Jay C. Batzner is currently an Assistant Professor at the University of Central Florida where he teaches theory, composition, and technology courses as well as coordinates the composition program. He holds degrees in composition and/or theory from the University of Missouri – Kansas City, the University of Louisville, and the University of Kansas.
Jay's music is primarily focused around instrumental chamber works as well as electroacoustic composition. His music has been recorded on the Capstone, Vox Novus, and Beauport Classical labels and is published by Unsafe Bull Music.
Jay is a sci-fi geek, an amateur banjoist, a home brewer, and juggler.
This is the kind of thing I like. After my posting on choral music, I received a package from Mark Winges. I don't know Mark, never met him, but he sent me 2 CDs of choral music. Both discs are of the San Francisco group Volti (the first CD is before they got their fancy name) and 1 disc is exclusively Mark's music. He hoped that the music would be an "antidote" to some of my feelings towards choral music.
I have to say, I'm impressed. Both at the gesture and the music. Volti is a great sounding group and Mark's music is rather striking. When I saw that the first piece on a disc was for a children's choir, I must admit that I cringed. It turned out to be one of the coolest tracks on the disc. Mark is the resident composer for Volti and his music is quite good. It certainly falls on the "hit" side of the "hit or miss" spectrum. I have deemed both CDs "iPod Worthy." Volti now joins the ranks of Carter, Lutoslawski, Ligeti, and Journey. And Cake. You should check out Volti and Mark's music. Whether you like choral stuff or not.
Both discs have some very adventurous pieces on them and they made me think that writing a choral piece wouldn't be SO bad after all...
I do write some vocal music. Heck, I did have an opera composition fellowship at one point, so you'd expect me to be SOMEWHAT interested in vocal music. Which brings me to my next point. I love the poetry of Bill Knott. I contacted him about setting some of his work and he responded with sending me about 10 "vanity books," or collections of his poetry that are unpublished and self-distributed. Amazing stuff. AMAZING stuff. So I sent him an e-mail asking him for permission to write a song cycle with about 7 of his poems. He responded by giving me carte blanche to do whatever I want with any of his poems. So cool. I have even picked one out for a choral setting. I was surprised, since I found this interview many months back. Of interest is the spot where he says that he hates music.
So, let's see. This week I might make some disparaging comments about...oh...string quartets. Maybe someone out there will take issue with that and send me some Arditti or FLUX recordings. That would be cool.
posted by Jay C. Batzner
1/23/2006
Kansas City Chorale Concert
So I went to a KC Chorale concert last Thursday. My first. I'm not a huge fan of choral music, so even though this is a talented group I've never made it a priority to hear them. The concert featured living composers including a bunch of local folks. Plus Steven Stucky was around the premiere of his Three Motets.
Sorry to say, but the music was rather bland. It did little to shake my general dislike of choral music. James Mobberley's Lullaby was spectacular, but it was only 4 minutes of a 90 minute concert. His piece used a Native American poem which was rather touching. Can't remember the exact text (I shouldn't have thrown away that program) but it was quite poignant. The setting was simple and interesting and far too short. That is a good feeling to have.
Stucky's motets were for double choir. The effect was kind of lost on 24 voices. There was only 2-3 feet separating the two choirs. In March, another choir will join the Chorale in another performance. I think the double choir effect will be more successful then. These were three Latin texts, the final of which was "O Vos Omnes." They were rather forgettable pieces, except the final resolution of Omnes. Very cool.
Otherwise, the concert was what I expected. Rather bland fare, weird programming choices (the Stucky was followed by an arrangement of "It Might As Well Be Spring," not really fitting with the whole evening), and the music met expectations. I did hear some of the worst settings of William Carlos Williams poetry I've ever thought imaginable. I hate it when people set good poems badly.
I'm still not excited by choral music. I should write a piece in order to figure out my indifference, but I'd rather not. Writing things I hate is a useful challenge. If I leave this challenge unanswered, though, I'll still sleep well.
posted by Jay C. Batzner
1/19/2006
Done?
I just (and I mean 45 seconds ago) finished my dissertation. The notes are done, the orchestration is done, all that is left is some marking and revision work. And some page layout. Always page layout work to be done.
Since there is still a whole lot of work ahead of me, it doesn't quite register that I am done with the piece. But, from a structural/compositional point of view, Illuminations is all set.
Feels pretty good.
I do ascribe to the da Vinci quote "No work of art is ever completed, it is merely abandoned." It feels quite good to be a significant step closer towards abandoning this piece.
I was concerned about the ending. The last third of the piece is a little troubling. But I like it. I think that the ending of this piece is now the only ending it could have possibly had. It feels so right to me that I'm almost giddy.
So, should I drink my special 14 year old single malt scotch now? It is a little early in the morning and I do have some parenting to do...maybe it is best to wait until this evening.
posted by Jay C. Batzner
1/17/2006
Supreme Acts of Hope
I am applying for jobs. That might sound better if I stood up and said "Hello. My name is Jay Batzner and I am applying for jobs."
For those of you in similar situations, you know that this year has been both a blessing and a curse in the job application department. A blessing because of the INSANE number of jobs available. I have about 35 applications out there and another dozen are due by Feb. 15. Then, once everyone from this first round of jobs gets hired, there will be another burst around April-ish time.
The curse, of course, comes in the amount of work necessary to apply for one of these positions. I've crafted a couple of modular letters which I can spin in various directions depending on the mixture of composition, theory, and technology listed in the job description. The letters aren't so bad. But generating the scores and recordings and other supplemental materials takes a LOT more time. And money, of course, when you include postage, materials, and ordering transcripts. Hopefully I'll get a job to pay off applying for jobs!
To be honest, my expenses aren't so bad. I've been "Kinkos Free" since 2002. My HP 1200 has been a real champ. My comb binder shows no signs of stopping. Toner cartridges can be pricey but the financial side could be a lot worse than it is.
Anyhow, applying for jobs comes after fathering. Daria, my 9.5 month goofball, keeps me busy. I'm a stay-at-home Dad and Daria's 45-60 minute naps don't allow for a lot of progress towards job applications. I'd rather play with her anyway.
This whole process has been fascinating, all things considered. I have 4 rejection letters so a LOT more will probably arrive in March. March could be a depressing month. Maybe the letters will wait until the Cruelest Month. That would be downright poetic.
I have advanced to the second round at one position. I spent a weekend crafting up more materials to get closer to that elusive interview. If I get an interview, I feel confident. I think if people meet me, they will want me on their faculty. This is positive thinking. In general, people like me. I think. That has always been my assumption.
Of course, one thing that has fallen by the wayside is submitting my music to Calls for Scores. My energies can only go so many places. Wearing the Dad, Composer, and Job Applicant hats has certainly curtailed use of my Shameful Self-Promotion hat. Sending out music is a lot easier. I usually only send 1 or 2 scores and there is a lot less pressure and less fear of rejection. If someone doesn't program my music, it is no big loss. If I don't get a full time job, our lives are greatly affected.
The idea that this whole process could stretch out beyond July is frightening. I want a job. In a big way. And I want one now. Take away the uncertainty of my future. Please!
posted by Jay C. Batzner
1/14/2006
The 15th Listening
I had a lesson yesterday. On the one hand, I'm ready to stop having lessons. The sooner I can ditch the adjective "student" from my official-state-of-being, the better. On the other, I enjoy having open discourse about music with others. Of course I'll always be a student, of one form or another, but I'm sick of the moniker "student composer." That is another topic.
Dr. Mobberley (James Mobberley, my dissertation advisor) referred to the "15th Listening" of a piece. Stuff in my composition that seems surface at first but then structural after hearing it a bunch of times. I've always thought about the balance between surface and structures. Who doesn't? I always have some underlying structure that is not immediately perceivable. But thinking that someone is going to listen ANY piece of mine over a dozen times is a foreign concept.
Am I alone in this? In this world, I seem lucky to hear a piece at all much less have it performed twice. But fifteen times? Am I ever going to write something that gets played that much? One semester I had three performances of the same piece and I thought I had died and gone to heaven.
I've never thought of composing my music "for the ages." I've always figured that I'm headed towards obscurity. I think my compositional process reflects that mindset. I write for right now. I obsess about the relationships of things, but never put words to it. Hearing the idea spoken yesterday afternoon was jarring.
I almost responded with "Who is going to hear this piece more than once?" But I didn't. I think I've taken a step into the larger world of "positive thinking."
posted by Jay C. Batzner
1/12/2006
Happy HAL's-Day
True, this is the 80th birthday of The Man (or One of The Men, I usually refer to Carter as "The Man"...and sometimes Boulez). I've got a Feldman-fest happening on my iPod (up now, Atlantis). I feel I really understand the dichotomy in Feldman's boisterous personality and his delicate music. I think it was Rautavaara who said something to the effect of "We compose music for the world as we want it to be, not as it is." The more hectic my life becomes, the more I desire to write slow and sparse music. The more uncertainty there is in my life, the simpler I want my music to be. Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying those notion necessarily apply to Feldman. Nor am I saying that I have some sacred kinship with The Man. I'm just saying that I can understand why someone would act one way and compose another.
That being said, we should also take time out to remember another historic birth. On this day in 1997, the HAL 9000 computer was first booted at the University of Illinois. Take a moment and sing "Daisy." Do it the way Feldman would have done it for a "two-for-one" birthday extravaganza.
posted by Jay C. Batzner
1/10/2006
Shiny Happy?
This weekend I heard Melinda Wagner's Extremity of Sky played by Emanuel Ax and the Kansas City Symphony.
Let me stop right there and talk about how cool is our new conductor, Michael Stern. Only two of the concerts he is conducting this season do NOT have works by living composers. One of those two concerts has Schoenberg's Verklarte Nacht and the other has Rachmaninoff's Third Concerto and Beethoven's Third Symphony. Schoenberg is a name that scares people away, even when he is "out Straussing Strauss," so I give the man some props. The Rach 3 vs. Eroica is a big enough program as it is. No complaints from me.
Stern is doing this whole thing right, too. He brings the composers in and talks about the music with the audience. The composers so far (local favorite Zhou Long, Joan Tower, and Melinda Wagner) have been personable and engaging. The audiences like the composers' personalities and therefore approach the piece with a willingness to like it. Stern does good work and we are lucky to have him. Can't say the same for Witchita, but we do what we can. Upcoming composers include Gordon Chin and Jonathan Leshoff.
Ok, back on task. Melinda Wagner. Since Ms. Wagner wasn't at the Sunday matinee concert, Emanuel Ax spoke a bit before the piece. Manny and Yoko started the concert with Mozart's Concerto for Two Pianos, which was okay. There is a fantastic dissonance in the slow movement, which I actually thought was a wrong note until they played it again towards the end (you can do anything in music as long as you do it twice). So the Mozart, even if it was a bit dull, lulled the audience into a positive state. At the end of his talk, Emanuel told the audience that it was okay for them to hate the piece. As long as they had a reaction, he was happy.
I think he undermined his whole pep talk. We all know how easy it is to be negative. Even if I dislike a piece I still try to find some kind of positive element to take away from the experience. I would have preferred that he end his talk with "Even if you dislike the piece, try to find something about it you like." Sure enough, people disliked the work and were glad it was over. They didn't have to think about anything. Just react.
People are going to be negative anyway. Here I am, being negative. Getting folks to think POSITIVELY about new artistic experiences should be our goal.
posted by Jay C. Batzner
1/06/2006
Rejection
I got a great rejection letter this afternoon. I submitted some works to Antisocial Music (along with a haiku and a recommendation letter from my father-in-law...they have a great submission procedure).
"Hi there! If you're getting this, you sent us something hoping we'd play it. Let's get the bad news out of the way: we're not going to. It's not you, it's us, we swear. Baby, don't be that way! We meant everything we said, it's just not the right time in our lives, and we need to do what's right for us. Also, we've been sleeping with the night cashier at the Kwik-E-Mart. Ow! That'll leave a mark. Anyway, as a consolation prize, we'd like to offer you a little something. There was one among you who included in his package a sampling of recipes. David Heuser, you truly know the way to our hearts. We salute you. Sorry we're not playing your piece. Without further ado, David Heuser's Jambalaya recipe. Enjoy."
I'm not including the recipe. If you want it, get your own rejection letter.
This letter ranks right up there with the letter from Frogpeak. Larry Polansky gave me very insightful rejection. He really spent some time with my stuff and had good comments (in spite of the "no, we don't want this" context).
Usually, I don't read the letters. I get the gist of "blah blah blah, many worthy candidates, blah blah blah, not you, blah blah blah" and put it in my yellow file folder. It makes me happy to get a letter with some real personality, whether they accept my stuff or not (usually not).
posted by Jay C. Batzner
Greetings from the Wild Midwest
Hello Sequenza 21ers. I'm thrilled to bring my sub-literate ramblings on music and composing to a wider audience.
So, why read this? What am I up to? These are the quintessential questions.
Right now I'm completing my dissertation at the University of Missouri - Kansas City. The piece is called Illuminations and it is for a large wind ensemble. Writing for such a large number of instruments has brought the issue of "Me vs. Conventions" to the fore. What are the major conventions I hear when listening to a "band piece?" How do I feel about them and how do I deal with them? Do I want to deal with them at all or should I ignore them and hope they go away?
This critical mindset is, primarily, because I know this work is going to be combed over by my committee and they will be critical about everything and anything. So I'm trying to "head them off at the pass" and make sure I know what I'm doing. Oftentimes, I don't know what I'm doing when I compose. I used to, but over the last few years I just start writing and I stop when the piece is done. At some point I look over what I've done to make sure I'm being internally consistentt but I've lost a sense of the Master Plan when I write.
What conventions do I think of? I think of conservative pitch language, busy percussion writing, and color for color's sake. Right or wrong, these are the things that pop to mind.
So how am I dealing with them? I typically like a fairly thorny pitch language. I've toned it down a bit but I'm still sticking with one of my all-time favorite harmonies. Take an augmented triad. From the bottom note of the triad, go down three stacked fourths (so something like: G-sharp, E, C, G, D, A). Aw-yeah. Love that chord. Love it. It has some very dissonant and consonant potentials. I've made two 10 note versions of this chord and used them to spin out a whole array of harmonies. Illuminations' harmonic structure is not built around a typical transposition scheme of these 10 note chords. I've come up with a more satisfying harmonic map. I'll bore you with the details of it at a later time. There are times when the major/minor aspects of the chords are quite strong and times when I accentuate the sevenths and ninths. Got that convention covered. I like how I'm dealing with it.
Busy percussion writing. I'm tired of percussionists running all over the world to hit stuff. I'm not interested in writing a ballet for the percussion players, I'm interested in using their skills for important moments. I'm using fairly simple setups, only 3 players plus timpani, and NOTHING WILL BE BOWED. I've bowed plenty of percussion things in the past but in this piece it is strictly verboten. I'd rather my percussion writing be thin, simple and effective instead of busy and distracting. I'm still dealing with this issue. Not satisfied with my work yet, but the piece ain't done yet.
Finally, color for color's sake. There are so many great opportunities for color combinations in writing for wind ensemble. How do you balance them and make them special? If I wrote for unusual timbres all the time I fear the work would become a dull gray haze or the sonic equivalent of cotton candy. The colors would detract from the work's structure and purpose. My solution is to stick with conventional scoring for the bulk of the piece. There are coloristic concertinos from time to time, but typical tutti scoring (loud brass chords and woodwind runs) still drives the overt climaxes. For the final third of the piece, which is a lot more subdued and introspective, I have a specific timbral plan. Timbre becomes a much more important parameter for the finale of the piece than it was before. This should, I hope, make these timbral spots much more effective and necessary to the work instead of some kind of fancy-pants icing on the cake.
Sorry for such a lengthy ramble right out of the gate. This is how my mind works, though. Right now, at least. My blogs are, at times, a way for me to work things out and publically display my ignorance. I'll let you know if my plans change and I decide to scrap everything I just told you about.
posted by Jay C. Batzner
