Giauna Neville, the student teacher for David Copeland, started playing the clarinet when she was in the sixth grade at Northview Middle School. When she was a really young kid, she had played sports, but then in the sixth grade, she found her interest in band and from there, the love only continued to grow.

“I never really felt like I belonged (in sports),” Neville said, “but then I discovered music.”

When Neville got to high school, she became a percussionist and now continues to play in college. She decided to drop sports completely and focus only on band.

Neville currently attends the University of Indianapolis and is a second year senior. She will be graduating in December of 2017. When she graduates, she will have a degree in music education teaching K-12 and will be certified in instrumental music. She is hopeful to continue her music career in grad school in the fall of 2019 and plans on studying Jazz Studies.

Neville is currently working on her final project, which is student teaching with Copeland. She says that she is a little more strict with her percussionists because that’s what she played in high school and in college.

“Her primary instrument (group) is percussion, so I think that’s where she feels most comfortable,” Copeland said.

Neville says using professionalism when dealing with students is important, but to also remember they are high school students. Copeland says that Neville has a very good relationship with her students. She says that being nice and approachable is important for when you interact with students. She also believes it is important to not be so hard on them.

“They’ll really listen to you when you talk about memes and when you dab,” Neville said.

Neville’s favorite part of band while she was growing up was simply playing. Her love only grew for band and now she loves to help others learn the art of playing their instrument.

“Band means family to me,” Neville said.  “I feel like I’m at home and I feel like I’m doing what I’m supposed to do when I’m playing music. It’s a really cool feeling.”