Adams next enrolled in Harvard University, where he earned a Bachelor of Arts in 1969 and a Master of Arts in 1971, studying composition under Leon Kirchner, Roger Sessions, Earl Kim, and David Del Tredici. As an undergraduate, he conducted Harvard's student ensemble, the Bach Society Orchestra, for a year and a half. Adams also became engrossed by the strict modernism of the 20th century (such as that of Boulez) while at Harvard, and believed that music had to continue progressing, to the extent that he once wrote a letter to Leonard Bernstein criticizing the supposed stylistic reactionism of "Chichester Psalms". By night, however, Adams enjoyed listening to The Beatles, Jimi Hendrix, and Bob Dylan, and has relayed he once stood in line at eight in the morning to purchase a copy of "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band."