David A. Williams ([email protected]) is an Associate Professor of Music Education and the Interim Director of the School of Music. He teaches music education courses, including, Foundations of Music Education and Progressive Music Methods. He joined the faculty at USF in the fall of 1998, and he holds a Ph.D. in music education from Northwestern University. His research interests involve the use of learner-centered and informal learning pedagogies and how these impact teaching and learning in music education. Additionally, he is interested in effecting change in diversity, equity, and inclusion within Schools of Music and music education.

Some of Dr. Williams’ recent publications include the book A Different Paradigm in Music Education, and an edited book with co-editor Johnathan Kladder, The Learner-Centered Music Classroom: Models and Possibilities. He also has a chapter in the upcoming Oxford University Press publication, Creative Music Making at Your Fingertips!: A Mobile Technology Guide for Music Educators. He also recently published a video, “One is the Loneliest Number: Forms of Musicianship” in the Media Journal in Music Education.

In 2011, Dr. Williams started a live-performing iPad ensemble that is typically made up of five musicians. The band, Touch, serves as a model of a learner-centered musical ensemble. A typical Touch concert includes music from a wide-range of styles, collaborations with vocalists, dancers, actors, and visual artists, as well as significant audience participation. In addition to concerts in the Tampa Bay area and on the USF campus, the band has performed at the National Association of Music Education In-Service Conference in Nashville, Tennessee, the National Association for Schools of Music in Washington, DC, the Texas and Missouri Music Educators Association Conferences, the Florida Educational Technology Conference, and the College Music Society National Meeting in Santa Fe, New Mexico. The band has also appeared on a segment for ESPN and performed at two TEDx Conferences.

In addition to his degree from Northwestern University, Dr. Williams earned a master of music education degree from the State University of West Georgia, and a bachelors degree in music education from Morehead State University in Kentucky.