Tampa Bay Music Academy is delighted to welcome Valeria Frege to our string faculty! Valeria has more than a decade of experience teaching private lessons to students from age 6 through undergraduate college students. In addition to individual instruction, Valeria conducted a beginner’s orchestra for the Cochabamba Symphonic Foundation in Cochabamba, Bolivia. She played violin for the Municipal Symphonic Orchestra of Cochabamba for six years, and played with the Cochabamba Philharmonic Orchestra for two years before relocating to Tampa.
Valeria received her Master of Chamber Music and Master of Music Performance from the University of South Florida in 2016. While there, she served as a viola teaching assistant, providing individual instruction to undergraduate students, leading the viola section of the USF Symphony Orchestra, and conducting weekly sectional rehearsals.
Valeria cites her music teachers as one of the greatest influences in her life. She finds joy in connecting with students to share her love of music while also analyzing her own playing to communicate musical concepts better. In her free time, she loves baking—and drinking coffee!!
In order to help our students and their families get to know Valeria, we asked her a few questions about her musical goals and experiences:
TBMA: What is your favorite musical memory?
Valeria: It’s hard to pick one! For my graduate recital at USF, I decided to perform fun but challenging music. I had a month to put my program together, which made it extra stressful, but the entire process was a lot of fun because I loved every single piece in it. I got to premier a commissioned violin solo piece by a Bolivian composer, which was very special to me. My family and many close friends came from Bolivia to attend my recital, and that made it a very special evening. All I remember is having fun from the first to the last bow.
TBMA: What is your favorite musical work that you have personally performed?
Valeria: “Until Next Time”, by Kenji Bunch. It is a viola solo piece that utilizes scordiatura (an alternate form of tuning) creating a much deeper resonance of the instrument. This piece also includes a cadenza section that requires the performer to improvise. Performing this piece allowed me to explore other types of sonority and timbre in the instrument and I never got tired of playing it.
TBMA: How did you know you wanted to teach?
Valeria: It started as a fun “after school” job while I was going to college for a Psychology degree and it became a passion. I realized that was all I wanted to do.
TBMA: What is your favorite teaching method?
Valeria: I like to combine concepts and ideas from different methods, depending on the specific needs of the student. For beginning students, I like to teach music reading with “All for strings” and I also incorporate ear training from Suzuki. For intermediate students and up, I like Fiddle Time scales, Wolfhart etudes, Mazas, and as much repertoire as possible!
TBMA: When do you recommend starting private violin lessons?
Valeria: From my experience, I think 6 is a good age to start violin. At that age the fine motor skills are starting to develop and as the child starts learning to read and write the alphabet, it’s the perfect time to insert music in their language development.
TBMA: What brought you to TBMA?
Valeria: As soon as I heard about TBMA, the welcoming environment of the school caught my interest and I thought it would be a great program where I could further develop and grow as an educator.
We’re excited to partner with Valeria to provide quality music instruction to our students and their families. Welcome to TBMA, Valeria!
This is a TBMA original article written for our Tampa Bay Music Academy readership by Susan McClure. If you find it to be helpful, we would love for you to re-post it on your blog. Please contact us first for permission. Visit our website home for information on finding a music teacher in Tampa, Odessa, Land O’ Lakes, Citrus Park, Westchase, New Port Richey, Lutz, Trinity, Keystone, or Tarpon Springs Florida who offers private piano lessons, guitar lessons, saxophone lessons, voice lessons, or music lessons in any other instrument proficiency category. TBMA teachers (piano, guitar, voice, woodwinds, brass, strings, percussion) pride themselves in a reputation for an uncompromising commitment to excellence and special care taken for every student. We remain absolutely committed to providing an outstanding enrollment experience beyond any other in the region. Call us today. We look forward to hearing from you!