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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10/04/2006
The Rush
Boy, have I missed this feeling.
I've been sending out scores like a maniac this week. It has been a while! Last year my time was spent with prepping and sending vast quantities of job applications. You loyal readers to the BatzBlog will remember those days.
Sending out applications meant that I wasn't sending out scores. There just weren't enough hours in the day, enough toner in the printer, enough paper at OfficeMax. And certainly not enough cash in the BatzBank. But now that I'm in my cushy faculty gig, get this, I don't have to pay for postage! Mu-ah-ha-ha! It counts as my research/creative activities! Double mu-ah-ha-ha!
There also happen to be a lot of calls for scores that I've seen that match up with what I've written. Very often that is not the case. Since I spent all of last year writing ONE piece and it can't be performed in its current state (instrumentation issues), a lot of my smaller pieces from 2 years ago can finally come out of the drawer and into the great unknown.
Yes, this means that I'm due for many more rejection letters. After applying for jobs I consider myself rather immune to rejection letters. They can send my scores back covered in human waste and I won't care that much. Yes, I'll call OSHA, but the rejection won't be that big of a deal.
Besides, if you can't tell, I get a bit of a high from prepping and mailing out scores. I fills my day with possibilities. My to-do list is being ignored, my homework and exams aren't getting graded, but I MIGHT get a performance or two out of today's activities. And it feels good to have my system back. When it comes to cranking out scores, I am a machine. It is a thing of beauty. My office door is open but none of the passing students truly "get" how cool I am at this moment.
Triple mu-ah-ha-ha!
posted by Jay C. Batzner
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