Earl D. Irons Music Scores

Earl D. Irons (1891-1967), noted bandmaster and composer, was born near Sulphur Springs, Texas. He began to study the violin at age four and subsequently took up the snare drum and the cornet. By age ten, he was playing in a band, and when he was fifteen, he was elected director of his own community band, which he directed for a number of years. For the next several years, Irons continued to study both violin and cornet. He played in theaters and toured the country with bands and orchestras. During World War I, he served in an Army band and studied in the U.S. Army Band School. After the War, Irons returned to Sulphur Springs and again took up band directing. In 1922, he became director of the Greenville American Legion Band and head of the Violin Department at Burleson College. The Colonel's association with the University of Texas at Arlington, then North Texas Agricultural College, began in 1925, when he became head of the Band and Orchestra Department. Irons was head of the Fine Arts Department from 1942 to 1956, and he retired from the College in 1958. He was made professor emeritus in 1958. Colonel Irons founded Phi Beta Mu, national school bandmasters' fraternity, in 1938 and was made honorary life president in 1942. In 1951 and 1952, he served as president of the American Bandmasters' Association. The Texas Bandmasters' Association honored him as Bandmaster of the Year in 1965. Collection materials include music scores and photographs. See also the Earl D. Irons Papers collection.

Finding aid available here. Materials provided by Special Collections and Archives at the University of Texas at Arlington.