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.
I'm too busy to write more.
posted by Jay C. Batzner
3/29/2007
Hypocrisy - now with correct spelling!
I have been facing my own hypocrisy lately.
Example 1: I tell a student (actually a few) not to just repeat a single patter over and over. It smells of "drag and drop Mass Mover" Finale. Repeated patterns are fine, nothing wrong with them catagorically, but there needs to be some kind of active change happening to sustain interest.
Let's just forget that in my piano piece I have the player repeat a 1 bar pattern about 20 times. Or the end of my trumpet piece that just repeats the same 2 notes ad lib for who know how long.
Example 2: I complain to my wife that I've been copying a piece (not my own) that has no places for page turns in the parts. I manage to create page turns, but the music does not naturally have elegant spots for turns.
The score I just finished today? You guess it. Everyone will have to read from the score and, say it with me, there are NO good page turns for ANYONE. I'm going to work on it today and tomorrow and see if I can fix that.
Now, I can justify my hypocrisy in each instance. This post isn't about that. Is the nature of hypocrisy simple a matter of being human or does it come from teaching? I know I'm not the only guilty soul out there. We all say "I don't like x" and eventually we do something that seems like we liked "x" all along.
Discuss.
posted by Jay C. Batzner
3/23/2007
The week so far
So far, this week has been hectic, chaotic, and generally good. Only 4 more until the end of the semester. Yipes.
Anyhow, I meant to post this before, but you NYC folks can now add yet another concert series to your Thursday night litany of events. I'm part of an upstart composer group called The Collected and we have started a concert series at the Seaport District every Thursday night at 7:30 PM. We are wrangling various performers to come and play contemporary music, including our own (of course), and have had 2 successful concerts so far (0 unsuccessful concerts, that is). If you are in the area, and you probably are, come check it out.
Also, as you might have guessed, the latest installment of the The Unsafe Bull Podcast is up for your dancing pleasure. The iTunes direct link is right here.posted by Jay C. Batzner
I'm having a lot of fun with this, by the way. I don't know if any of you are, but I certainly am.
It takes me back to my brief stint on college radio while at the University of Kansas. I had a show on KJHK, the student run station, called "Twisted Ear." The station was primarily an alt-rock station and they would open their programming for proposals of new shows. I offered to spin contemporary classical music and they put me on Sunday nights from 11 PM to 2 AM during the summer. I would grab tons of CDs, records, tapes, and just play stuff. It was fun.
Eventually, during the school year, they put me on earlier. I was on from 10 - midnight on Sundays right after "The Space-Age Bachelor Pad" with Judy Jetson (not her real name). So, you'd hear 2 hours of lounge music followed up by 2 hours of my stuff. I had more fun pretending that people were listening than the actual non-listeners had.
My favorite things were the giveaways and the "mail bag" episodes. One night I gave away boxes of cereal for guessing the colors of Michael Torke's various Color Pieces. The phones were busy all night. Also, one night I had a "Concerto Conflict" (instead of Battle of the Bands) where the Champion: Berg's Violin Concerto took on the Challenger: Stravinsky's Violin Concerto. The call-in votes were tied (2 for each).
I always entertained myself, which is all you can really do in radio. Not to brag, but I even won an award from the Kansas Association of Broadcasters for DJ Personality in Graduate Radio. People were kind of mad at me for that. They wanted the host of the polka show to win.
Anyhow, I'm enjoying myself. Entertaining myself. Even if nobody else is listening.
posted by Jay C. Batzner
