BUCKFIELD — Buckle on the bass drum. Strap on the cymbals. Pucker for the penny whistle.

That’s how Rick Adam of Buckfield — better known as Professor Paddy-Whack — readies himself for work, by piling more than 30 musical instruments onto his 5-foot, 4-inch frame. The 60-pound load is topped with a replica bearskin hat with attached bells, whistles and a complete xylophone.

All of it — every bell, whistle and bubble-maker in the chaotic costume and the 58-year-old professor himself — may soon be on national TV.

In April, Adam auditioned in New York City for the NBC show, “America’s Got Talent.”

He made it at least as far as a live tryout on stage for the show’s celebrity judges: Sharon Osborne, Piers Morgan and Howie Mandel.

The show hasn’t aired yet, and Adam is barred from saying how he fared during his 90 seconds in the spotlight.

The judges either liked him — sending him to another round of auditions in Las Vegas — or they didn’t.

“It wasn’t that different from what I expected,” said Adam, who was recommended for the show by a fellow performer. “It’s a competition. It is also a game show.”

Part of its spectacle is a seemingly over-caffeinated audience that is encouraged to yell out its love or hatred for the acts on stage.

For Adam’s audition, the show had taken over a 2,000-seat theater in Manhattan. He managed an early audition with producers before he was selected with about 100 other people to try out onstage, in front of the judges and the crowd.

He saw good acts and bad ones, he said.

The seasoned performers did well on stage, particularly when facing the audiences. Others were stunned by the cheers or the jeers.

“Some of them had never performed in front of people before,” Adam said. “My heart went out to them.”

Adam remained cool. He’s performed in China and Russia, for presidents and the boss, Bruce Springsteen.

“I’ve been doing this for more than 30 years,” Adam said.

The Rhode Island native first came to Maine as a student of Tony Montanaro at Paris’ Celebration Barn Theater and eventually settled among Buckfield’s art community.

He is a songwriter, a Shakespearean actor, a juggler and a mime. He entertains on stilts, often as a yodeling cowboy. He plays a mean saw. And he began working as a one-man band in 1977.

He is not the first Buckfield performer to try out for the show. In 2009, brothers Jason and Matt Tardy took their musical comedy act, AudioBody, to the show.

They, too, performed for the judges on a New York City stage. They won over the audience but not the judges and failed to go further.

Adam refused to disclose how he did; he signed an agreement with the show’s producers to keep quiet until it airs.

However, he said he has been re-energized since the show, finishing a solo album of family music titled “Professor Paddy-Whack Goes to the Fair.”

The album will be available on iTunes and will soon be sampled on his Facebook site, “Professor Paddy-Whack.”

The collection of songs features originals, performed and recorded at his home studio.

And, keeping with his one-man-band ethic, he did it all himself.

“I’m a multi-tasking wacko,” he said.

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