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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10/03/2008
The Golden Path
I'm riding the wave today. I've been working on some cello and piano pieces for a performance in late November and I think I've finally done it. By "it" I mean stay out of my own way. The music is just being what it is going to be. I'm hardly fussing with it at all. Right now, at this very moment, this is the most gorgeous music in the known universe. And all I'm going to do is let it do what it needs to do.
I get in my own way a lot. I overthink. I "overwork the material" to use a Project Runwayism. My music is more successful when I just sit back and let the music simply "be."
This makes teaching composition a little harder for me. I think younger composers need to get in their own way for a while in order to discover their own road. Or, to use a Dune-ism, their Golden Path. There is a flow state in my composition lately that I've had to work hard to achieve. And working hard has allowed me to tap into this flow state more easily. But I had to work hard to make composition easier. I feel like there is a certain amount of hypocrisy in that philosophy. "Work hard so you can learn how to not work so hard."
Gah. I feel like I'm rambling. I'm just in the midst of writing some really beautiful music and I felt the need to share. The best part of this process is: I know that tomorrow I'll still think this is the most gorgeous music in the known universe.
posted by Jay C. Batzner
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