Jay C. Batzner (b. 1974) is currently an Assistant Professor at the University of Central Florida where he teaches music composition and technology courses as well as coordinates the composition program. In his first year, Jay received two prestigious grants: one to create collaborative works with visual artist Carla Poindexter and the second to initiate electroacoustic music concerts in Orlando. Prior to this position, Jay was an active adjunct professor at several colleges in the Kansas City area while he completed his D.M.A. in Composition at the University of Missouri – Kansas City Conservatory. While at UMKC, Jay received honors including a Distinguished Dissertation Fellowship and a Dean's Doctoral Scholar Fellowship.
Jay's music ranges from instrumental chamber works to electroacoustic compositions. He has participated in numerous national and international festivals including the Wellesley Composers Conference and the International Young Composers' Meeting in the Netherlands. His music is published by Unsafe Bull Music and has been recorded on the Capstone and Vox Novus labels. Jay is a frequent contributor to the new music website Sequenza21.com and a founding member of the composers organization The Collected.
Jay is a sci-fi geek, an amateur banjoist, a home brewer, and juggler.
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1/06/2006
Rejection
I got a great rejection letter this afternoon. I submitted some works to Antisocial Music (along with a haiku and a recommendation letter from my father-in-law...they have a great submission procedure).
"Hi there! If you're getting this, you sent us something hoping we'd play it. Let's get the bad news out of the way: we're not going to. It's not you, it's us, we swear. Baby, don't be that way! We meant everything we said, it's just not the right time in our lives, and we need to do what's right for us. Also, we've been sleeping with the night cashier at the Kwik-E-Mart.
Ow! That'll leave a mark.
Anyway, as a consolation prize, we'd like to offer you a little something. There was one among you who included in his package a sampling of recipes. David Heuser, you truly know the way to our hearts. We salute you. Sorry we're not playing your piece.
Without further ado, David Heuser's Jambalaya recipe. Enjoy."
I'm not including the recipe. If you want it, get your own rejection letter.
This letter ranks right up there with the letter from Frogpeak. Larry Polansky gave me very insightful rejection. He really spent some time with my stuff and had good comments (in spite of the "no, we don't want this" context).
Usually, I don't read the letters. I get the gist of "blah blah blah, many worthy candidates, blah blah blah, not you, blah blah blah" and put it in my yellow file folder. It makes me happy to get a letter with some real personality, whether they accept my stuff or not (usually not).
posted by Jay C. Batzner
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