Dr. Ames serves as Director of Choral Activities and Full Professor at Belmont University. As a choral clinician, Dr. Ames has conducted collegiate, senior and junior high school mixed, and treble and lower voice choirs at national, regional, and state conventions of the American Choral Directors Association and the National Association for Music Education. He has performed and guest conducted internationally in the countries of Australia, Costa Rica, Germany, Italy, Latvia, Estonia, South Korea, the Republic of Ghana, and Austria.
Dr. Ames has collaborated with well-known conductors such as André Thomas, Allen Crowell, Jo-Michael Scheibe, Lynne Gackle, and Anton Armstrong. Additionally, well-known celebrities include Trisha Yearwood, Laura Bell Bundy, CeCe Winans, Connie Smith, Ricky Skaggs and The Whites, Denyce Graves, Michael W. Smith, Kathy Mattea, Sheryl Crow, Kane Brown, Mickey Guyton, and Carrie Underwood, and the legendary rock band the Rolling Stones.
A published composer and writer, Dr. Ames specializes in composing works that are from the heart. His literary publications focus on choral music in the concert gospel genre, as well as choral music in the Western tradition composed by modern Black composers.
Professor Ames holds the Ph.D. in Choral Conducting/Choral Music Education and a Master of Choral Music Education degree from The Florida State University, and a Bachelor of Music degree, with a double major in Vocal Performance and Piano Accompanying, from James Madison University. He currently serves as the President-Elect for the Southern Region of ACDA. Ames formerly served as the National R&R for World Musics and Cultures and is a Past President of the Tennessee chapter of ACDA. He holds the honor of being the first recipient of the National ACDA James Mulholland Choral Music Fellowship (2005), as well as being the first African American ACDA International Conductors Exchange Program Fellow (2016).