Director of Jazz Studies, William Flynn, released an album, titled “Seaside,” this year. The album, overall, brings to mind an image of Charles Schultz’s Schroeder bent over the piano while characters dance around him. 

The origin of this album was an artist’s retreat Flynn attended in a town called Seaside, Florida in 2017. Free of distractions, Flynn and other artists were able to buckle down and focus on their craft.

“The hardest part of practicing is getting your instrument out of the case,” he said. “I definitely wouldn’t have written [these] tunes in a month had I not had this opportunity.”

For Flynn, inspiration does not appear out of nowhere. He utilizes exercises and patterns in other music to generate his ideas.

“As artists, we kinda steal a lot of stuff,” Flynn said. ‘I really rely on little exercises and inspiration and stealing.”

Flynn also takes his own preferences into consideration while writing his music. He picks up melodies, chord progressions and tunes from other pieces and applies his own techniques. 

“If I was listening to this music,” he said, “what would I want to happen next?” 

Even after learning the skills to create his own music, Flynn still admires music with the same “childlike wonder” that he has always had. Creating his own albums has not taken away the element of passion he holds for music. 

“I’m still able to listen to music and connect with music the same way,” he said. “That flame is never gonna die.” 

“Seaside” and Flynn’s other work can be listened to on Spotify and Bandcamp.