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 have joined a Go playing group. I'm a real novice player in that I have hardly played a full game. The game has become fascinating to me recently, though. I think that its mindset is compatible with my own. I understand the basic mechanics of the game but I lack any tactical or strategic knowledge. My experience as a composer, though, offers many parallels.
One of the best, and worst, things about the game is the tremendous potential at the beginning. You have a huge board and you can put your stone anywhere. Anywhere! As the game evolves, situations demand specific placements and your options decrease. I feel the same thing about my music. At first, I can do anything. Then, as the piece progresses, my choices are restricted and, if all goes well, inexorable.
The head of the group told me something that professional Go players say: "When you are beginning to play, lose your first 100 games as quickly as possible. " I have had a similar approach to composing. Write a lot, write quickly, get it out and move on. Now I'm more selective on what I write and have a better idea of what I'm doing. I don't know if I'm winning, but it certainly takes the pressure off when I'm playing (or composing).
99 left...
posted by Jay C. Batzner
8/25/2008
And so it begins...
That phrase gets used frequently in my household. It is a pivotal line from Babylon 5, a show which matches my particular brand of geekiness, and it is usually said with a rough, artificially low and dramatic voice. Kosh says it. If you know B5, that will make sense to you.
Today is the first day of classes here in now sunny Florida (with a cautious eye on Gustav). Not only is it the start of my third year of my gig (all settled in?) it is also the first semester of our brand new B.M. in Composition. The three majors worked hard to make this degree happen after a series of on-again/off-again bureaucracy moves. The strength of their work, however, was enough to convince the upper admin folks that there were some very talented students here who wanted to do more composition. I'm very proud of those students, even those who chose not to become majors.
WIth a new degree, there will be some bumps and bruises and things learned "the hard way." I can't wait to see what happens. You never know, in true B5 fashion we might secede from the university...probably not.
posted by Jay C. Batzner
8/14/2008
Donald Erb (1927 - 2008)
I just heard about Donald Erb's death. I'm a huge fan of his music and was lucky enough to have some lessons with him quite a long time ago. I saw him cut and gut several folks in master classes and was terrified of showing him my work. He liked my piece and only suggested that I add a single measure. The fact that I walked out of our lesson with out any scars, bruises, or broken fingers still fills me with pride to this very day...
Next spring I'm teaching orchestration. I'm looking forward to this in a big, big way. It will be the first time the class has been offered here so I've really been working on the course's design. There is so much information I want the students to experience that I'm convinced I'm just going to work them all like dogs. And they will love it.
In the textbook department, I'm seriously considering using the Forsyth book. This class will be predominately non-composition majors and the big name texts are simply overkill on content and cost. In addition to the book, I'm going to require them to buy probably 6 Dover miniature scores (great bang for buck there, too). I want to provide a historical survey of orchestrational techniques so here are the biggest contenders:
1. Brandenburg Concerti 2. Mozart 40 and 41 3. Symphonie fantastique 4. Late Romantic Something (Mahler? Dvorak 9? Brahms? Scheherezade? Till Eulenspiegel or other Strauss?) 5. La Mer 6. Rite of Spring? Schoenberg 5 Pieces? Planets?
Clearly I'm having some trouble with 4 and 6. Please note that these are not going to be the only scores we deal with. I'm making another listening/score id list of about 2 dozen works that the students will need to know and discuss. Right now I'm just dealing with scores that are Dover minis. I really wished that Sibelius 5 was a miniature score because I'd put that on the 6 slot. Maybe they need the full-sized score of that one...
Wise and Learned Internet, let me have it. Are the Brandenburgs even worth it? I'm starting to think "no."
posted by Jay C. Batzner
8/04/2008
Let's Get Organized
One of my summer projects was organizing (re-organizing, actually) my CD collection. Like many of you, I have too many CDs (according to my spouse, not enough according to me). I used to have them alphabetized by either composer, performer, or whatever held the disc thematically together. A few years back I broke them up chronologically and arranged them by period. It forced some judgement calls: Schubert was in the Classical era (and I still stand behind this). Trio Medieval was in the Middle Ages (even though they had plenty of contemporary stuff) because that is where I could find them quickly. I was going to redo my "contemporary" section into a living/dead duality, but that seemed morbid.
So a week ago I arranged everything by performing forces. Vocal music broke down into lieder, a cappella, with orchestra, and opera. Chamber music has a piano section, wind section, miscellany, and string quartets. Next come concertos, then orchestral music. Electronics got its own shelf and band music went in the wind section. Everything is alphabetized within the section.
The one thing I didn't expect was how much this organization has changed how I pick out music. On one hand it is rather liberating and on the other it is completely baffling. I didn't know I had so much vocal music. I thought I had more string quartets. Can my wife find enough flute music to keep her happy?
Any organizational model has problems. What do you do with a disc that is x but not y? You have to make those judgement calls yourself. I wasn't expecting my entire collection to seem new and foreign. That is kind of neat. In a few years, maybe I'll arrange them by the last letter of the composer's name...or by duration...
posted by Jay C. Batzner
