Bier Bass
Bier Bass was a concert series that I organized in Malmö during the spring of 2021. Bier Bass is a 19th century German term for the smallest adult sized bass.1 A bass small enough to bring to the beer halls around Germany. And it also became the perfect name for this series of concerts.
That is, a project that included improvised music for double bass, 8 beers, 8 people in the audience and beautiful conversations during the spring of 2021.
Why Bier Bass?
Nowadays we have double basses in all kinds of sizes, divided in categories like 1/8, 1/4, 1/2, 3/4 and so on. In 19th century Germany, the smallest available adult size was commonly called Bier Bass. It was the easiest bass to transport and therefore they often brought Bier Basses to perform in beer halls and similar places.
When I read about this, it struck me as the perfect name for my next solo project. I love to play the bass and I love to have a good beer, so with this in mind, I decided to call the project Bier Bass. At the time, due to Covid-19, I could not invite more than 8 people to participate in the audience. This suited me perfectly because it allowed me to make the concerts more personal, and it also made it possible to listen to everyone’s reflections after the concerts.
I played two solo sets on the double bass and then we had beer and reflected over what we just heard. Every guest got an individual beer that was carefully chosen for each guest and every concert had a different theme. I experimented with the positions of the audiences and played sets with extreme dynamical variations. I tried to perform a concert unconditionally, i.e. without any preparations and consciously trying to reset my mind before the concert. I tried to interact with the audience by reading a poetic text before the concert where I explained the connection between the musician, the audience, the room, and the silence.
