Our Team

Sara and Jon Acheson are the owners and founders of the Beamsville Music Studio(2010) and Grimsby Music Shop(2019). They have been playing music together since 2001 in bands and as a duet in and around the Hamilton/ Niagara areas.

Jon Acheson

Guitar

Jon has been playing guitar since he was a teenager in the East Coast. He has been teaching guitar and bass among other instruments since 2003 for several different lesson studios and now only teaches at Beamsville/Grimsby Music.  He is a graduate of the Applied Music Program at Mohawk College and has an advanced diploma in the study of Jazz Guitar.

Sara Acheson

Piano, Vocals

Sara has been singing all her life in choirs and with several bands and duet projects. She has been teaching voice and piano since 2004 at several different studios and now teaches at Beamsville/Grimsby Music. She is a graduate of the Applied Music Program at Mohawk College and has an advanced diploma in the study of Jazz Voice.

Tannis Beamer has been playing piano from a very young age and has been teaching piano for fifteen years. She is certified through the Royal Conservatory of Music in Rudimentary and Intermediate Pedagogy and completed her grade 10 in piano.

Tannis believes in fostering the love and joy of making music at the piano and encourages her students to follow their interests whether that is classical, pop, jazz or composing their own works. She also provides RCM exam preparation for grades 1 through 8.

Padraig is a graduate of the Mohawk College Applied Music program, currently playing with the St Catharines band Lack or Luck, winners of the Welland Readers Choice Award- Gold!

Lauren is a graduate of the Mohawk College music program with over 13 years of teaching experience. Lauren has toured the US twice playing shows in New York City and Detroit performing with an original band, as well as released a CD of her own original music.

Lauren also has played in 5 different cover bands, currently performing with Jasmine T in the Lincoln area.

Since picking up the bass for the first time Hamilton-based bassist Ethan Tilbury has never looked back. A former teacher of his, Pat Collins, once said, “Ethan has a fearless approach to the bass, he is always going for it and is constantly coming up with new ideas”.

Ethan continues to learn and develop as he finishes his degree at Humber College, a place he says “pushes you to your limits and then some.”

Growing up in a small community just outside of Hamilton called Caledonia, Ethan was introduced to a wide variety of music, from the hard-hitting rock of Led Zeppelin to the sweet melodies and folk songs of Nick Drake to the thrashing and crashing of punk bands such as Rancid and The Germs. Currently, you can find Ethan playing either upright bass or electric at various venues across the GTA and Hamilton areas in a variety of different styles, from Big Bands to jazz trios and quartets to rock groups.

James DeGeer is a guitarist based out of Hamilton, Ontario. He started playing guitar and bass at the age of 9, when his dad and oldest brother inspired him to pick it up. Since then he has graduated from Mohawk College’s Contemporary Music program, with guitar being his principle instrument.

Since leaving Mohawk College, James has focused on getting as much experience playing and performing as possible in the GTA. James spends his time composing and performing with bands that he is apart of, doing work in the pit orchestra for the Burlington Performing Arts Centre, being a studio musician for local bands, frequenting local jazz jam sessions, as well as being a recording engineer for local studios.

Along with playing and performing, James focuses a lot of his time on teaching privately around Hamilton, as well as at the Beamsville & Grimsby Music Studio. He has been teaching since 2016 - teaching guitar, bass, and ukulele at all levels. James likes to put emphasis on music theory, rhythm, and technique with his students. He specializes in Jazz & Jazz fusion, Rock, Metal, R&B, and Brazilian guitar.

James continues to study with his private teacher he has been with since 2016 - Bob Shields. He focuses his time not only on theory and playing, but also on the psychological side of playing improvised music and overall mindfulness.

Kevin is a Hamilton-based pianist, composer, and teacher who studied at Mohawk College with some of Canada's great pianists such as Adrean Farrugia and Rob Fekete. Kevin started playing piano as a kid and currently performs all around Ontario in different groups and styles from Jazz, funk, salsa, pop and more. He has a wide range of teaching experience including RCM classical repertoire, jazz & pop styles and theory/composition.

Derek loves teaching music and has been doing so for almost 40 years. He has a Master of Music in saxophone and a Bachelor of Education and is certified to teach all woodwind and brass instruments along with piano.

Gaby Tuba is a 22 year old singer-songwriter from St Catharines, Ontario. She is currently in her last year at Mohawk College studying contemporary voice in Hamilton. Gaby hopes to continue at Mcmaster in the fall to finish her music degree. Gaby has her grade six RCM for classical voice. She has also been playing the guitar for five years now. She loves Joni Mitchell, Bjork and Radiohead.

Dan is an incredibly talented musician and a wonderful teacher. He has been teaching for many years and has been a part of the Beamsville Music Team since 2015 teaching guitar, bass, and ukulele. He is a busy performing and recording musician and is a member of many local bands. He studied Music at Mohawk College and has many years of playing experience.

Ron Porter is originally from Hamilton but has made Beamsville his home for the last 21 years, he is an extremely talented acoustic and electric  guitar player with over 30 years of experience.

Ron has played professionally across Southern and Northern Ontario in several top tribute acts, and has been playing for the last 6 years with the local band Jasmine-T.

As a long-time, blues, and Southern Rock player he brings heart and soul to his performances. Ron has 6 years teaching experience in different styles of music to all ages.