Friday Face 7/23
It’s time for another edition of Friday Face! This week, we honor the life and achievements of Mr. Louis W. Ballard. Mr. Ballard was quite the renaissance man as a noted composer, educator, artist, author, and journalist. He is often credited as “the father of Native American Composition.”
Born in Miami, Oklahoma, Louis Wayne Ballard was of Quapaw and Cherokee ancestry, and was related to a prominent medicine chief of the Quapaw tribe maternally, and a principal chief of the Cherokee Nation paternally. Ballard began his education at the Seneca Indian Training School at the age of 6. The Seneca Indian Training School was founded in 1870 as a mission school by local Quakers, but after some time was later run by the U.S. government. Ballard vehemently opposed these schools, and considered them detrimental as they discouraged and punished children who took part in their culture. Throughout his time at the Seneca Indian Training School, he was beaten, handcuffed, and even placed in solitary confinement when partaking in his family’s customs such as speaking his native language and engaging in tribal dances. Unfortunately, these experiences were not limited to Ballard’s specific school, as many similar institutions across the United States took part in these “disciplinary” tactics.
After leaving boarding school, Ballard continued to face strife throughout his education. However, he found respite while living with his grandmother and attending the Baptist Mission School. There, he was able to partake in community festivals and engage with his cultural identity. By the time he graduated high school he had a number of accolades attached to his name. He had been the captain of the football team and baseball team, name valedictorian and outstanding graduate of the class of 1949, and performed in a piano recital at the University of Oklahoma. After high school, Ballard continued to pursue music while attending the University of Oklahoma, and then later at Northeastern Oklahoma A&M.
While trained in traditional Western music, Ballard’s interest and musical stylings were deeply rooted in his Native American ancestry and culture. His philosophy for composing was to create something completely original. He felt his pieces needed to feature Native American music traditions without being in the style of other composers like Chopin or Rachmaninoff. Throughout his career, Ballard composed a numerous pieces of musical works for various instruments and ensembles. They premiered at major venues such as the Lincoln Center, the Kennedy Center, and the Smithsonian Institution. Ballard has received numerous awards and honors including the Distinguished Service Award from the U.S. Central Office of Education, a citation in the U.S. Congressional Record, a Lifetime Musical Achievement Award by the First Americans in the Arts, and the Cherokee Medal of Honor, just to name a few.
Sadly, while working on a piano concerto in Sante Fe, Louis W. Ballard passed away on February 9th, 2007. After his death, the National Museum of the American Indian in Washington, D.C. held a memorial concert in his honor.
If you would like to learn more about Louis W. Ballard, be sure to click here to visit his page in the Oklahoma Historical Society website. And if you want to listen to some of his of his compositions, check out the video below of his piece Katcina Dances performed by cellist Dana Winograd and pianist Ivan Koska.