The Ben Sollee performance wasn’t a regular concert; rather, it was more of a comedy routine combined with a performance. He told the story of his life and of all his travels while performing songs. These were songs that he wrote and composed himself and I could tell a lot about what he thought and how he felt about issues in life. For example when he told about “Dear Kanye” and how as a successful black artist he’s not using his influence to better help people.
I could tell he thinks using the influence people have to help people for the better is important. After he finished his planned performance he answered questions from the audience and went in depth into them. Ben Sollee‘s “Bury me with my Car” had a fast and youthful tempor It was one of the songs he made when he was younger and you could tell that by the rhythm of the song.
The song had a simple, constant rhythm throughout that showed a youthful and earnest emotion The piece started off with loud dynamics talking about how the Romans and Egyptians were buried with their own steedst Keeping this constant dynamic and having a legato articulation keeps up with the youthful feel as it shows the energy of youth. “Everything is Electrified” had a more sorrowful feel as the melody and the tone color of the piece was darker. He had a very special articulation that mimicked electric instruments. He did it by “scratching” the side of the bow with the string.
Near the end of the piece it when it was the darkest. The whole piece was played in a sort of staccato fashion but especially near the end it became like that. Even his words were staccato as they were cut short as if losing signal. One of his pieces near the end, “Boys don’t Cry” was more relatable to me than the other songs.
This is because in Mongolia, as a man you should be very tough and masculine. The piece was played pizzicato the entire time and it certainly had a Caribbean/Latin American groove to it. Ben Sollee traveled the Brazil and learned the style of music there so that got incorporated into his song What made it seem a bit more Hawaiian though, was the staccato plucks in between and the clicking sound that comes when you tap the instrument or so that guitar players like to do For being a more serious song, it still had a more upbeat melody than “Everything is Electrified”. One of the biggest concepts that keep getting emphasized is maximizing the use of our bows, Also it is important to keep the bow parallel to the bridge and the finger board while doing that which Ben Sollee both did, The piece this was most evident in was “Bury me with my Car” as it had very long bows and was quite passionate about cars.
Also while it isn’t emphasized as much as the bow use, while still as important, is the use of dynamics Ben Sollee makes his dynamics very clear and you can evidently tell the changes and how it reflects to the piece In “Boys’ don’t Cry” his dynamic turned to piano midway, and you could tell in the performance and in the song writing when he composed the piece he became more thoughtful and melancholic about his change from a boy to a man My favorite part of the performance was when he performed the tunes from around the world, especially the Mongolian tune. As I am Mongolian I could understand and relate to more what he was talking about it when he played it. He managed to capture the “Vivacio” or vivacious style of old Mongolian folk lore music. In Mongolia most songs are about the roughness and beauty of nature and the furious yet majestic horser Ben Sollee called it “Mongolian Death Metal” which it can certainly be seen like that, as classical western music tries more to be elegant and beautifulr
Ben Solee's Concert Performances Review. (2022, Dec 15). Retrieved from https://paperap.com/a-review-of-ben-solee-s-performance-of-three-songs-at-a-concert-bury-me-with-my-car-everything-is-electrified-and-boys-don-t-cry/