Archive: July, 2000

Acoustic Spotlight Archives
Beezy Taylor
by Phyllis Stark

Beezy Taylor

Can you imagine the Colorado Springs acoustic music scene without Beezy Taylor? Neither can I. Like ripples from a pebble dropped into still water, Beezy’s circle of influence is far-reaching. She came to the Springs more than 35 years ago and began sharing her music. She is perhaps the best-known guitar teacher in the area. Numerous students have gone on to make a name for themselves as popular regional performers. Phil Volan, master guitarist and teacher, Don Johnson, (guitar, bodhran, bones) Beezy’s partner in Troubadour, Valerie Gardner of Coyote Moon, and Jacob Herold, local teen-age jazz phenomenon are among her former students. Hundreds of young people and adults have taken private and group lessons with Beezy. In fact, you may even be one of them. “People are always coming up to me and saying: You may not remember me but I took lessons from you many years ago.” And now things have come full circle. “Many former students are bringing their children to me. It is very satisfying to see the continuity. I love it.” Beezy particularly likes to take beginners under her wing. It’s a joy for her to observe their talent and potential and later see what wonderful musicians they become. Children are welcome in her studio. Beezy developed a unique approach to teaching pre-readers. She teaches the parent and the child simultaneously.

The idea is to keep the parent one step ahead of the child. Both come to the lesson. “This is a good approach. It keeps parent and child interested. You’d be surprised how carefully the child listens to the parent’s lesson. An added benefit is that children do better when there is music in the family.”

Beezy’s classes include lots of improvisation, harmony training and theory. “Students should first hear the music in their head and then find the note on the instrument. This way they learn to hear the musical elements.” Her teaching credentials are impressive. She studied at the Dalcroze and Turtle Bay Schools of Music in New York City and the Manhattan School of Music. She has often taught disadvantaged, mentally challenged and disturbed children–people who can sometimes only be reached through music. She once taught in the infamous “Hell’s Kitchen,” an area of Manhattan known for violence and poverty.

Beezy was born and raised in Manhattan. Her father was a printer, her mother a preschool teacher. She has one brother. The nickname ‘Beezy’ came from the efforts of a small cousin to say her name, Louise. It has stuck with her. Beezy’s father, uncles, aunts and many friends played guitar and often sang folk music in the home. Her mother played piano. Beezy took up the guitar at about age ten, then learned recorder and banjo. She led family singalongs from an early age and played in folk groups from the age of seventeen.

Beezy and Don Johnson, an acoustic-Celtic-folk duo known as Troubadour, have been singing together since 1990. They are currently engaged as lane musicians at the Colorado Renaissance Festival. Their minstrel style works very well in that venue. “Musicians and audience are so close together there. People seem to really enjoy being face-to-face with the musicians. The children are fascinated with the different instruments we play.” Troubadour is also a favorite at the Black Rose Acoustic Society, where they recently performed their fourth featured spot. Troubadour’s music appeals to a wide range of audiences. You’ll find them as costumed performers at many regional festivals, at coffeehouses and restaurants and in retirement homes. A highlight came this year when they were invited to participate in John Stansfield’s Storytelling Festival at the Fine Arts Center. Beezy and Don have just completed their sixth CD/tape as Troubadour. Entitled American Memories, it is comprised of standard American tunes. A new project was to learn several 17^th-Century English court dance music from the days of King Henry the Eighth. The pieces are elegant and graceful and tell a story of life in that period. These are performed at the Renaissance Festival.

“All cultures have music and music touches everyone. It is the universal human expression that binds us together as humans.” Beezy’s philosophy of the power of music reaches us all here in the Pikes Peak region. Would anyone who has not been touched by the music of Beezy Taylor please stand up? … See what I mean?

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