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.
|
8/21/2007
Composition Pre-test
Okay, it wasn't a pre-test. It was more of a survey. I wanted to know where my students' heads are/were in my Composition I class. The highlight (to me) was the "Is this music?" section. I played five 1 minute excerpts and asked the students to rate them on a 5 point scale. I wasn't asking the students if they LIKED the excerpts but if they thought the excerpt could be considered music. A 5 meant that "yes, definitely, this is music." A 3 meant "not sure," and a 1 meant "No, absolutely not." If they scored something less than a 2, they were explain why.
Here are the excerpts in one easy to digest mp3.
Much to my surprise, the only perfect 5 was the Beethoven. Cake scored an average of 4.9 (one person gave it a 4). Elliott Carter got a much-surprised and highly-respectable 4.6. Adrian Moore's Study in Ink got just above a 3 and F'loom's Postman-Hill Victory Correspondence came in last with 2.45.
I got some really interesting data on other stuff, too. It gives me a thumbnail sketch of how they are thinking. And thinking is good.
posted by Jay C. Batzner
|
| |
