University, Western Connecticut State University, and the New York State Summer School of the Arts, and served as managing editor of the Journal of Music Theory at Yale from 2012 to 2016.

At the Yale Music Department, Dr Adam created a curriculum of popular-music analysis as an alternative to the traditional Western-art-music theory classes, which has attracted large numbers of both music majors and non-majors. He is dedicated to keeping musicianship-skills training relevant, engaging, and broadly applicable to multiple genres and traditions. He has presented his research at conferences for the College Music Society and the Society for Music Analysis. Adam’s current projects include open-source textbooks for popular-music analysis, diatonic sightreading, and approaches to counterpoint through vocal arranging. He remains involved in the development of the Music Department’s undergraduate classes and advising projects for music students. As a Fellow at Yale’s Davenport College, he serves as a first-year advisor and a founding member of the Davenport Fellows’ Steering Committee. 

In addition to teaching, Dr Adam maintains an active career as a keyboard accompanist, choral conductor, singer, and composer/arranger.