Maya Verlaak

Capsizing a boat would break the boat’s functions but would also reveal how it travels forwards: moving to challenge the complacency of those with an incurious view of the boat's functions. As composer I try to become an outsider to reflect better upon the mechanics of the field in which I operate, attempting to create space to be critical and opening up my compositional practice. Becoming an outsider necessitates learning new techniques, but also allows for humour and self-deprecation. It enables me to play with context and derive new compositional material. This compositional material is often created from analysing particular events in my lived experience. Therefore my work can often become context-specific, requiring substantial rewrites when performed for a second or third time. However, my scores are not conventionally written but focus on giving insight into the compositional process so that the performers are encouraged to engage with the material to perform it, often almost rewriting it! A performer will need to adopt my own analytical position, research the compositional process and reflect on if there are compositional parameters that need to be evaluated before a new performance. They becomes outsiders themselves. (20 January 2019)