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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10/11/2007
Faculty
I was having this conversation with another composer. He told me that I have a distinct advantage in the musical world because I have a faculty position and he does not. He was upset that he wasn't getting more performances. I told him that the musical world holds no special favors for faculty. I've never seen a call for scores that is exclusive to faculty members. Yes, we have access to resources that help our compositional lives, but our primary duty as a faculty member is teaching (which eats up a lot of creative time). I also pointed out that the reason I get more performances than he does is that I send out about 15 scores a month to potential performers. He sent out 2 in the last year.
I feel that, in many ways, the whole "faculty" moniker is one of those marginalizing modifiers (as in "woman composer" "gay composer" "vegetarian composer"). And don't laugh at that "vegetarian composer" bit. Someone came up to me after hearing my Ashamed/Unabashed and asked "How does a vegetarian write music like that?" Whatever that meant. While "faculty" is a less offensive label than "student" I still get the feeling that the rest of the musical world says "This person can't be a good composer. They have to teach to make a living and just write academic music (whatever that means)." Of course I think that opinion is utter crap. There is a similar opinion among some music faculty that "Composers don't want to teach, they just want to composer." Again with the utter crap.
So, what is the feeling of the Most Learned Internet? Do faculty have an unfair advantage in the musical world? Is the grass only greener on the other side? What does a vegetarian composer sound like? Discuss.
posted by Jay C. Batzner
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