Ashley Frye, an up and coming accordionist in the US is from Suffolk, Virginia and is an Old Dominion University student studying Piano Performance. She began playing classical piano at the age of seven and started the accordion seven years later out of a fascination for the instrument and interest in changing its role in American society. While in high school, she attended the Governor's School for the Arts in Norfolk, Virginia. There she learned from professional instructors and classical instrumentalists at the state level. During this period she became an active member in the organization Accordion Renaissance as well, which promotes awareness and learning of the accordion to potential students. Currently she teaches both piano and accordion students, leads Accordion Renaissance's small ensemble, plays piano and accordion in the ODU Wind Ensemble, and performs regular small-scale themed shows with the accordion all while maintaining school work and her current classical piano repertoire.

 

She began working with the program Musescore throughout grade school out of an interest for arranging different songs and pieces that were either unavailable or improperly transcribed online. She has now arranged a number of pieces for solo accordion and piano as well as small and large ensembles. Her skill with technology and drive for new and interesting music and success on the platform has made her a worthy teacher of the program.

 

Only recently has she become a part of the larger accordion community across the United States and is currently working on developing her future with the instrument. She has composed a small number of pieces for the accordion and piano and has plans to develop her repertoire further into the future along with broadening her experience with performance of the accordion.