We dream of a world where music is here for everyone, connecting us, inspiring us, and bringing joy and meaning wherever it goes. We are having our Dream Big spring fund drive here at ACG and it’s because of our community and supporters that we are able to share stories like this. Click here to learn more about supporting ACG.

 

We recently had the pleasure of speaking with private instructor and guitar super star, Evan Taucher. Evan has been musically inclined his whole life. He began playing piano at the age of six, started playing the saxophone in middle school and picked up the electric guitar in his freshman year of high school.

“I would play all day, and all night if I could (and I did, much to my school grades’ demise).” –Evan Taucher

Evan discovered the classical guitar at age 19 at Florida State University and decided to completely dedicate himself and his life to the instrument. This led to Evan growing a large internet following in the guitar community! Evan shared, 

“In 2011 at FSU after playing the guitar only a few months, I felt an affinity to document and share what I was learning, and this took the form of YouTube videos. I was so certain this is what I would be doing the rest of my life, that I thought it would make for an interesting thing to reflect on, and maybe inspire others.”

After studying with Bruce Holzman at FSU for five years, Evan began studying with the cuban virtuoso Rene Izquierdo, where he began having success in competitions and built his online presence. Evan continued at the University of Texas at Austin to study with Adam Holzman, during which he had the opportunity to study in Alicante, Spain for six months as part of the Master Guitar Alicante program. 

Evan has now entered the professional stage of his career as a performer and has built a studio of passionate guitarists! Evan shared,

“Almost my entire studio is private students, and the majority of them are online and tuning in from around the world. I’m lucky to teach one very special student through ACG, who is the recipient of their Javier Niño Memorial Scholarship, which provides an exceptional student with private lessons, a worthy instrument, and tons of performance and educational opportunities. I feel fortunate to teach a studio of hard working students that also are interesting and intelligent people. I learn just as much from them! What is better than playing something that sounds cool and showing your friends (and others) how to do it? Witnessing others experiencing the same joy and gratitude you feel towards music is the highest possible sensation for me.”

Evan became connected with ACG in 2020 when the non-profit, Ex-Aequo, that Evan co-founded, reached out to us to collaborate with their Changing the Canon project where they commissioned and recorded 9 new pieces by Black composers for the classical guitar. Evan shared, 

“We mostly worked with Travis Marcum during this project, and it’s safe to say that we really ‘clicked’. His passion and dedication to education really shines, and it’s very obvious that this is a vein that runs through everyone at ACG, which is what makes it so special!”

Evan has helped the classical guitar community grow and connect with each other in numerous ways. He shared a little more about how he uses social media as a tool in this regard, 

“Social media is just an extension of the stage in terms of being audience-minded. It’s a way to have a broader reach with our music, and also a place to share behind the scenes thoughts, ideas, and works in progress. This is something I’ve always believed in. As a performer, it’s helped me see what people find to be interesting, both about the music and about the life of a musician. This helps not just with repertoire selection, but also with how you speak to the audience and the stories you tell as a performer. As a teacher it’s helped immensely. Creating online mini-lessons (as well as full-fledged courses for companies like PickupMusic, JamPlay, and Truefire, and Cordoba Guitars) has helped me learn where the common points of confusion are in guitar technique. For example, when you share something and you get upwards of 100 messages asking to clarify a certain aspect of it, you quickly realize the holes in your thought process that a single student or two may not have pointed out. It’s been an invaluable experience.”

We asked Evan what his favorite part of being a music educator is and he shared, 

“My students! Many of them are incredible human beings who have had successful careers in unique fields. I’m also particularly inspired by students who improve quickly. How they achieve this is never a surprise, but it’s always amazing. I’ve witnessed students who started in their mid 50’s go from playing a few easy pieces very sloppily, to playing some of the famous pieces in the guitar repertoire beautifully in less than a year. Simply because they put in honest, focused work every single day. I’ve seen teenage/young adult students crippled by technical problems surrender their ego, work at it and become much better players. These exceptional students inspire me and remind me to do the same!”

Evan is also planning some cool things for his students in the near future:

“Something I’m happy to be planning for my students are monthly Zoom performance classes. Since many of my students tune in from around the world, virtual is the only way to go about it. Believe it or not, this actually comes with a lot of benefits. For one, it’s easier for everyone to make time and show up. Most importantly, they gain performance experience and get to know some other passionate guitarists around the world. Contrary to a traditional “guitar studio” there is less competitiveness and more support overall. The end goal is to create a community similar to what I had during my degrees in guitar studios, minus the bureaucracy and student loans. Fortunately technology is progressing to a point where we can make it just as engaging and educational. We’re also planning some exciting opportunities for students around the world at my non-profit Ex-Aequo that will be announced soon!”

We’re so excited to hear more stories from music educators we have the pleasure of working with! 

Read another story about student leader, Besa Carney, here.