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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6/21/2007
Defining Moments
Not that it has anything to do with anything, but there is a new podcast episode up today.
My wife and I were talking the other night and she asked me if I had any "defining moments." I thought for a second and I came up with two. These aren't the kind of "defining moments" that culture tells you are supposed to define you (wedding day, birth of our daughter, getting my doctorate, etc.). I have one non-musical and one musical:
Non-musical: On my 18th birthday, I was a foreign exchange student in Germany. My host family sat me down and told me, at length, what a horrible human being I am. They did it again just before I left. That was about 15 years ago and, despite other people's assurances that what they said isn't true, I still believe them. I'm more inclined to believe the negative things about me than accept something positive. Any praise is highly suspect and I can usually explain away. The negative things about me are the things that I take as being my true self.
Musical: In 2004, I was a part of the International Young Composers' Meeting in Apeldoorn, Netherlands. It was a wonderful experience. I met a lot of great composers and felt really good about who I was and what I was doing. Each of us had to write a piece for the "house orchestra" of 10 winds, rhythm section (piano, guitar, bass, 1 percussionist), and up to 5 voices (SSATB). The piece couldn't be longer than 3 minutes. We had two rehearsals of our piece and then, on the final night, there was a concert of all the pieces (from about 15 composers). One composer was selected to get a commission for the ensemble for the next year, another composer was selected to get another commission for a smaller piece.
Of course, I didn't get the commission. That was not the defining moment.
The defining moment came the first time I heard my piece. I got such a rush from hearing my music for the first time that I realized that THAT MOMENT was why I am a composer. Before the audience comes in, before I become overly critical and only hear a work's flaws, that initial hearing with the ensemble is when I love my music.
I'll try to dig up the recording of that piece. There is a longer story about the final concert, but you really aren't that interested.
posted by Jay C. Batzner
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