Gate City Musikgarten

Our Teachers

All of our teachers are Musikgarten certified and have passed background checks.

Click HERE to see why Miss Ashley loves being a Musikgarten teacher.
Ashley Dunford ("Miss Ashley") has always had a love of music. Growing up, she attended performing arts schools in Charlotte, NC. She completed her undergraduate in Music Education at UNCG in 2008 and her National Board Certification in Music Education in 2014. She has taught middle school band and orchestra, music and art for children with special needs, flute and elementary general music. Miss Ashley’s students frequently win music awards and participate in honors ensembles but more importantly develop understanding, appreciation and love of music! Ashley served as the director of Gate City Musikgarten from 2014-2019. Miss Ashley enjoys spending time with her friends and family, especially singing and dancing with her husband and daughter.

Jaye Pierce ("Miss Jaye") is a local singer, actress, and social worker who has been teaching Musikgarten for 6years. She and her husband have a 14 year old daughter with special needs and a 10 year old daughter who is simply special. She loves the time she spends exploring music with young children!

Melissa Zacharias ("Miss Melissa") remembers music being a part of her life ever since her father sang her to sleep as a little girl. As a student in Virginia Beach, VA, she played French horn in the school band. She earned both a bachelors and masters degree in Music Education from The Florida State University. After teaching middle school and high school band, chorus, guitar, and general music in Florida, Melissa moved to North Carolina to teach elementary music with Guilford County Schools before eventually dedicating herself to early childhood music education. She lives in High Point with her husband and daughter. Melissa first became interested in Musikgarten after attending her daughter's first class; she couldn't stop singing and dancing! Melissa became director of Gate City Musikgarten in 2019, and is honored to provide quality music education to families of the triad.

Morgan McPherson ("Miss Morgan") is a lifelong musician, first being exposed to music in early childhood by her grandmother, Jenny, who played the organ by ear. Her mother, Karen, was also musical as a church pianist and first-chair violinist.

Morgan's love for the piano started at a very early age and official piano lessons began at age 5. She went on to study at The Music Academy of North Carolina with Freddie Chilton. Also during her time there, she enjoyed drum lessons with Thomas Taylor, guitar lessons with Kevin Dollar, and competed annually in NCMTA and NMTA piano competitions, once placing 4th in the NMTA piano competition.

She studied under the late Dr. George Kiorpes at The University of North Carolina at Greensboro and continued to study with him in his home after he retired. During her time at UNCG, she produced her first EP of original songs, entitled 'Fragile Little Me.' Her love for writing and recording led to other projects with other area producers and in Nashville, TN.

She has enjoyed teaching private piano lessons for 16+ years, her students ranging from age 4 to 92. Primarily teaching beginning to intermediate piano, she became a Certified Musikgarten Teacher after meeting Melissa Zacharias in 2023. She enjoys teaching early childhood music because of the opportunity to pass on the joy of music to our next generation.

She has written and produced over 80 songs in the alternative/pop/rock genre and continues to write and record new music in her free time.