Music program alumni talks life after graduation

by Jamie Oakes

Daniel Harrison. Contributed Picture

TAMPA, Fla.--Daniel Harrison, USF alumni of the Monday Night Jazz Series, was only a sophomore in high school, but he was well aware of what he wanted to do with his life—to be a musician.

Harrison, 23, first discovered his love of music when he and his friends would play music in high school. Although he did well in academia, he was bored with it. After all, he was a creative. It finally clicked for him. Harrison wanted to go to school for what he loved doing: playing the guitar. His parents thought otherwise.

“[My parents] definitely questioned my decision,” Harrison said. “They asked why not medical or law school? I told them it just wasn’t for me.”

Harrison has been playing the guitar since he was 13 years old. Originally from St. Petersburg, Florida, he went to USF where he graduated with a double major in jazz studies and music composition.

Despite what one may think of majoring in the music program, Harrison said it’s hardly a walk-in-the-park degree.

“It’s extremely stressful program. It’s probably at the level of pre-med and electrical engineering, yet it’s such a lucrative field,” said Harrison. “You have to keep working outside of class, unlike other majors, like, accounting and business.”

Jim Hall and Peter Berstein, both jazz guitarists, are just a couple of his musical influences. His (and their) specialty is straight-ahead jazz, which is a style of jazz that encompasses the period of bebop and the 1960s.

“However, that’s not to be confused with smooth jazz,” he said. “That’s old-lady jazz, elevator music.”

Harrison is still living in the Tampa area, teaching and playing music at Tampa Guitar, though he detests the state in which he’s deemed “Mickey Mouse Land.” He plans on attending graduate school out-of-state.

“I decided to take a year off from school before jumping right into it again,” he said. “I’ve seen too many people burn out when they don’t take some time off. A break was definitely needed.”

Ideally, he would like to attend either University of Missouri, Kansas City or the University of Colorado, Boulder for composition and music theory. Instead of going to a larger, more prestigious school, such as Columbia, he wants to attend a smaller school. It isn’t too big of a campus where it would make him uncomfortable. Plus, he thinks attending a school that only accepts 50 students per semester, there’s a more likelihood of playing, recording, and getting heard.

All four years, he had been preparing for the recital, the big project for graduating seniors. When the students perform one last time for the panel of professors and get critiqued on their work. It’s either a pass or fail—no As, Bs, or Cs.

“It was extremely nerve wracking to perform in front of everyone, but I was happy when I saw the result. Now, I can’t wait to get out of Florida,” Harrison said.