David A. Williams

Director, Professor of Music Education

Email: davidw@usf.edu
Phone: (813) 974-2311
Office: MUS 101

David Williams joined the faculty at USF in the fall of 1998. He taught music education courses including Foundations of Music Education and Progressive Music Methods. He served as Associate Director of the School of Music from 2006-2020, the Interim Director from 2020-2022, and he was appointed Director of the School in 2022.

Williams earned a Bachelor’s Degree in Music Education from Morehead State University, a Master of Music Education Degree from the State University of West Georgia, and a Ph.D. in Music Education from Northwestern University. His research interests involve the use of learner-centered pedagogies and how these impact teaching and learning in music education.

His publications include the book A Different Paradigm in Music Education, and an edited book with co-editor Jonathan Kladder, The Learner-Centered Music Classroom: Models and Possibilities. He also has eight published book chapters including the forthcoming “Reimagining Music Education,” in Haning’s Points of Disruption in the Music Education Curriculum.

In 2011, Dr. Williams started a live-performance iPad ensemble. The band, Touch, serves as a model of learner-centered music making where students make the majority of musical and creative decisions. Typical Touch concerts include 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.

During the 2022-2023 academic year, Touch toured extensively while performing a total of 45 concerts. The band, made up of five undergraduate music education students along with Dr. Williams, performed at schools across Florida, in New York City, Philadelphia, Nashville, Los Angeles and San Diego, and did a Spring Break study abroad experience across England.