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.
Eric km Clark is giving a concert of his "simplified violin" this coming Sunday and he's featuring works by The Collected. You can find the details at The Collected's website or with our handy-dandy press release.
If you are in the area, we'd love for you to come by!
posted by Jay C. Batzner
10/19/2007
Remember those podcasts?
I'm still doing them. I must say, not to taint you in any way, but my latest Unsafe Bull Podcast is something I'm quite proud of.
And don't forget about those wacky folks at The Collected. Will their musical stylings never cease?
posted by Jay C. Batzner
10/18/2007
EMM Wrap Up (eventually)
Okay, last weekend was a whirlwind in the middle of a whirlwind and in front of a typhoon before a tsunami (I've been busy). One of the highlights of the last 10 days has been grading my freshman theory midterms. I figured I'd blog about something else, though, namely Electronic Music Midwest.
I was very pleased with how the festival turned out. There were very few tech glitches (although I did notice that everyone with a tech glitch and/or restart was using Windows) and things seemed well received. I got a lot of positive feedback on my programming, which made me feel good because that is the only real thing that I do for the festival. I'm not much of a live sound tech guy to be of assistance during the festival proper (more the strong back/weak mind).
The two big highlights for me were Noah Keesecker's ToneGoblin video and Kevin Kissinger's theremin smack-down "Three Legged Race." I wish I could show you all ToneGoblin because it is one of the strongest and most manic three minute video pieces I've ever seen. Lots of fun and well worth every nanosecond. Kevin Kissinger has his piece up on his website for free download, so I don't feel bad putting it here. The opening piano bar is for reference and the rest is done live with 10 second loops on his laptop. The bass notes of a high quality theremin are amazing. I hadn't expected them to be so rich and full. Three Legged Race
Also ranking on the "very cool" scale was the video "Song Cycle for Haruki Murakami." Matt Dotson and Bart Woodstrup made an elegant, simple, yet engaging and moving video using essentially basic words. The poetry of the words and the video and the music was just spot on. Lesser artists would have tried to do more. Angela Veomett's "Eve Song," which I've seen a few times at other places, is also powerful yet simple. Her soprano, Jessica Petrus, has the perfect blend of angelic-yet-not-so-innocent in her voice and Angela's video is a very striking and masterful juxtaposition of images.
Out of 2.5 days and 9 concerts, there was only 1 piece that I really hated. That isn't too shabby. My piece was fine, not my favorite, but I liked it that day.
posted by Jay C. Batzner
10/11/2007
Faculty
I was having this conversation with another composer. He told me that I have a distinct advantage in the musical world because I have a faculty position and he does not. He was upset that he wasn't getting more performances. I told him that the musical world holds no special favors for faculty. I've never seen a call for scores that is exclusive to faculty members. Yes, we have access to resources that help our compositional lives, but our primary duty as a faculty member is teaching (which eats up a lot of creative time). I also pointed out that the reason I get more performances than he does is that I send out about 15 scores a month to potential performers. He sent out 2 in the last year.
I feel that, in many ways, the whole "faculty" moniker is one of those marginalizing modifiers (as in "woman composer" "gay composer" "vegetarian composer"). And don't laugh at that "vegetarian composer" bit. Someone came up to me after hearing my Ashamed/Unabashed and asked "How does a vegetarian write music like that?" Whatever that meant. While "faculty" is a less offensive label than "student" I still get the feeling that the rest of the musical world says "This person can't be a good composer. They have to teach to make a living and just write academic music (whatever that means)." Of course I think that opinion is utter crap. There is a similar opinion among some music faculty that "Composers don't want to teach, they just want to composer." Again with the utter crap.
So, what is the feeling of the Most Learned Internet? Do faculty have an unfair advantage in the musical world? Is the grass only greener on the other side? What does a vegetarian composer sound like? Discuss.
posted by Jay C. Batzner
