Aaron Shearer

SHEARER An eternal journey began for Aaron Shearer, 88, on Monday, April 21, 2008, when he surrendered to myelodys-plastic syndrome, a bone-marrow disease, at Kate B. Reynolds Hospice Home. Born Sept. 6, 1919, in a mountain cabin near Anatone, Wash., Aaron Leroy Shearer was a master guitarist, teacher, author and composer whose landmark book series, Classic Guitar Technique, is today one of the most widely used classic-guitar method books in the world. Shearer, self-taught in folk and jazz guitar, was 11 years old when he first heard Spanish guitar virtuoso Andres Segovia on a neighbor' s radio. He then resolved to devote the rest of his career to the study of classic guitar. After years of study, Shearer began to question methods of guitar instruction he' d received and decided to invent a rational approach to learning the instrument. In 1959, Shearer published his first landmark series of books, Classic Guitar Techniques, which today remain landmarks in instructional guides. Volume I is currently being revised with CD renditions by Professor Tom Kikta of Duquesne University in Pittsburgh and is available from Alfred Publishing Co. Years later, in 1995, Shearer would also receive an honorary doctorate from Duquesne. During the 1960s, Shearer held faculty posts and professorships at American University, Catholic University and the Peabody Conservatory of Music, where he created three of the earliest college-level guitar programs in the United States. He initiated classes in guitar literature, ensemble and pedagogy and taught private lessons, and his guitar departments were models for many hundreds of university guitar departments that now span the country. In 1981, Shearer was invited to join the N.C. School of the Arts to build a comprehensive guitar program. Accomplishing that, he remained at NCSA until his retirement in 1995, when Gerald Klickstein and Joseph Pecoraro succeeded Shearer in oversight of the school' s now-vibrant guitar program. Shearer was regarded by colleagues as a brilliant, original thinker whose work affected generations of guitarists around the world. A quiet man with a gentle yet determined demeanor, he was well-loved and respected by colleagues and students. Among the latter were renowned concert artists Manuel Barrueco, Ricardo Cobo and David Tenenbaum, as well as David Starobin, Jose Lezcano, John Parris, Andrew Zohn and Patrick Liu. In 1995, Shearer began to revise his most recent series, Learning the Classic Guitar. This legacy work will be completed by Kikta at Duquesne and Andrew Motten at the N.C. School of the Arts and published by Mel Bay Publishing Co. Shearer was also the subject of a 2004 documentary film, Aaron Shearer: A Life With the Guitar, produced and directed by Michael R. Lawrence, an award-winning filmmaker and former student of Shearer. Shearer had an avid love for nature and the environment which endured to the end of his life. Often accompanied by his beloved wife, Lorraine, he hiked and backpacked often throughout North Carolina and Tennessee, as well as in the Western United States. In fact, Shearer spent the eve of his 80th birthday camping on Grandfather Mountain, having backpacked there that day. Shearer is survived by his wife, Lorraine H. Shearer; and three sons: Walter Shearer of Hartsdale, N.Y., wife Shigeko and daughter Maya; Frederick Shearer of Ocean, N.J., and sons Jeremy,. Jonathan and Justin and daughter Jennifer; and Todd Shearer and wife Virginia, of Ocean, N.J.; as well as many dear friends, students and colleagues. Shearer has bequeathed his body to Wake Forest University School of Medicine for medical education. The family would like to thank the staff and administration at Kate B. Reynolds Hospice Home in Winston-Salem, for their compassionate care provided to Aaron in his brief stay. Memorial gifts may be sent to the NCSA Foundation, The Aaron Shearer Endowed Fund for the Guitar, c/o Suzanne Hilser-Wiles, 1533 S. Main St., Winston-Salem, NC 27127.