He was born in Richmond, Virginia and brought up in eastern North Carolina. His musically formative years were spent as a vocalist/guitarist in a number of folk and light rock bands, culminating in professional work as an arranger/performer for several bluegrass and folk groups. After an eight-year hiatus with the United States Army, Ball earned a Bachelor of Music degree in Theory and Composition and a Master of Music degree in Composition from Kansas State University. In 1987, immediately before joining the faculty of the Hugh Hodgson School of Music, he completed a Doctor of Musical Arts in Composition at the University of Memphis. His principal teachers were T. Hanley Jackson, John Baur, and Donald Freund.