Dr. Ball is currently in his 27th year as the director of choral ensembles at Cypress College. When he first joined the Cypress College faculty in 1981 there were only seven singers enrolled in two choirs. The department now has four vocal ensembles which employ the talents of over 200 singers, and is generally acknowledged as one of the finest community-based choral music programs in the Los Angeles/Orange County area.

The Cypress Choirs have toured Germany, Austria, Italy, Greece, Israel, England, Scotland, Ireland, Australia, New Zealand, and Russia. A concert tour to China is scheduled for the summer of 2008. Cypress choirs have appeared at the Orange County Performing Arts Center, Hollywood Bowl, Sydney Opera House, Winchester Cathedral and Radio Vienna. They have sung Mass at St. Mark’s Basilica in Venice and twice at the Vatican in Rome. They have performed in New York's famed Carnegie Hall on three separate occasions and will appear there again in the Spring of 2009. Cypress choirs have performed for the American Choral Directors Association, the Choral Conductors Guild, and were featured at the 2006 Music Educators Conference in Sacramento.

A native of Nebraska, Dr. Ball completed a Bachelor of Arts degree in Voice with a minor in German followed by a Master of Music degree in Choral Literature and Conducting at the University of Northern Colorado. He received a fellowship to study and perform at the Aspen Music Festival in 1984 and studied conducting with Don Neuen at the Eastman School of Music in 1987.

In addition to teaching in Colorado, Illinois, Kansas and California public schools, Sheridan directed church choirs for ten years and, as a choral musician, he has performed with the Kansas City Philharmonic Chorus, Los Angeles Opera, Los Angeles Master Chorale, William Hall Chorale, Pacific Chorale and the John Alexander Singers.

Professor Ball has served on the Board of Directors for the Music Association of California Community Colleges, the American Choral Directors Association, and the California Choral Conductors Guild, where he also served as the Orange County Chapter President. Sheridan also taught music courses in Salzburg, Austria and Florence, Italy in conjunction with the Cypress College Semester in Europe program.

Sheridan received his doctorate in Conducting from the University of Southern California in 1995 and, that summer, studied with the renowned scholar/conductor, Helmut Rilling, at the Oregon Bach Festival. In 2000 Sheridan made his conducting debut at Carnegie Hall and is currently an Associate Conductor with Mid America Productions in New York City.

Dr. Ball has prepared choruses for performances with the Long Beach Symphony, Golden State Pops Orchestra, Cypress Pops Orchestra, Orange County Symphony, Marina del Rey Orchestra, New England Symphonic Ensemble in New York City, and the Australian International Music Festival Orchestra in Sydney.

In addition to his Cypress College vocal ensembles, Dr. Ball also directs two professional choirs - the Southern California Master Chorale and the Meritáge Concert Singers. These professional choirs are comprised of many of the finest choral musicians that Dr. Ball has worked with in the course of his extensive conducting career.