From 1968 until 1979, Ballard was appointed as the National Curriculum Specialist for the Bureau of Indian Affairs. During this time, he worked with over three hundred and fifty schools nationwide, and was exposed to the cultures and musical traditions of many different tribes. During his time with the Bureau of Indian Affairs, he made one of his most valuable contributions as a music educator and champion of American Indian music and culture. In 1973, Ballard wrote and published American Indian Music for the Classroom, a curriculum complete with recordings for teachers who wanted to incorporate American Indian music in classroom instruction. Throughout his career, Louis Ballard composed a large number of musical works for a variety of different instruments and ensembles. Many of Ballard's works have been premiered at major venues and have garnered awards and accolades nationally and internationally. "Scenes from Indian Life" was originally a three movement orchestral work which premiered in Rochester, New York, and was conducted by Howard Hanson in 1964. The same piece with an added a fourth movement, "Feast Day," was performed by the San Jose Symphony as a part of its "Voices of America" program in 1994 along with Aaron Copland's "Lincoln Portrait" and Leonard Bernstein's Symphony no. 2, "The Age of Anxiety." In 1969, Ballard's Ritmo Indio, a three movement work for woodwind quintet, won the first Marion Nevins McDowell Award for American Chamber Music, and was featured as the opening work at the Gala Quintet of the Americas concert, "Discovering the New World: A Quincentennial Event," at Carnegie Hall on January 9, 1992. The first movement of Ritmo Indio, "The Soul," was also recorded on two of the Quintet of the Americas' albums: Souvenirs, and Discovering the New World. Ballard began experimenting with other mediums and ventured outside the chamber ensemble format when he composed two works for ballet. The Four Moons, written in honor and celebration of Oklahoma's sixtieth year of statehood in 1967, was performed both in Tulsa and in Oklahoma City. It was also featured at the Tulsa Ballet's New York debut performance in 1983. His second ballet, Desert Trilogy, was nominated for a Pulitzer Prize in 1971.  Another popular and critically acclaimed composition is his chamber orchestral work, Incident at Wounded Knee . Incident at Wounded Knee was inspired by a stream of daily newspaper reports that were covering the court proceedings related to the 1973 conflict that occurred between the FBI and members of the American Indian Movement on the Sioux reservation in Pine Ridge, South Dakota . This was also the site of the Wounded Knee Massacre of three hundred Oglala Sioux by the United States military in 1890. Commissioned and conducted by Dennis Russell Davies, the director of the St. Paul Chamber Symphony Orchestra in 1974, it was performed in New York at Carnegie Hall in 1999 at the American Composer's Orchestra's opening concert of the season, "Protest." While Incident at Wounded Knee is not a programmatic work, it represents the customs and emotions of the American Indian peoples . In 1976, Portrait of Will Rogers, Ballard's choral cantata, was premiered by the Kansas City Symphony with Will Rogers, Jr. as the narrator .
From 1968 until 1979, Ballard was appointed as the National Curriculum Specialist for the Bureau of Indian Affairs. During this time, he worked with over three hundred and fifty schools nationwide, and was exposed to the cultures and musical traditions of many different tribes. During his time with the Bureau of Indian Affairs, he made one of his most valuable contributions as a music educator and champion of American Indian music and culture. In 1973, Ballard wrote and published American Indian Music for the Classroom, a curriculum complete with recordings for teachers who wanted to incorporate American Indian music in classroom instruction. Throughout his career, Louis Ballard composed a large number of musical works for a variety of different instruments and ensembles. Many of Ballard's works have been premiered at major venues and have garnered awards and accolades nationally and internationally. "Scenes from Indian Life" was originally a three movement orchestral work which premiered in Rochester, New York, and was conducted by Howard Hanson in 1964. The same piece with an added a fourth movement, "Feast Day," was performed by the San Jose Symphony as a part of its "Voices of America" program in 1994 along with Aaron Copland's "Lincoln Portrait" and Leonard Bernstein's Symphony no. 2, "The Age of Anxiety." In 1969, Ballard's Ritmo Indio, a three movement work for woodwind quintet, won the first Marion Nevins McDowell Award for American Chamber Music, and was featured as the opening work at the gala Quintet of the Americas concert, "Discovering the New World: A Quincentennial Event," at Carnegie Hall on January 9, 1992. The first movement of Ritmo Indio, "The Soul," was also recorded on two of the Quintet of the Americas' albums: Souvenirs, and Discovering the New World. Ballard began experimenting with other mediums and ventured outside the chamber ensemble format when he composed two works for ballet. The Four Moons, written in honor and celebration of Oklahoma's sixtieth year of statehood in 1967, was performed both in Tulsa and in Oklahoma City. It was also featured at the Tulsa Ballet's New York debut performance in 1983. His second ballet, Desert Trilogy, was nominated for a Pulitzer Prize in 1971. In 1976 Ballard's choral cantata Portrait of Will Rogers was premiered by the Kansas City Symphony with Will Rogers, Jr. as the narrator. Another popular and critically acclaimed composition is his chamber orchestral work, Incident at Wounded Knee , inspired by a stream of daily newspaper reports that were covering the court proceedings related to the 1973 conflict that occurred between the FBI and members of the American Indian Movement on the Sioux reservation in Pine Ridge, South Dakota , near the site of the Wounded Knee Massacre of three hundred Oglala Sioux by the United States military in 1890. Commissioned and conducted by Dennis Russell Davies, the director of the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra in 1974, it was performed in New York at Carnegie Hall in 1999 at the American Composer's Orchestra's opening concert of the season, "Protest." While Incident at Wounded Knee is not a programmatic work, it represents the customs and emotions of the American Indian peoples .
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In 1976 Ballard's choral cantata Portrait of Will Rogers was premiered by the Kansas City Symphony with Will Rogers, Jr. as the narrator.
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. In 1976, Portrait of Will Rogers, Ballard's choral cantata, was premiered by the Kansas City Symphony with Will Rogers, Jr. as the narrator