Dr. Ian Flatt D.M.A. 2018
Dr. Ian Flatt completed his Doctorate of Musical Arts in 2018 at the University of Miami Frost School of Music where he was the Teaching assistant to the chair of the string department, Prof. Ross Harbaugh, from 2015 - 18. During his time at the Frost School, Ian was a fellow of the Henry Mancini Institute, serving as a principal and section member of the orchestra, and was selected by maestro Scott Flavin (HMI resident conductor) to be the cellist for the H.M.I. String Quartet from 2016 - 18. As a fellow of the HMI orchestra and HMI String Quartet he has worked with film composers such as Jeff Beal (Netflix House of Cards), James Newton Howard (Pretty Woman, King Kong), popular musicians like Ben Fold's Five and Bruce Hornsby, jazz musicians like Arturo Sandoval and Terrence Blanchard, as well as major classical composers like August Read Thomas and Maria Schneider. His Doctoral dissertation is a methodology for classical musicians to begin the process of visualizing and audiating harmony and melody similarly to how guitarist/pianists think when they practice creatively/improvisationally (Ian play and teaches guitar and piano as secondary instruments).
As a professional musician Ian has been a tenured member of several regional orchestras including the Palm Beach Symphony, the Florida Grand Opera, the Des Moines Symphony, and the Long Beach Symphony and Long Beach Ballet, while touring internationally for several years as a member of the Caliendo Trio based in Los Angeles, CA. With a passion for pedagogy and teaching the language of music, Ian is also a certified Suzuki String teacher (Heartland Suzuki Institute), A Level I Orff-Schulwerk Teacher (American Orff-Schulwerk Association), and an emerging improvisor. Before accepting a position with AMS Glendale Ian taught professionally at the college level for four years, as music director of a K-8 program in south Chicago, and as a teaching artist for the non profit group the Miami Music Project. In 2019 and 2020, Dr. Flatt helped design a music program for the Boys and Girls Clubs of Central Iowa that saw the creation of a successful partnership with music faculty of Drake University in Des Moines. Working with the non-profit group Future Leaders in Action (NYC) the new music program at BGCCI, working with Drake Univ., will enrich the greater Des Moines area providing a platform for future community growth while initially impacting the lives of more than 1200 young people in 2020. With a passion for improvisation and creative practices in music, Dr. Flatt continues to push emerging pedagogies in his classroom where equality, advocacy, and empowerment are recognized and instituted as main components of teaching musical literacy for all students.
Dr. Flatt holds a B.M. from the University of Missouri in Kansas City, an M.M. from California State University in Long Beach, and several post-doctoral hours studying Orff Schulwerk pedagogy at the Vandercook College of Music in Chicago.