Nathan Ratliff is excited to join The Colony High School as the Head Director of Choral Activities! Most recently, Mr. Ratliff served as the Associate Director of Choral Activities at Hebron High School from 2014 to 2024. He received a Bachelor of Music degree in both Percussion and Piano Performance from the University of Oklahoma and later obtained a Master of Music in Percussion Performance from the University of North Texas. Upon completing his degrees, he taught private percussion lessons in the Dallas/Fort Worth area, along with teaching and arranging for several high school band front ensembles, including The Colony High School from 2002-2007. Mr. Ratliff also spent seven seasons with the Crossmen Drum and Bugle Corps as the Front Ensemble Coordinator from 2009-2015.
Many students and families in LISD are familiar with Mr. Ratliff, as he has been an accompanist in high demand for many years performing with local middle school and high school choirs as well as numerous band students for solo contests. In 2013, he accompanied the Texas All-State Men’s Choir, and in 2015 he accompanied the Hebron A Cappella Choir in their first TMEA appearance. He then accompanied and directed on the 2018 SWACDA Hebron Treble Choir performance and the 2023 TMEA Hebron A Cappella Choir performance. Mr. Ratliff has performed as a recital accompanist at the University of North Texas, Texas Christian University, and Texas A&M University-Commerce. He served as the accompanist for CREDO, Dallas’ Ecumenical Mixed Choir for 2 years. In 2023, he was appointed director of the Turtle Creek Chorale’s pop a cappella group, Terra Vox, and accompanist of the TCC Chamber Chorus.
When not surrounding himself with music, Mr. Ratliff enjoys running anything from a 5k to full marathons. He even ran 43 miles in one day to celebrate his 43rd birthday and ran a 347mile race in the summer of 2023. All of his dogs are runners. He also makes glass windchimes and recently started learning to make stained glass windows.
Mr. Ratliff maintains memberships in the Texas Music Educators Association, the Texas Choral Directors Association, and the American Choral Directors Association.
