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Update! 7-11-23
So I’ve been chipping away at this process for a bit and progress is slow going. It has been really interesting to go back through my archive of scores and recordings and ask myself “do I want this on the website?” and “oh crap I forgot to put this piece here.” Also, it has been… Continue reading
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to for hit with (2011)
drift. by Josh Graham, Mike List Download the score – to for hit with Instrumentation Program NotesThis piece started with the scale, made to highlight some of the quirky pitch omissions in the hammer dulcimer. After grooving on that scale pattern for a while, the piece breaks it down to reveal a more gentle harmonic… Continue reading
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Throb (2006)
jaybatzner · Throb Download the score – Throb Program NotesThrob is an improvisational piece inspired by the complex rhythmic figures which can emerge from simple steady pulses. The players are given a basic framework of how to perform the piece, sometimes coordinating with each other but, for the most part, they are off in their… Continue reading
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Ryonen’s Clear Realization (2014)
jaybatzner · Ryonen's Clear Realization Download the score – Ryonen’s Clear Realization Instrumentation Program NotesI first heard the koan about Ryonen on the Daily Buddhism podcast. At first, I was struck by the Zen teachers’ reactions to Ryonen since their views on her beauty offended my more contemporary feminist attitudes. The story stuck with me… Continue reading
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false (2010)
Download the score – false Instrumentation Program NotesThis work was written for the iKtus Percussion Quartet and they exercised enormous patience in waiting for false’s completion. I asked each performer to list the 4-6 smaller and more portable instruments that they enjoy playing. The players were not to coordinate their list with any other member… Continue reading
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Concerto for Timpani (2003)
jaybatzner · Concerto for Timpani Download the score – Concerto for Timpani Instrumentation Program NotesThe concerto takes the soloist on a circular journey through two connected contrasting movements. The first movement is slow and contemplative with no interaction between the soloist and ensemble. The ensemble is transformed throughout the movement by gradually swapping the pitched… Continue reading
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Songs My Radio Taught Me (2008)
jaybatzner · Songs My Radio Taught Me Download the score – Songs My Radio Taught Me Each of the five movements in this suite were inspired by various pop songs from the early 1980s. I decided to take short, memorable, and in some cases iconic, licks and hooks from these songs and abstract them, mutate… Continue reading
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Knott’s (2012)
Setup Program NotesFor Christmas in 1992, my future in-laws gave me a poetry collection from the Pitt Poetry Series. A few of Bill Knott’s poems were in this collection and I’ve been a fan of his work ever since. When Kevin Keith asked me to write a work for him, we talked about a lot… Continue reading
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Let’s Keep It That Way (2014)
jaybatzner · Let's Keep It That Way Download the score – Let’s Keep It That Way Setup: Program NoteI am an avid reader of comic books and one of my all-time favorite series is Planetary by Warren Ellis and John Cassaday. One of the main characters in the series is The Drummer, a man who… Continue reading
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Stalker (2016)
jaybatzner · Stalker Download the score – Stalker Setup (3 stations) Program NoteStalker is based on the book Roadside Picnic by Arkady and Boris Strugatsky and was composed for Aaron Ragsdale. In this book, aliens have visited Earth and left strange objects behind in certain “zones” around the globe. Stalkers are black market dealers who… Continue reading
About Me
Jay C. Batzner (b. 1974) is currently on the faculty of Central Michigan University. He reads too many comic books and tries to find time for sewing and other various hobbies. Jay likes playing chess but loses a LOT of games.
Jay’s frequent interdisciplinary collaborations with choreographer Heather Trommer-Beardslee has led to several dance works based on student veterans, ecological succession, the Larry Craig scandal, and hyena behaviors. The hyena piece even includes puppets!
80s atonal awesome bilston comic books comics concerto contemplative counterpoint duet dulcimer duo electronics fixed media funny hard high voice improvisation marimba medium voice noisy percussion piano poem poetry pop quartet sci-fi scifi setup short song song cycle speaking spiky spoken strugatsky timpani trigger triggered trio unpitched weird white zen