School of Music

Bio

James W. Taylor joins the School of Music as the Assistant Director of Bands and Assistant Director of Athletic Bands. Mr. Taylor's duties at USC include drill design and working with the “Mighty Sound of the Southeast” Marching Band, directing basketball bands, conducting the University Band, and teaching courses in the music education curriculum. Mr. Taylor was most recently a doctoral student in wind conducting at the University of South Carolina, where he served on the staff of the Carolina Band.

Mr. Taylor holds a Master of Music in Instrumental Conducitng from the University of Tennessee, where he studied with Dr. Gary Sousa. AT Tennessee, he served for one semester as conductor of the University's Concert Band and also as a Graduate Assistant for the “Pride of the Southland” Marching Band, assisting with instruction as well as directing various athletic bands, including Men's and Women's Basketball. He received his BM in Music Education from the University of Tennessee, Knoxville.

Mr. Taylor has several years experience teaching in the public schools of East Tennessee as both a middle and high school band director. Mr. Taylor's other teaching experiences include brass instruction for the Cavaliers Drum and Bugle Corps of Rosemont, Illinois, three years with the Troopers Drum and Bugle Corps of Casper, Wyoming, and he is an alumnus of the Bluecoats Drum and Bugle Corps of Canton, Ohio.

Mr. Taylor is a member of the College Band Directors National Conference, the National Band Association, the College Music Society, MENC, the South Carolina Music Educators Association, and Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia.