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.
Yesterday I met an artist on the faculty here who was interested in doing a collaboration (she was interested in my electronic music). So we talked and shared some of our work and tried to figure out how to collaborate/respond to each other's stuff. I played Near Burning for her and she cried. It was...amazing? Is that the right word? I don't think that I've ever had anyone respond to my music that way.
The piece is very emotional and it has definitely connected with people. Lots of the crowds who have listened to it have been other composers who pick at some of the obvious technical faults. The people who have responded the strongest to the work, though, were all non-musicians. Not sure what that means, but I think it means something.
I didn't know what to do when she cried. I have no tissues in my office or anything. I ended up thanking her for her reaction. Her response meant so much to me. It was great. I'm looking forward to working with her!
posted by Jay C. Batzner
11/28/2006
Something in the air
I don't know what has been going on lately, but I've really noticed some changes in my compositional process. I wish I knew why these things were happening, but I'm kind of enjoying the ride.
Issue 1: electro-acoustic music Sure, I'm doing more of this. No big surprise here. I like it. It is fun. I've been playing with Max/MSP a lot and I'm ALMOST ready to get out of the "sound" stage and into the "music" stage. Almost. The amount of time and effort it takes to create musical gestures in Max/MSP is a real handicap to the program. I almost went with a Kyma system so I could get to the MUSIC faster.
Issue 2: improvisation Part of dealing with electronic music has started to rub off on my acoustic stuff: I don't feel like writing anything down. Improv has become much more appealing. It all started with my Miniatures for piano and tape (the piano part is all improvised and no, I don't have a recording yet) and it is starting to affect (infect) all my other acoustic writing. I'm working on a marimba duo right now which is largely improvised. The score will take me about an hour to complete once I get around to actually writing it down. I never expected to take this kind of turn towards improvisation. It makes me wonder: is this driven by laziness?
Issue 3: I can't believe I'm going to say this I'm seriously considering writing a work for middle-school band. I think it will be fun. The hard part is keeping it fun and not brooding (as I am want to do).
So, there it is. If all goes well next month I'll have the duo in the bag, my dissertation revised, and some serious progress made on recomposing Ashamed/Unabashed. In all likelihood, I'll get one of those things almost completed.
posted by Jay C. Batzner
11/21/2006
What I like about teaching
I really enjoy teaching composition lessons. I don't see my role as being the overlord of style. Instead, I turn into "Idea Man." I comment about my students' works and then shotgun them with various ideas of how to proceed. The discussion leads us down all sorts of paths and it always keeps my brain active. I never did well with teachers would would look at my work and say "Yeah, this is good. Keep going." That dialog and discourse is one of the things that keeps me going.
Lessons also stimulate ideas for what I should write next. Unlike many of you, I am not burdened with excessive amounts of commissions telling me what I have to write. Most of my precompositional work these days has been in ensemble selection. I'm trying to make tactically important ensemble decisions. They usually cut against the grain of the music I want to write, but I'm looking to correct that.
I'm a little starved for performances right now. Most recent performances of my music have been without me present or with me as the performer. I really get off on hearing my music as an audience member. It is the illustrious high which I seek. Red wine is good, but now that red wine is this super-health food it kind of diminishes the decadence factor. And bourbon has gotten expensive now that I'm no longer working in a liquor store.
Hmmm. My entry goes almost directly from comp lessons into drinking. Reminds me of my doctoral program...
posted by Jay C. Batzner
11/20/2006
"Getting Better"
You know what phrase I'm tired of? "Things will get better." Since moving to Florida, my life has taken a pretty severe down turn. One or two good things have happened, but most of those were in place before I came to the "Sunshine State." Anything initiated since July has turned to shit. Yet people tell me that "things will get better." I don't think they have any idea of how much worse things can (and most likely will) get.
If I was alive 150 years ago, I suppose I could turn all this stuff into awesome music. The problem is I'm tired of depressing music. Everything seems to be about tragedy and pain and such. While those are all the things active in my life, I want nothing to do with them in my music. Is that wrong?
Wasn't it Rautavaara who said something about writing music that reflected the world not as it was but as he wished it would be? The only problem I'm having now is getting away from the world that IS so I can make the one I WANT.
*sigh* Sorry to be on the dark side today. It is the only one I have handy. I'm printing some staff paper and hoping for the best.
posted by Jay C. Batzner
11/05/2006
Snarky titles
Do I need one? I am preparing to revise my piece Ashamed/Unabashed, originally written for 2 pianos and chamber ensemble, and convert it into a chamber orchestra piece wtihout soloists. Maybe a full orchestra. Maybe band. Most likely orchestra, I really need the strings.
As you can tell, I am still making decisions.
Anyhow, the title of the piece has to go. It is a good title, even if it was once described as "something a 12 year old girl would write in her journal." The guy who said it had a dopey palindrome as the title of HIS piece, and, while the palindrome had nothing to do with his piece at all, I refrained from point that out. Until now.
The title of Ashamed/Unabashed really does sum up how I feel about writing. I am very ashamed of my work. I don't place much value on it at all. And that piece was about me getting over it. I started to have some real fun while writing, which I hadn't done in a long time. So it was the right piece at the right time. I'm getting better.
So, when transferring the work, I feel the need to change the title. I've been very turned off by cutesy titles, especially after hearing Cheating, Lying, and Stealing. I'd be perfectly happy naming the new version of the work "Chamber Symphony" or "Music for Small Orchestra" but I know that the piece will be looked over even more than it is in its current condition. Besides, there is a very hip modern term that I've started to take as a description of my compositional process:
Shark jumping.
I write for a while, then I take a hard turn in some contradictory direction. I jump the shark. Then, the rest of the piece becomes about justifying WHY I had to jump that particular shark. It is also a way for me as a composer to figure out what the heck I'm doing.
What do you think? Are snarky title passé? Is it better to hide behind a "safe" title?
posted by Jay C. Batzner
11/02/2006
Radio Effect
Have you ever noticed that, when you listen to the radio with a lot of stuff on your mind, the lyrics of the song often match your mood?
Prime example: Yesterday I was in a fairly serious car accident. Some idiot cut across traffic and did a left turn right in front of me. I slammed into him, basically totaling his van and wrecking the hell out of my front end. He was found at fault, of course, for an unsafe turn. Anyhow, "my" car was a rental car because my wife was in a fairly serious wreck last Monday (rear-ended at a stop light, the other car was going 45 MPH and didn't even slow down). Our car sustained $7k of damage and will be out of the body shop no earlier than Thanksgiving. So, each of us were in car accidents about 10 days apart.
And, at work, one of my colleagues came down with pneumonia/plural infection and was out all last month. He had lung surgery yesterday and will be out for the rest of the semester. Since he teaches 2 music technology classes, I am having to cover those in addition to my normal full load. Quite a bit of stress happening. Other faculty are in the same position, too, so I'm not complaining that much. It is a lot of extra work and stress for a first semester.
There are other things going on, too, but you get the drift: October was a stressful month and there is no end in sight until the semester finishes.
Anyhow, back on task. When the tow truck finally came (4 hours after the accident and did I mention it was raining yesterday?) I got up into the cab and the radio was blasting. It was that song by O.K. Go called "Here it Goes Again" and the lyrics at the time were:
I know there has to be a break in the monotony but, Jesus!, when it rains how it pours!
Totally appropriate, I think. And the song I was listening to when I got in the accident? "Tryin' to Keep the Customer Satisfied" by Simon and Garfunkel.
Totally appropriate, I think.
posted by Jay C. Batzner
