 Ward's memories of growing up in Oakland included his father John Milton Ward II, a physician, treating survivors of the 1906 San Francisco earthquake.Ward attended San Francisco Junior College, and then San Francisco State College.He received a Master of Music from the University of Washington in 1942, and a Doctor of Philosophy in 1953 from New York University with a dissertation entitled "The 'Vihuela de mano' and its Music (1536-1576)".