Executive Board (this page is currently being updated)

Contact Gary

Gary Frisch
President and Special Events Committee Chair

Gary Frisch is a violinmaker and dealer. He owns and operates a shop located in Falls Church. Gary trained in violin making under Deena Spear. Over the past year and a half, Gary has teamed up with Lynne Denig, to develop a diagnostic approach for assessing the appropriate chinrest heights and contours for students. He has presented at the ASTA National Convention in 2006. As Chair of VASTA’s Special Events Committee, he is developing ongoing programs statewide that will benefit all members and their students.

Lucy Manning, President-Elect

Contact Helen

Helen Fall
VASTA Past-President

Helen Fall teaches viola, violin and chamber music privately in her home studio in Fairfax. Helen was a public school teacher in Maryland and Virginia from 1978-1988, teaching strings, band, general music and guitar. She was co-founder and faculty member for the summer camp, Chamber Music of Arlington from 1990-1997. Helen is often engaged to coach sectional rehearsals for youth orchestras and school orchestras, and adjudicates for numerous orchestra and solo festivals and competitions in the DC metro area. A free-lance chamber and orchestral musician in the Washington area, Helen is also a member of the Fairfax and Alexandria Symphony Orchestras.

Contact Marianne

Dr. Marianne Murray Perkins
Website Coordinator, Violin Forum Editor

Dr. Marianne Murray Perkins has taught strings at all levels for 30 years, 20 of these have been in Fairfax County. Dr. Perkins has a BA in Music Education from Temple University, an MS in Education from the University of Pennsylvania, a DMA in Music Education from Catholic University, and a graduation certificate from the Talent Education Institute in Matsumoto, Japan. In 1995 ASTA published her book, A Comparison of Violin Techniques: Kato Havas, Paul Rolland and Shinichi Suzuki   Dr. Perkins has been a presenter at the VMEA and at several ASTA National Conferences including Detroit in 2007. She currently maintains a large private studio in Oak Hill, and is collaborating on a book with Lynne Denig that highlights the pedagogy of Rolland and Suzuki.

Contact Elizabeth

Elizabeth Blakeslee
Member-at-Large

Elizabeth Blakeslee is a free-lance harpist in the greater Washington, D.C. area and currently plays second harp with the National Symphony Orchestra. She studied with Marjorie Tyre and Marilyn Costello and has held the principal harp positions in the Richmond Symphony Orchestra and the Orquesta Sinfónica de Colombia. She has been the harp instructor at Shenandoah Conservatory in Winchester since 1997, and also directs the harp activities at their summer Performing Arts Camp. She maintains a private studio of about thirty students in Falls Church. She is chairman of the ASTA Harp Committee for the Certificate Program; she serves on the Committee on Studio Instruction (COSI), and at the 2007 ASTA National conference she will be presenting a session on how to include the harp in school string ensembles.

Contact Deanna

Deanna Kringel
Member-at -Large

Deanna Kringel is currently in her seventh year as the Director of Orchestras at Oscar F. Smith High School in Chesapeake as well as the beginning strings teacher at several feeder elementary schools. She has directed the Williamsburg Youth Orchestra’s String Orchestra for five years and is listed in Marquis’ Who’s Who in American Women, Who’s Who in America, Who's Who in American Education, Who’s Who in America’s Teachers and National Honor Roll's Outstanding American Teachers. Deanna has served as a guest conductor throughout Virginia, including the Virginia Beach City Public Schools’ All-City 7th & 8th Grade Orchestra and James Madison University’s “Spring String Thing.”   Deanna is also a free-lance musician performing violin, viola, and flute throughout the Hampton Roads area.

Timothy Gaffga

Treasurer

Timothy Gaffga was appointed VASTA Treasurer in June 2007. He is the Orchestra Director at Walt Whitman HS in Fairfax County. Tim is the recipient of the VASTA 2007 Outstanding New String/Orchestra Teacher Award. He has also served as the Treasurer of the Nevada state chapter of ASTA in the recent past.