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Ben Socrates

@bensoc

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London based pianist. Full time musician for ballet & contemporary dance, occasional teacher//accompanist/session keys. Nature, travels and music bits

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@beitelbaraka Fundraiser update:

First off, I take my hat off to all of you that donated to this cause that so needs our support. I’ve already posted about Beit El Baraka and the work they are doing in Lebanon. 40 donors helped me to raise £1574, which provides 314 days worth of food (942 meals!) for internally displaced peoples. In the scheme of things it's small, stemming the evil of one atrocity amongst many, but we have to find ways to help our fellow human. The fundraising page will remain open for business but I’m very happy to draw a line under that effort. Thank you again. 🇱🇧🫶🏾🏃🏾‍♂️

As for the run itself sooo I decided to stick to the proposed dates which just so happened to coincide with another brutal heatwave. If I delayed, it would continue to weigh heavily on me, plus I was somewhat unemployed that week and eager enough to absorb all of the sunlight and nature. Day 1 was actually quite dreamy, but it did take 11 hours door to door - I had to factor in a nap, a bad stomach, a rank meal deal, and a necessary amount of walking over the final 18km. So I arrived to Wimbledon, 64km down, worrying a little about heatstroke, my cramp ass legs, if a long term injury could be coming for me, the prospects of having to leave the melting heat of the Airbnb at 5am again - and I opted out. My compromise is to complete the Capital Ring 126km Ultramarathon Festival of Hubris, but to do it non consecutively - day 2 will take place in August or September, exactly where I left off back to Springfield Park N16! In any case I got to have a nice time in Tooting having the best Malabari food in London and counting my blessings! Small update when I’ve completed the entire run, and I do not recommend it! Do it over 4 days, or 3 consecutive marathons if you’re feeling like a challenge.

xoxo by @bensoc

UPDATE:

My fundraiser is off to a good start - I am moreorless 75% to my fundraising target of £1000 and all the money is already with this wonderful organisation... @beitelbaraka is a secular / non-political charity, committed to serving the most vulnerable, regardless of religion and ethnicity. Their emergency fund directly supports displaced families from South Lebanon, providing food, medicine, and essential supplies to those who lost everything. Every day, families are forced to flee conflict zones, leaving behind their homes and belongings in search of safety. They arrive at shelters with only the clothes on their backs, desperately needing food, medical care, and shelter.

So I'm running the 126km Capital Ring over two days, in the second week of July, to finally complete my lockdown goal of doing the silly massive oval around London on foot. Training wise, well I've run a few cool races.. back in April I ran the Brighton Marathon in 3:14:57. That took everything I had, and the sub 3 ambition remains elusive yet possible? Then, something mad happened, I came 20th in my third ever Spartan Beast race! For the uninitiated, it's an obstacle course/trail run, 30 obstacles over 23 hilly km. I put the endurance beans to work and took an hour off my first attempt, running 2:40. Almost fun after an all out 42km?!

Please enjoy the amusing Spartan action photos, I've never come 20th in anything sporty! That chain weighs 35kg! And please do feel compelled to hit the LINK IN BIO TO DONATE. I'll share some music another time! Instagram is sooo long no wonder you're all using AI captions ☠️ by @bensoc

After a bit of a break we are back @villagestaproom on Friday 22nd, 6pm till late!

We will be bringing fresh tunes and old favourites to go with all the top drawer beer on offer. by @bensoc

Hello all

Tomorrow I shall be running the Brighton Marathon, my third road marathon. 42km / 26 miles is a mad distance thing to put your body through in one go. These photos are from last November when I ran the Porto Marathon in 3 hours 20 minutes, a time I had absolutely no idea I was capable of. My first marathon in 2021 was in 3:53 and that came with a long and painful recovery and a deep sense of 'y tho' ennui on the run itself. I've been training a bit more thoughtfully for a few years now and discovered a knack for long runs and their therapeutic afterglow, pure spiritual nourishment, excitement at being alive. So I've decided to aim for the holy grail that is a SUB 3 MARATHON BEFORE 40, not this weekend in Brighton but I have a few years left to claim it!

Some people have asked if I'm running on Sunday for charity, sadly not, but I've decided that instead I will run the CAPITAL RING for my birthday in July, and I will try to raise £1000 for Beit El Baraka, a non-profit that offers dignity and support to Lebanese families that have been deprived of their basic needs and rights. It's hard to know where to focus our efforts at the moment, but between the genocide in Gaza, settler violence in the West Bank and the apocalyptic war crimes that have taken place in Iran, there has also been a disturbing campaign of bombing, land annexation and displacement of at least 1.3 million in Lebanon, presumably to live and die in tents for the rest of their lives like so many Palestinians. Since I wrote this they dropped 100 bombs on Beirut in 10 minutes, killing 300+ and injuring 1000s of civilians, without warning. Yes, Israel and the USA are terrorist states, it's hard to comprehend the damage done to humanity and where it ends.

So the CAPITAL RING is a 126 kilometer walkable loop which completely surrounds London. I will sensibly do this over two days, most likely July 7th and 8th, beginning at Springfield Park in Hackney, and running counter clockwise, I'll find myself at Richmond Park roughly halfway through, where I will find an inn for the night. So it will be two 63km ultramarathons back to back. It'll test every fibre of my patience, it will be lonely and by @bensoc

Today marks five years since my Mum left this world, and I want to share a piece she wrote. We have just visited her natural burial ground (upon which a cherry blossom has been struggling away, which is apt), we listened to some of her favourite music and read out two of her reflections on her experience - Heaven and Hell. I want to share one of them here today. I think she writes so well - visionary, funny, bleak but relatable, even when she gets carried away, whilst conveying something as intangible and unmanageable as manic depression. It felt like Mum was back with us as we read her words. The following is Heaven, the other piece on Hell is a bit dark to wish to share today. I hope her words might bring some comfort to those of us struggling to make sense of the world. I'm also sharing some photos that bring us a lot of comfort - our parents captured so many brilliant moments before we all had cameras all of the time! And they were disgustingly photogenic. And finally some videos my Auntie took at Joy's 60th birthday, we have very little from the later years, and the memories do fade unfortunately, and my Mum was pretty hilarious and I don't want to forget that. So thank you for these Auntie Julie.

HEAVEN
So what really is bi-polar?
I used to think my over empathetic attitude towards life and people caused the symptoms and effects characteristic of bi-polar.
I suffered along with every pain, every injustice, every act of cruelty and every snide remark.
But on a good day, when I am well I can achieve anything and everything. I feel all empowering, all encompassing, almost as if I alone will be able to turn this dying world into its rightful flourishing place in the universe.

When I am well I can engage anybody and can look deep into the soul of everybody. I can see things that other people can't see, feel things that other people can't feel. I notice endless meanings, connections, to every single event, every name, every look, every syllable, every light, every shadow.
I am comfortable in my own skin so much so that I want to envelope every poor suffering soul and give them some of my protective skin.
People appear to be inspired by my positivity... by @bensoc

Snapped at the piano through the magical lens of @romifolder, collaborating with the brilliant @images.ballet.co - check out the beautiful photos from the sessions on their Instagrams. I spent two weeks rehearsing Swan Lake Act II with the dancers, staged from Benesh notation by @mayumiroseserenity and directed by @jamie.carter.choreography. It was really inspiring to witness Mayumi’s unique knowledge and detail brought to life by the company, as they prepare for their tour this summer - featuring Swan Lake and two new works.

This year marks my tenth working at @ldnstudiocentre - where live music is heard from every corner and the training is rigorous! My schedule is wonderfully varied: playing for ballet, Cunningham, Martha Graham and release technique classes, repertoire (from new works - Jamie's Echoes in Glass last year, to classics like Peter Darrell's Swan Lake this year)... also auditions, acting through song classes and Musical Theatre rehearsals. Every week I seem to pick up a new detail or two about the liminal world of dance performance, or drop a new musical idea into a class - I'm forever grateful for such a creative and collaborative work life! by @bensoc

One of the great gigs I'll see in this lifetime - Stevie Wonder's music has been with me throughout, and I wanted to see him while we're still so fortunate to have him around... But I suspect there are many like me that didn't fully appreciate the vastness of his catalogue, the layers of inspiration, the weaving together of so many genres and creating others along the way - his skills at the keyboard, the impossibly agile voice from a 75 year old, leading one of the best gospel funk bands I've seen with that extrasensory intuition, the sense of humour and love and humanity from someone that is 63 years into his performing career!! You can feel it all over, for real. A performance that had the crowd dancing and singing and weeping along for 30-odd songs. Watching back the clips of him gliding through those keyboard parts - I've been trying to play keys like Stevie for half my life, I wouldn't even dare to try and hit those vocal lines - I get such huge chills that I was able to be in the presence of the man himself! Miraculous and truly humbling. And in the weeks since I've been getting to know Music of My Mind, Talking Book, Innervisions, Fullfingness First Finale and Songs in the Key of Life - that five year Wonder streak - more deeply - what a gift his music is, and what an inspiration. Go and see him while you still can!

Also I've thrown in some photos of my birthday celebration the night before. Ultimate pres 😉 by @bensoc

by @bensoc

Sooo I just ran my first ever @spartanraceuk Beast which is an obstacle course race, 30 obstacles and a half marathon to be precise, one spectacular race and an extremely beautiful, meditative and enjoyable experience, despite the high bro count, lowkey cult vibes and an extremely swampy terrain. My friend and fellow pianist/runner/motivational madman @oliverthewolfe dared me to join him on the Spartan BEAST and I eventually relented, leaving just two weeks to train. On the day I ran for funs and was mostly trying not to whiplash myself in hopelessly unsuitable road shoes, but somehow I finished 150th out of 800, placing me in the top 19%, which is testament to Oliver's skills and insight as a trainer. Give me a shout if you wanna join me on a race next year, and Oliver for all your PT needs, I have acquired some good shoes and am gonna break the top 10%. ⛰️ 🏃🏾 by @bensoc

Here's a pretty extraordinary piece of music from a rather intense period of my life, which soundtracked much of my 2020-2021. It's also what I finished my most recent solo piano recital with, at Chichester Cathedral where I have performed every few years since 2008. It's from Prokofiev's ninth and final piano sonata. I'm still very drawn to this side of Prokofiev, how it brings to mind the unspeakable parts of human nature, such beautiful lucid melodies with the quality of speech, that flicker at the edge of danger and threaten to disintegrate entirely, before coming back to life, the same but different. This performance, from September 2021, was dedicated to my Mum who took her life five months earlier. It was heavy, she always loved to come to these epic recitals and play the proud Mum, but her time was done. I'm very grateful to have this outlet for my grief, and this music that helps me try to come to terms with it all. Give it your attention and see what comes up. You can hear the rest of the concert over at my Bandcamp where it is a free download, linktree in my bio. by @bensoc

I'm back at @mokotottenham this Thursday! Selecting records solo, between 7 and midnight. Ahead of a @dabberssounds return to Jumbi in a months time, which is gonna be 💯% a super Sunday! More on that soon. Here is Willy helping me pick out tunes - he loves music! I've raised him well. Particularly anything bassy/ambient/textured/emotionally charged. Join us! Scroll to the end for some bonus ASMR and a cat we met on holiday in 🇵🇹 by @bensoc

Ngggggggh this made me so happy today. @stanleydonwood woodcut artwork for @thomyorke The Eraser - it has lived in my head for like 18 years, so it was just amazing to experience it blown up into this enormous and terrifying mural. King Cnut, of 1016, transposed into modern day London, trying to command the rising tides as they swelled up around his feet, only to realise the limits of his power. I don't know who is responsible for this tribute but I appreciate you! Just off Portobello Road. London will almost certainly be submerged under the rising oceans within my lifetime, it ain't gonna be pretty... by @bensoc