Music has a part to play in every life, no matter where you are in it.

That's the ethos behind Play It Again, a film that explores the musical journeys of people who have had unique experiences in finding the power of music. Its creator is SFCM graduate Jim Schuyler, who goes by the name “Sky” in his professional life. Sky enrolled in SFCM later in life as an adult years after making the decision as teen to be a computer scientist rather than a musician.

"I had a career in engineering. You can write a program to do practically anything you can conceive of. What my teachers didn’t recognize when I was young was that I probably should have studied composition. For me software was my way of building things," Sky said. "For me now, writing music is the same process. Writing it and seeing it go off and do things.”

After graduating from SFCM's Technology and Applied Composition (TAC) program he knew he had a story to tell. "I want people to be inspired to return to music or art or dance or whatever their own personal joy may be. Our four interwoven stories beautifully illustrate that it can be done." 

Filmed inside SFCM’s Bowes Center in 2022 and 2023, Play It Again also tells the stories of SFCM faculty alumni who returned to music after working in other professions, like Roots, Jazz, and American Music Assistant Director Amelie-Anna Hinman and grads-turned-faculty Nicholas Pavkovic and Kris Grant. 

Sky and other musicians in the film hope viewers find inspiration to make a place for music in their respective lives— or discover it all for the first time. "Somebody once told me that whatever it is that you have to give, somebody's out there who wants to receive it. And I hope that's true, because that would mean really that we have the largest table in the universe because there's space for everybody—because there will be a partner for everyone," Hinman said. 

Learn more about how SFCM audiences can watch "Play It Again" for free for a limited time.