A dedicated teacher of all ages and levels, Tonya’s studio has ranged from young 3-year-olds, to older adult students. Tonya is a trained and registered Suzuki teacher for books 1-4 on violin and viola. While she advocates for the Suzuki method for young beginners, she uses a wide variety of techniques and methods to cater to the needs of each individual student. 

​

Having taught privately while living in Cleveland, Ohio and Houston, Texas, Tonya is currently building a studio in the D.C. area. Apart from her private studio, Tonya has been on faculty teaching at various schools and strings programs. Tonya was music director of the Cleveland after-school strings program, City Music Kidz, and while living in Houston taught as a private instructor at KIPP Sharp Elementary School, the Kinkaid School, Clear Lake High School, and for non-major students at Rice University. 

​

Tonya is also an experienced chamber coach and group teacher. She has given a chamber music master class at the Texas A&M campus in Corpus Christi and her former quartet, the Abbiocco quartet taught at the Interlochen Center for the Arts giving coachings, masterclasses and private lessons over the summer of 2016. Tonya has also been a guest sectional coach for school orchestras, including Mentor High School, the Kinkaid School orchestra, and Atascocia High School.

​

Tonya is currently working on a doctoral degree while serving as studio assistant for Katherine Murdock at the University of Maryland, where she teaches a viola technique class and assists teaching at the undergraduate level. She completed a Master in Music at Rice University under the tutelage of James Dunham, and a Bachelor in Music at the Cleveland Institute of Music studying with the renowned pedagogue, Jeffrey Irvine.   

​