• Location: Via Zoom

• Meet and Greet: 9:30 AM - 10 AM

• Meeting: 10 AM - 10:30 AM

• Presentation 10:30 AM - 12 PM

Presenter: Dr. Andrew Adams

Bio: Dr. Andrew Adams is the Director of the School of Music at Western Carolina University. He earned the Bachelor of Music in Piano from the Kansas City Conservatory and his Master’s in Vocal Coaching from the University of Illinois. He completed his Doctorate in Piano Performance at the University of Colorado. For over a decade, Dr. Adams served on the editorial board of The Journal of Singing, the official publication of the National Association of Teachers of Singing. He has published numerous articles and reviews in Piano Professional (England), The American Music Teacher, The Journal of the International Alliance for Women in Music, and The North Carolina Music Educator. He serves on the Board of Directors of the American Conference of Academic Deans (ACAD) and is currently editing the fourth edition of ACAD's Resource Handbook for Academic Deans for the Johns Hopkins University Press.

Presentation: The Tortured Hand: Antiquated Devices for Strengthening--or Maiming--the Fingers

In this presentation, Dr. Andrew Adams, Director of the School of Music at Western Carolina University, will discuss devices from the nineteenth and twentieth centuries designed to strengthen the hand and fingers, but that could maim them instead. In addition to an overview of machines like the Technicon, Andrew will give a history of the surgical procedure to liberate the fourth finger. He'll explore famous musicians like Robert Schumann who may have been injured by such machines. Join us and start your Halloween early with this fascinating but unsettling presentation.