ALICE, Texas — A majority of this article comes from the Alice ISD who wrote and conducted the interviews:
Longtime band director Bryce Taylor with the Alice ISD has died at age 95.
The news was announced by the Alice ISD who said Taylor began his career in 1951 as a band director at Three Rivers ISD before taking over the Alice band program in 1961.
The district said he received many accolades and was recognized a dozen times as a finalist in 5A Honors Band competitions. His 1983 Alice band was one of the first recipients of the prestigious Sudler Flag of Honor award presented by the National Sousa Foundation.
"He paved the way for many, many of my former classmates, before and after me, who have become great band directors and great people in their fields," Alice ISD Director of Bands Emerico Perez said. "He just had so much to offer."
Taylor was State Band Chairman from 1957-59, president and Bandmaster of the year in 1983 representing the Texas Music Educators Association. He also received the Texas Bandmaster’s Association Lifetime Achievement Award in 2006.
He was born in 1925 in Edinburg, Texas. He served in the U.S. Marine Corps from 1943 to 1946 and attended the U.S. Marine Corps School of Music in San Diego. He received his college training at North Texas, Pan American, and Texas A&I, where he graduated summa cum laude, first in his class.
He retired as the band director in 1995 and he continued to work as a consultant for Alice ISD.
The Alice High School auditorium is named after him - Bryce Taylor Performing Arts Auditorium.
