Meet Our Teachers and Therapists

With the right music teacher or therapist, learning a musical instrument can be a wonderful and fun experience!

At Beachside Music, our in-studio, in-home, or online music lessons and music therapy will help build your confidence and skills in a warm and supportive environment. We currently have some availability for new students. Contact us for more info and availability.

Ashlee Hughes, MT-BC, NICU-MT

Founder, Music Therapist, Music Teacher

Ashlee Hughes grew up in New Smyrna Beach, Florida where she studied all types of music from an early age. She completed her bachelor's degree in music therapy at Florida State University. Ashlee has over 10 years of experience serving a variety of populations, including special needs, hospice, acute care medical, premature infants, traumatic brain injury, trauma, stroke, dementia, behavioral health, substance abuse, foster children, juvenile detention, and more. After running a successful hospital music therapy program for over 3 years, Ashlee moved back to her home community to open Beachside Music Lessons & Therapy in 2016. In addition to music therapy, Ashlee also teaches voice, piano, guitar, saxophone, early childhood music private lessons, small group classes, and also a teen band.

Ashlee is proud to serve her home town community through local organizations like Ormond Beach Mainstreet, Atlantic Center for the Arts, Halifax Behavioral Health, Children's Home Society, Community Action Team, Welcoming Hearts, and more.

Eliott Hughes

Operational Manager, Music Teacher

Eliott Hughes grew up in Vero Beach, FL where he attended a charter school for the arts and studied music from a young age. At Beachside Music, Eliott is our operational manager and manages our students, families, teachers, and office. Eliott studied Music Composition and Theory at University of Florida. As a musician, he is proficient in theory, song writing, piano, voice, and guitar. Besides teaching, Eliott has been singing professionally for over 10 years, even having sang at Carnege Hall. Eliott is experienced in singing in operas, musicals, chorus/choir, and as a soloist. Having studied theory and composition immensely, Eliott has a deep knowledge and understanding of the inner workings of music. Eliott has an unique ability to break down the elements of music and teach it in a simple and fun way. Eliott enjoying teaching a love of music to all ages!

Michelle Marie Lecza

Music Teacher

Michelle Marie Lecza is a local of Daytona Beach and has always been a musically inclined person for as long as she can remember. Throughout high school she was in Choir, Drama, and an Advanced Vocal Acapella group. Michelle privately studied Voice, Music Theory and Music Composition for 12 years. At Beachside Music she teaches Voice, Piano, and Guitar. In 2016 she appeared on season 15 of "American Idol" she was a heavy competitor with tons of air time and was eventually cut at the top 24. Aside from teaching, Michelle performs at local live music venues around Florida. Michelle also volunteers her time with different charities including, Halifax Hospice Care, The TEARS Foundations, Rolling Thunder, Local Veterans programs and more. She is extremely happy to be teaching with Beachside Music and hopes to inspire her students and lead them to a music loving life.

Natalie Walker

Music Teacher

Natalie was born and raised in a small city in North Florida and attended Bethune Cookman University where she received her music degree with a concentration in vocal music. Natalie has been teaching intermediate vocal lessons and beginning piano lessons at her church and to youth in her community since 2015. In her free time, Natalie enjoyed watching musicals and spending time with friends and family.

Ana Bregel

Music Therapist

Ana graduated from Southeastern University in Lakeland, FL with a bachelor’s in Music Education and a minor in Psychology and then moved on to completed her bachelor's in Music Therapy at Saint Mary-of-the-Woods College (SMWC) in Indiana. Then she completed her internship at Beachside Music and did such a great job, we hired her to be a permanent part of our team! Ana loves helping others and enjoys teaching children the joy of music. Beyond music therapy, Ana also teaches voice, ukulele, guitar, and piano.

Fun fact: Ana’s favorite musical activity is singing, especially in the choral setting, as well as performing in musical theatre shows and leading worship in church.

Kayla McDade

Music Teacher

Kayla McDade was born and raised in upstate New York, where she developed her passion for music, ministry, and teaching. Kayla was involved in every aspect of the music and theatre department throughout grade school, and went to study music performance in Schenectady, NY. After completing her education, Kayla began serving as the Worship Arts Director at Grace Fellowship in Halfmoon, NY where she grew her passion for teaching and helping others find their voice in music. She has years of experience in performing, songwriting, and training students of all ages. Though Kayla specializes in all levels of voice, she also teaches beginner piano and guitar.

As a newer Florida resident, Kayla enjoys spending her free time going on adventures and road trips with her husband and continuing to serve on worship teams at her church.

Kayla is excited to work with those at Beachside to help you feel comfortable and confident in your voice/instrument to continue to share it with those around you.

Matthew Rose

Music Teacher

Matthew, a central Florida native, has been playing trombone since he was 10 years old. Matthew earned a Bachelor of Music Performance from Stetson University and recently earned his Master of Music degree from Yale’s School of Music. During his time at Yale, Matthew studied under world-class faculty and guest teachers. Matthew has worked as a private music teacher, even teaching in Yale’s Music in School Initiative, teaching as young as 10 years old. Matthew will be teaching brass of all levels as well as beginning piano and ukulele.

When Matthew isn’t practicing or getting ready for a performance, he enjoys hiking and traveling. Matthew has a love for animals and even has a cat and two guinea pigs. When the weather is not up to par, he enjoys spending his time inside playing his video games and bingeing TV.

Matthew Berman

Music Teacher

Matt was born in Miami and has lived in Florida all his life, he started playing violin in early elementary school and has been involved in music ever since, participating in orchestra and drama programs all the way up to high school. He is experienced in working with kids of all ages and has even been a music teacher is summer camps! Matt is Currently studying at UCF, majoring in Anthropology with a specialty in Ethnomusicology. He has always had an insatiable curiosity and a passion for sharing the arts, which may have cumulated in his terrible tendency to acquire instruments he’s never heard of before to try and learn them. While violin is his specialty, Matt also teaches mandolin, guitar, ukulele, and piano, as well as the fife, cavaquinho, and charango upon special request.

Outside of school, he spends his time playing with three different bands, or in rock climbing gyms trying his best not to fall off.

Simone Hicks

Music Teacher

Samone Hick has had a love of music since a young age. Her private voice lessons in her dual-enrollment program at State College of Florida cultivated a special love for classical music, so she pursued it. Samone completed her Associates of Arts then transferred to Stetson University for Bachelor of Music in vocal performance. She then went on to earn her Master of Music degree at University of Florida. After completing her educational journey, she taught both voice and piano to various age groups before teaching as an adjunct at the State College of Florida. Amid her teaching career, Samone still performed locally with singing groups, as a soloist, and for musical theatre shows. Samone Hicks is now a resident of the Daytona Beach area where she teaches voice at Bethune Cookman. She looks forward to instructing at Beachside Music in voice, piano, and ukulele.

“Beachside Music is absolutely amazing. Their teachers makes a fun music lesson plan tailored to each student and their needs which results in their best productivity possible. My daughters have become less shy and show an improvement with their critical thinking skills.”

- Nicole

How It Works

Sign-up

Once you've made contact with us, we'll call you for the initial assessment. We'll go over the program, the cost, and find out if home music lessons are right for you. Then we begin the student/teacher matching process.

Student/Teacher Matching

This is what separates us from the rest. We take the time to hand match each student with a teacher or therapist we think will best fit their needs and goals. You don't have to worry about digging through pages of teacher listings hoping you find the right teacher. We do the work for you. All of our teachers and therapists are background checked and highly qualified.

Schedule Your Lessons

We will work together with your hand picked teacher or therapist to schedule your weekly lessons. Our teachers/therapists then use our custom built online tool to track your weekly music lessons or therapy or any changes in your schedule.

Ready to get started?