He was mainly self taught on his instruments; early on he also doubled on violin and banjo. He started playing the clarinet professionally in 1925. He began recording under his own name in 1928, and made what are believed to be his final recordings two years later. His intense solo work laid the groundwork for a style of clarinet playing of which Pee Wee Russell is perhaps the best-known representative. He also made recordings on the saxophone. Late in his career, he returned to playing violin, with Jan Garber's sweet dance orchestra, trying to earn a living in the midst of the Great Depression. Although he was well known in the world of jazz, Teschemacher did not live to enjoy any popular success with the advent of the swing era. As a passenger in a car driven by his friend, cornetist "Wild" Bill Davison, Teschemacher was killed in an auto accident on the morning of March 1, 1932, several days short of what would have been his twenty-sixth birthday.
FrankTeschemacher was born in Kansas City, Missouri on March 13, 1906 to Charles and Charlotte McCorkell Teschemacher and was the youngest of their three children.
Frank took the "customary and obligatory" piano lessons as a youngster, but soon gravitated to banjo on which he was largely self-taught.
FrankTeschemacher was interred at Woodlawn Cemetery in Forest Park, IL (not far from Austin High School) just ten days short of his twenty-sixth birthday and with his ex-wife, Helen, in attendance.