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 Fall 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.
This week we had the pleasure of delving into the inspiring full circle journey of one of our teaching artists, Francisco De La Rosa. We got to explore the path that led him to become dedicated to sharing the beauty of classical guitar with others and we’re so grateful to be able to share his story with you.
As a young child, Francisco was always drawn to guitars. He shares his early experiences with the instrument,
“When I was five years old I received my first guitar after I begged my parents to buy me a toy guitar from a street vendor at the border crossing of Juarez and El Paso, on our way back from visiting family in Mexico. By ten years old I had outgrown that guitar, and I received my first full size acoustic guitar as a birthday gift. I taught myself by ear until I was 15, at which point I received the privilege of learning Classical guitar at Akins High school in Austin.”
Francisco became involved with ACG as a student at Akins and began performing and volunteering at events in 2009! Upon graduating university at Texas State in 2021, he became a teaching artist in our programs. Francisco shares,
“The amazing experiences I had as a guitar student at Akins is what inspired me to become a teacher myself. Dr. Travis Marcum and Jeremy Osborne had such a positive and inspiring influence on me, that I dreamt of doing the same for future generations of guitarists. Now, I teach at multiple schools. This year I am teaching private lessons at Crockett High school, Travis High school, and Covington Middle school. I also teach guitar ensembles at Bowie high school and occasionally at Gardner Betts and Williamson County Juvenile Justice centers. I am also the director of the ACG Community Ensemble guitar choir.”
We’re so grateful that the experiences in our programs could inspire students to come full circle and teach the programs they were once a part of. Francisco shares a little bit about some of these full circle moments for him,
“Last year, the ensemble I had been teaching at Bowie earned sweepstakes at the guitar concert and sight reading and seeing their response was so awesome. They were so ecstatic because they realized their hard work paid off! This experience was so cool as a former student and now teacher, because it reminded me how I felt at that age and how hard these students work. I feel at times as busy teachers, we may forget how meaningful and joyful these experiences are for them but it was so cool to see.”
Francisco is a wonderful educator and we are fortunate to have him on our team! During our conversation he dove into what he loved about teaching and somethings he’s looking forward to. He said,
“As a teacher, I most enjoy how happy students get when they learn a new piece of music. Occasionally, there are times in my lessons with students where I take a break from teaching classical and will teach them riffs from metal bands like Metallica or Black Sabbath. They get so excited to learn these songs, but even more excited when I show them how it connects to what they have learned in their classical training and how that can apply to rock and pop and hip hop and even writing their own music!
I see myself continuing to inspire the community through music in the future. As a teaching artist with ACG, I’ve had the honor of doing this at so many schools and I’m grateful for the opportunity. A few goals I’ve set for this year are to take some of my groups to the Texas State University Classical Guitar ensemble festival hosted by Professor Cruz, directing the middle school region concert, and on a personal level I am hoping to return to doing what I love the most, which is performing. I am getting a rock group together in which I play guitar and sing, and I am also hoping to start up a classical guitar quartet for fun!”
We’re so excited to see Francisco continue to thrive as a successful musician and educator. We could not be more grateful for his journey with ACG and all the opportunities we have to connect with such beautiful people such as him.
We are so grateful to our community for supporting the programs that bring us these relationships and transformative experiences. Thank you for supporting the heart of our organization, ACG Education.
