Shaynna R. Jarvis

I am currently a student at Youngstown State University's Dana School of Music and pursuing a degree in Instrumental Music Education. I, with my older brother and younger sister, grew up in Beloit,OH where we attended West Branch Local Schools. My path to choosing a career in music started when I just entered fifth grade band. In what seems like a lifetime ago I was trying my best to do a drum roll on a practice pad with sticks that felt too large in my petite fifth grade hands. From then on I improved with the help of my great and talented music teachers. My dad never had the funds for me to take private lessons so I never got any real attention on my technique until I was in high school. At that point my music teacher, Mr. Barnett, started giving me, among many others, free lessons once a week during the school day. It was mostly in preparation for the solo and ensemble competitions my school went to but I took that opportunity to learn as much as I could from my teacher. Thanks to his tutelage and contagious passion for teaching music I chose to follow in his footsteps. That is how I found myself auditioning at Dana to join the percussion studio and pursue my love of music. Now that I am a member of the percussion studio I take weekly lessons with Dr. Schaft who has improved my technique drastically since I started in the fall of 2013. I found so much enjoyment from music growing up that a passion of my own had taken root and grown with me and I just have to pass that on to the young musicians of the future.