![\"\"](\"https:\/\/ww2.georgiasouthern.edu\/news\/magazine\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/IMG-8751-EDIT.jpg\")
<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
When Dalton Daniel graduated from Georgia Southern University in 2015, he had a bachelor\u2019s degree in music composition, but no job. So, he went straight to Los Angeles (L.A.) to try to get into the music business.<\/p>\n
But it\u2019s hard to break into that competitive market without connections. Fortunately, Dalton\u2019s trombone teacher at Georgia Southern could help.<\/p>\n
Associate Professor Richard Mason, DMA, made a lot of friends working in L.A. as a studio trombonist. Mason \u201chad a friend who knew a friend\u201d who worked at Joann Kane Music Service in Culver City. He told Mason they were looking for interns. These interns would work as assistants to the copyists, scanning in old musical scores from the \u201840s and \u201850s for digital archiving.<\/p>\n
Daniel was willing and able to do the job. He told the hiring manager about his skills in music notation programs and his experiences as a college musician. He started out as an intern but then began taking on more responsibilities. Shortly, when a full-time position as a music copyist opened up, Daniel got the job. Right out of college, he broke into the music business.<\/p>\n
What does Daniel do as a music copyist?<\/p>\n
A music copyist prepares written music for a musician, band or orchestra. A client might need a recording transcribed, and the copyist will listen to the music and write it down for them. Or a composer might want to provide written music for a band or orchestra, and the music copyist will need to write out the music for each instrument.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe music will come in as a MIDI (musical instrument digital interface) file, or as a music notation file, and we turn those into parts and scores. Then we take the printed parts and scores to recording sessions for film and TV shows. Sometimes that means orchestrating. Sometimes that means turning the scribbles they give us into logical parts,\u201d said Daniel.<\/p>\n
While in high school, Daniel made the decision to stay in Georgia for college to be near family.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was looking at UGA, Valdosta, and actually, for short period of time, I was looking at Georgia Tech to be an engineer. The only one that just felt right to me was Georgia Southern. Where all the other schools just weren\u2019t the right fit for me, it was just a nice friendly environment that just felt right,\u201d said Daniel.<\/p>\n
His professors Mason, DMA; Martin Gendelman, DMA; and William Schmid, DMA; greatly influenced Daniel.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy trombone professor, Dr. Mason, and my composition professor, Dr. Gendelman, were very influential to me. As a composition major I got to study one-on-one with Dr. Gendelman. We were able to exchange ideas. I also took jazz composition and arranging lessons with Dr. Schmid, a trumpet professor. I learned a great deal from him. These professors helped me move along as a musician,\u201d said Daniel.<\/p>\n
Daniel says his experiences while at Georgia Southern helped prepare him for working with high-profile clients in Los Angeles.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe orchestra conductor at Georgia Southern actually hooked me up on my first big gig. The Atlanta Symphony was performing a concert with Chuck Leavell and Gregg Allman. I wrote the arrangements for the orchestra to play with their band,\u201d said Daniel.<\/p>\n
At Joann Kane Music, Dalton has worked on many recognizable films and TV shows.<\/p>\n
\u201cOne of the biggest ones was the latest \u2018Star Wars\u2019 movie. We work on all of John Williams\u2019 scores, like \u2018Star Wars: The Last Jedi\u2019 and \u2018The Post.\u2019 There are just so many that come through here, it\u2019s hard to think of them all. We worked on John Krasinski\u2019s new movie, \u2018A Quiet Place,\u2019 \u2018Mary Poppins Returns,\u2019 \u2018Christopher Robin,\u2019 \u2018Ferdinand,\u2019 and \u2018Ready Player One.\u2019 And then for TV, we work on \u2018Family Guy,\u2019 \u2018Empire\u2019 and \u2018The Simpsons.\u2019<\/p>\n
Daniel loves his career.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s something new every day. The music\u2019s just flooding in and out so quickly\u2026 I just love doing this kind of work. Really it\u2019s just right for me, you know?\u201d<\/p>\n
Georgia Southern had the connections to get Dalton\u2019s Los Angeles musical career going. Indeed, it was the right fit.<\/p>\n
\u2014 Liz Walker<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" When Dalton Daniel graduated from Georgia Southern University in 2015, he had a bachelor\u2019s degree in music composition, but no job. So, he went straight to Los Angeles (L.A.) to try to get into the music business.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":17,"featured_media":6911,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[58],"class_list":["post-6910","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-alumni","tag-fall-2018"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ww2.georgiasouthern.edu\/news\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6910","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ww2.georgiasouthern.edu\/news\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ww2.georgiasouthern.edu\/news\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ww2.georgiasouthern.edu\/news\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/17"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ww2.georgiasouthern.edu\/news\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6910"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/ww2.georgiasouthern.edu\/news\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6910\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ww2.georgiasouthern.edu\/news\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6911"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ww2.georgiasouthern.edu\/news\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6910"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ww2.georgiasouthern.edu\/news\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6910"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ww2.georgiasouthern.edu\/news\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6910"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}