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.
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12/14/2007
Prequels
As a rule: I hate them. I have yet to encounter a prequel that I found as worthwhile as the story to which the prequel leads. True, I'm reading some of the Dune prequels right now but, while they are somewhat entertaining, they ain't as good as Dune and the other books that came later. I read them out of a sense of obligation to the story.
So now I'm putting together a CD of some of my electroacoustic works. They are primarily pieces I made for my podcast but turned out to, in some way, shape, or form, connect to the recently completed video collaboration we just wrapped up. While I did not intend a progression in these works, the shorter pieces are all drawn from the same stuff as the video. I think it might be interesting to hear how I used those sounds in different ways.
This then leads me to my hypocrisy-of-the-week. By assembling a CD, didn't I just make a prequel? I'd like to think that I didn't. You don't need to know any one of the pieces to enjoy/not enjoy listening to any of the other pieces. They are all separate works but, as a whole, they make some interesting artistic connections.
Can composers write prequels (and not in a "Bruckner 0 and 00" sort of way)?
posted by Jay C. Batzner
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