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.
You know what I hate? When things are "almost done." I know that Da Vinci (or somebody like that) claimed that "no work of art is ever finished, it is merely abandoned" and I like the sentiment, but there comes a time when things are ALMOST ready to be abandoned. The final details really stick in my craw. I hate stuck craws.
I love being at the beginning of a project. There is so much potential, so many opportunities, so much passion for what I'm doing that it is really intoxicating. I like being in the thick of the project, too. I'm surrounded in my own world of stuff and it is fun to be down and dirty with it all.
There comes a point, though, when I'm done. The work is complete and all that remains are the fine details, but my energies have been spent and man, I'm just DONE. The fine details are important, of course. I'm not denying that. As they say in the programming world, "there is always one more bug." I dutifully put the finishing touches on things, but I hate to do so and I really drag my feet with it.
The music may be done, but the score isn't yet. Or everything is in Finale but I still need to make it look pretty. And then I have to do the parts. And then make those parts look pretty. And then, and then, and then, and then.
I try to overlap projects so hopefully the energy from one stage overlaps into the other stages of the other projects. Doesn't always work, though. Oh well.
posted by Jay C. Batzner
11/26/2007
November
So where, exactly, did this month go? It seems like yesterday was just Halloween...
Anyhow, one of the places the month (and I) went was the Electroacoustic Juke Joint at Delta State University in Cleveland. Cleveland, Mississippi, that is. Mark Snyder put together a pretty hip electroacoustic music festival in his first semester on the faculty at Delta State. I missed out on the actual "juke joint" portion on Friday night, though. Essentially, they put their electroacoustic stylings on in a tarpaper shack called "Po' Monkey's." The reports that I heard of the decor and the concerts made me wish I wasn't spending so much time in the Philly airport. Next year, though, I'm going.
In other recent pre-Inlaw Invasion news, I hosted Robert Voisey and a 60x60 concert here at UCF. This was the first concert with my new gear and, unless I am mistaken, the first electroacosutic concert at UCF. It was very well attended and well received. I'm doing another concert in February and details on that will emerge as I have them.
Otherwise, November is a blur. I seem to recall something about teaching, but I don't remember.
UPDATE! I was just given a brief history lesson on the electroacoustic stylings that happened at UCF by Bryan Pittard in UCF's very own Digital Media department. The 60x60 was NOT the first electroacoustic concert at UCF. There was a synthesizer ensemble that gave many performances a semester for several years and there was at least one documented student recital of electronic media art. My apologies for the misinformation. I'm new here and it is a big place!
posted by Jay C. Batzner
11/13/2007
End of Time
Well, our first batch of graduate students here at UCF just performed Quatuor pour la Fin du Temps. They played the hell out of it, too. I choked up not once, but twice. The audience was full, which was nice to see. I gave my Theory 1 students 10 points of extra credit for attending. They may have come for the points but they certainly won't go back out into the world the same way as they were before hearing the piece. Ah, aren't ulterior motives grand?
I have a lesson in under an hour. I'm finding it hard to just go back about my busy schedule as if the whole thing hadn't happened. If anyone needs me, I'll be out of the office for a while...
posted by Jay C. Batzner
Keep voting! My goal is to beat the Harry Potter Podcast.
posted by Jay C. Batzner
11/05/2007
Don't let the TWITs win!
Everyone, Overnight, This Week in Tech surged ahead in the Best Podcast polls. I suspect some kind of foul play since they were quite a bit behind until this morning. Then, poof! almost 50% of the vote. You know how crafty those tech guys can be. The server has been acting funny all morning!
I'm not going to name names, but everything that my opponents do is encompassed by my podcast. You want tech? Everything I make for the podcast is done with tech. AND love.
You want politics? Check out episode 34.
You want economics? I use lots of samples from Freesound. In today's hard economy, doesn't it just make sense? Plus, I used a clip from "Money" in Episode 30.
You want magic and geekiness? Check out episode 26. How much geekier could I be?
You want science? Music IS science, baby! And my music is electrified science.
Also, do you really want to support a podcast that claims to be daily but only comes out 5 times a week? Last time I checked there were 7 days in a week.
So please, Go vote. Remember, your computer can vote every day until Thursday. If you have access to, say, more than one computer, you can make sure your vote counts double. Or maybe even more.
This message has been brought to you by the Unsafe Bull is Cooler than Harry Potter Brigade.
posted by Jay C. Batzner
11/02/2007
Vote for me! - UPDATED!
Hey everyone, By some quirk of fate, I've been nominated for Best Podcast for the 2007 Weblog awards. Thanks to Prent Rodgers for the nomination.
I'm up against some big competition and I want to make those Slate folks nervous. Vote for me! I'll start campaigning in next week's show...
The competition is:
This Week In Tech Econtalk Pundit Review Slate Magazine Daily The Glenn and Helen Show. Shire Network News The Mr Science Show The Pentagon Channel Unsafe Bull Podcast Harry Potter Prognostications
These podcasters do not know the Unsafe Bull. They shall, though. They shall.
