RAYCHEL
TAYLOR

Raychel Taylor is an ardent educator, performer, and arts entrepreneur in northern Illinois. Motivated by her passion to provide young female percussionists with direct access to female mentorship, Raychel created “Girls March,” an organization that advocates for women in the marching arts. Her vision is realized through music and leadership seminars with some of the most influential women in the activity. She teaches private lessons, instructs front ensembles and drumlines for a variety of high schools west of Chicago, and is an active percussion clinician for events such as the Percussive Arts Society (PAS) Days of Percussion. Raychel performs regularly as a member of berimbau sextet Projeto Arcomusical.

Though she is a native Californian, Raychel earned Bachelor of Music degrees in Percussion Performance and Music Theory from the University of North Texas and a Master of Music degree from Northern Illinois University. Raychel took an interest in Ethnomusicology, studying everything from Afro-Cuban batá drumming, to Brazilian capoeira songs, calypso, and salsa. She also had the opportunity to study Balinese gamelan music abroad in Bali.

Additionally, Raychel has experience working with youth orchestras in different capacities. She taught the Chicago Youth Symphony Orchestra percussion ensembles and served in an administrative role for the Elgin Youth Symphony Orchestra. In the summer of 2019, Raychel was the Percussion Manager for the National Youth Orchestra of the United States of America, a Weill Music Institute program. Raychel’s drum corps history includes Sacramento Mandarins (2008-2009), earning the Fred Sanford Award for High Percussion with Phantom Regiment (2010), and Santa Clara Vanguard (2011).

Raychel serves on the PAS Diversity Alliance and is an Educational Artist for Dynasty USA, Innovative Percussion Inc., and Remo Drumheads.