Adam Potter

Choir, Voice

Roberts Wesleyan College — Director of Choral Activities
Rochester Christian Reformed Church — Chancel Choir Director
CSSM faculty since 2013

PhD (Florida State University), MM & BMus (Houghton College)

A versatile musician, conductor Adam Potter is Director of Choral Activities and Assistant Professor of Music at Roberts Wesleyan College in Rochester, New York. At RWC, he conducts The Roberts Chorale, administers the college choral program, mentors choral music education majors, and teaches coursework in conducting, aural skills, and vocal music methods. He earned a PhD in choral conducting and music education from the Florida State University College of Music and Bachelor and Master of Music degrees in music education and choral conducting from the Greatbatch School of Music, Houghton College, where he was a Presser and Presidential Scholar. His choral music mentors include Judy Bowers, Kevin Fenton, Brandon Johnson, and André Thomas.

Prior to his appointment at Roberts, Dr. Potter enjoyed positions as Director of Choral Activities at Delta State University in Cleveland, Mississippi and Director of Vocal Music at Dansville High School (NY), overseeing thriving and growing vocal music curricula. He is also an active church musician, having previously served Presbyterian congregations in Florida and Mississippi. Currently, he is director of the Chancel Choir at Rochester Christian Reformed Church. During the summers, he conducts choirs and teaches voice at the Csehy Summer School of Music in Langhorne, Pennsylvania. He has also taught at the Interlochen Arts Camp and Houghton College.

Dr. Potter is a sought-after guest conductor and clinician for honor choirs, choral-orchestral performances, and at high schools and colleges and an active adjudicator of choral performance festivals. He has guest-conducted and presented on program building for new teachers, group vocal technique, and the joys and challenges of teaching music in rural school communities at colleges, community chorus retreats, and music education conferences in Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Maryland, Mississippi, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Tennessee. He has also been a guest lecturer at the Kenya Conservatoire of Music and a guest artist with the Nairobi Chamber Chorus in conjunction with the “AVoice4Peace” worldwide peace awareness project. His research interests include sight- singing pedagogy and applications of the servant-leadership model to conducting music ensembles.

Dr. Potter is an active member of the American Choral Directors Association, having served as a repertoire and resources chair at the state level in Mississippi and New York, and maintains memberships in Chorus America, the College Music Society, the National Association for Music Education, the National Association of Teachers of Singing, and the New York State School Music Association. He is also a member of the Golden Key International Honour Society and Pi Kappa Lambda, the American honor society for musicians. In 2010, he was named a Claes Nobel Educator of Distinction and he was honored to be the ΣΑΕ fraternity’s “professor of the month” in October 2015. Learn more about Dr. Potter and his work at www.AdamPotterMusic.com.