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Adam Clark

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Adam Clark, Instructor of Drumset

School of Performing Arts
Squires Student Center
540-231-5335
adclark@vt.edu

Adam Clark has been teaching guitar, piano, bass and drums/percussion for close to 20 years. Growing up in a family of musicians, he had his first musical training on piano, guitar, and bass. In grade school he gravitated towards drumming and spent the next 15 years diving deeply into the rhythm universe. This culminated in a degree from the New England Conservatory in Contemporary Improvisation in 2005 after a three-year apprenticeship with the legendary drummer/composer/mystic Ra-Kalam Bob Moses. 

Adam then founded Boston’s first Afrobeat ensemble, The Superpowers, which he recorded two albums with before disbanding in 2009. Members of The Superpowers went on to perform and record with Beyonce, Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros, The Motet, John Brown’s Body, Boy George, and Tortured Soul.

He then spent the next 5 years primarily playing electric bass and singing with Full Tang, a band conceived for covering Chimurenga music from Zimbabwe, High-Life music of Nigeria, Chicha from Peru, Jamaican Reggae, Colombian Salsa, with a dash of original punk rock and free jazz influence. 

During this time he was also hired to play drums with Debo Band, Boston’s premier Ethiopian Pop group. Their first showcase performance at SXSW in 2011 led to a record deal with the infamous Sub-Pop label out of Seattle, Washington. The self-titled debut record went on to become one of NPR’s Top 50 Albums of 2012, spawning touring across the North American continent at festivals and venues including: Bonnaroo, New Orleans Jazz Fest, Montreal Jazz Fest, Calgary Folk Fest, Vancouver Folk Fest, Chicago World Music Fest, Kennedy Center, Lincoln Center, and a TedX spotlight among many others.

Most recently Adam co-founded Ostinato SoundWorks and developed an iOS music education app called ProJammer. This infinite looping, multi-tracked play-along app includes guitar, bass, piano, and drum tracks of various genres with tempo/key change ability to accompany any instrument in the practice of rhythmic, melodic, and soloing techniques. 

He currently spends his free time “woodshedding” electric guitar and studying the history and language of the early electric bluesmen including Freddie King, Slim Harpo, Magic Sam, T-Bone Walker, B.B. King and Jimi Hendrix.

  • Drumset (all genres and styles)
  • World percussion
  • Music production
  • Improvisation
  • Ear training
  • BM in Contemporary Improvisation, New England Conservatory, 2005
  • Creative Content Officer of Ostinato Sound Works LLC
  • NPR's Top 50 Records of 2012: Debo Band
  • Boston Music Award ­- Best Live Act: Debo Band 2012
  • Boston Music Award -­ Best World/International Act: Debo Band 2009, The Superpowers 2006
  • TedX Boston 2013
  • New Orleans Jazz Festival, Montreal Jazz Festival, Roskilde Festival, SESC Jazz Festival São Paulo, Bonnaroo Music Festival, Le Guess Who? (Utrecht), Ljubljana Jazz Festival, Vancouver Folk Festival, Calgary Folk Festival, Chicago World Music Festival, Toronto World Music Festival, Philadelphia Folk Festival, Newport Folk Festival, Lincoln Center, Kennedy Center, TedX:Boston, SXSW, APAP
  • MUS 2684/4684 (Individual Applied Percussion / Advanced Individual Percussion)