1 00:00:01,000 --> 00:00:06,139 ♪ Opening theme music ♪ 2 00:00:13,646 --> 00:00:17,684 Hello, and welcome to this episode of ArtsAbly in Conversation. 3 00:00:17,684 --> 00:00:19,819 My name is Diane Kolin. 4 00:00:19,819 --> 00:00:25,325 This series presents artists, academics, and project leaders who dedicate their 5 00:00:25,325 --> 00:00:31,030 time and energy to a better accessibility for people with disabilities in the arts. 6 00:00:31,030 --> 00:00:36,336 You can find more of these conversations on our website, artsably.com, 7 00:00:36,336 --> 00:00:41,641 which is spelled A-R-T-S-A-B-L-Y dot com. 8 00:00:42,909 --> 00:00:48,048 ♪ Theme music ♪ 9 00:00:55,188 --> 00:00:57,524 Today, ArtsAbly has some conversation with 10 00:00:57,524 --> 00:01:00,860 Erman Türkili, a musician and assistant professor 11 00:01:00,860 --> 00:01:04,998 at Bahcesehir University in Istanbul, Turkey, and the founder 12 00:01:04,998 --> 00:01:08,535 of the House of Arts and Science in Istanbul. 13 00:01:08,535 --> 00:01:12,839 You can find the resources mentioned by Erman Türkili during this episode 14 00:01:12,839 --> 00:01:16,042 on ArtsAbly's website in the blog section. 15 00:01:16,643 --> 00:01:22,816 ♪ Jazz piano music ♪ Excerpt of the introduction video of First Steps of a Little Artist 16 00:01:23,650 --> 00:01:25,518 Hi, this is Erman. 17 00:01:25,518 --> 00:01:28,621 I'm the author of First Steps of a Little Artist. 18 00:01:29,189 --> 00:01:35,395 Today, I will be talking about the details of the book, how it works, our goal, 19 00:01:35,395 --> 00:01:38,331 and what we aim with this book. 20 00:01:38,331 --> 00:01:41,935 First of all, I need to mention that it's been 12 years since 21 00:01:41,935 --> 00:01:44,237 I have been working on this book. 22 00:01:44,237 --> 00:01:49,242 I wanted to make sure that this book will enable all the children 23 00:01:49,242 --> 00:01:52,879 in the world to play the piano easily. 24 00:01:52,879 --> 00:01:58,685 The most important detail of this book is: instead of using musical notes, we are using 25 00:01:58,685 --> 00:02:03,256 symbols for right-hand and left hand, as well as the notes. 26 00:02:03,256 --> 00:02:08,928 So, now, instead of trying to find the note on the piano, now we have the circle 27 00:02:08,962 --> 00:02:13,800 for the right-hand notes, and we have the triangle for the left hand notes. 28 00:02:13,800 --> 00:02:18,238 Now that we covered the right-hand and the left hand with triangle 29 00:02:18,271 --> 00:02:21,040 and circles, now we are going to find out 30 00:02:21,040 --> 00:02:26,045 how we know what the C, D, E, F is. 31 00:02:26,045 --> 00:02:30,350 So instead of C on the piano, now we have the black circle. 32 00:02:30,350 --> 00:02:34,454 Instead of D, now we have the yellow circle, and instead of E, 33 00:02:34,454 --> 00:02:35,922 now we have the green circle. 34 00:02:35,922 --> 00:02:40,393 So if you look at the book very carefully, you will understand that 35 00:02:40,393 --> 00:02:43,096 everything is going to be symbolized in this book, 36 00:02:43,096 --> 00:02:48,434 so this is going to make it very easy for kids to learn it at their first glance. 37 00:02:49,602 --> 00:02:53,072 Welcome to this new episode of ArtsAbly in Conversation. 38 00:02:53,072 --> 00:02:58,611 Today, I am with Erman Türkili, who is a musician and assistant professor 39 00:02:58,611 --> 00:03:03,816 at Bahcesehir University in Istanbul in Turkey, and also the founder of 40 00:03:03,816 --> 00:03:06,052 the House of Arts and Science in Istanbul. 41 00:03:06,085 --> 00:03:08,021 We're going to talk about that. 42 00:03:08,021 --> 00:03:09,389 Welcome, Erman. 43 00:03:09,389 --> 00:03:13,092 Welcome to Turkey. 44 00:03:13,092 --> 00:03:17,830 Thanks for doing this, and thanks for having me on your podcast. 45 00:03:17,830 --> 00:03:19,666 Thank you for being here. 46 00:03:19,666 --> 00:03:26,940 I'm interested in your work because you're doing a lot of work in teaching, 47 00:03:26,940 --> 00:03:29,242 but you are also yourself a teacher. 48 00:03:29,275 --> 00:03:34,347 Can you tell us where music started in your life and 49 00:03:34,347 --> 00:03:42,088 what you did yourself as a student in music and what you're doing today? 50 00:03:43,389 --> 00:03:48,027 Back in the Mediterranean part of Turkey, 51 00:03:48,027 --> 00:03:51,130 I was a kid, at the age of... 52 00:03:51,130 --> 00:03:55,401 I remember all the way down to five years of age, and 53 00:03:55,401 --> 00:03:59,672 I loved nothing outside of music. 54 00:03:59,672 --> 00:04:04,444 Even still now, I have been a violinist for the last 30 years, I'm still 55 00:04:04,611 --> 00:04:08,247 very excited to be a musician, to be 56 00:04:08,281 --> 00:04:12,452 a student of music on a daily basis. 57 00:04:12,518 --> 00:04:16,689 I was in a city called Adana, in the Mediterranean part 58 00:04:16,723 --> 00:04:19,559 of the country, Turkey. 59 00:04:20,526 --> 00:04:24,497 Every semester, I would talk to my dad and mom 60 00:04:24,497 --> 00:04:28,167 and say that I want to buy a piano. 61 00:04:28,167 --> 00:04:32,772 Coming from a middle-class family, it's not all that easy to just 62 00:04:32,972 --> 00:04:39,112 buy an instrument just because your kid wants to have one because it's expensive. 63 00:04:39,145 --> 00:04:44,584 Every year they would say, Okay, so let's see your grades at the end of the year, 64 00:04:44,584 --> 00:04:47,053 and then we will think I have that. 65 00:04:47,086 --> 00:04:50,089 There's the first year in elementary school, second year, third year, 66 00:04:50,089 --> 00:04:51,424 fourth year, and fifth year. 67 00:04:51,691 --> 00:04:53,359 Unfortunately, I never had it. 68 00:04:53,359 --> 00:04:59,799 And we moved to a different location in the city and in the environment, my brother 69 00:04:59,832 --> 00:05:03,836 had a friend who was a student at the conservatory at the time 70 00:05:03,836 --> 00:05:07,874 because I never knew what conservatory is at the time. 71 00:05:08,074 --> 00:05:12,945 We met with him, and one day we went to his house 72 00:05:12,945 --> 00:05:15,448 and I saw this big piano at his house. 73 00:05:15,448 --> 00:05:17,216 And I said, What is this? 74 00:05:17,317 --> 00:05:22,889 Because at that time, I had only 75 00:05:22,989 --> 00:05:25,291 seen just the keyboard, the digital 76 00:05:25,358 --> 00:05:27,460 keyboard, the small one. 77 00:05:27,460 --> 00:05:29,829 He said, Well, that's the piano. 78 00:05:29,829 --> 00:05:31,064 That's the upright piano 79 00:05:31,097 --> 00:05:34,634 and you don't even need to have an electric cable to work this. 80 00:05:34,801 --> 00:05:36,936 This is just an upright piano. 81 00:05:36,936 --> 00:05:39,405 It works manually and acoustically. 82 00:05:39,439 --> 00:05:41,474 I said, Can I just press the buttons? 83 00:05:41,507 --> 00:05:45,244 I pressed the buttons and he saw me doing this. 84 00:05:45,278 --> 00:05:48,381 Later on, I didn't know that, but he 85 00:05:48,381 --> 00:05:52,485 went to my dad and said, Erman is really 86 00:05:52,518 --> 00:05:57,623 interested to play an instrument, so how about I introduce one of my teachers 87 00:05:57,623 --> 00:06:02,662 at the Conservatory to you, and maybe you can arrange some lessons for Erman. 88 00:06:02,662 --> 00:06:06,966 My father was like, Yes, of course. 89 00:06:06,966 --> 00:06:12,939 We went to this teacher's house and, before any instrumental education 90 00:06:12,939 --> 00:06:19,178 in Turkey, and unfortunately, they still do it, they check your ear, they say. 91 00:06:19,212 --> 00:06:25,284 They push some buttons and they ask you to just imitate the sound of the note 92 00:06:25,318 --> 00:06:27,220 that you hear from the piano. 93 00:06:27,220 --> 00:06:33,159 That just never works for me because he would say, Give me 94 00:06:33,192 --> 00:06:34,427 the sound of this note. 95 00:06:34,427 --> 00:06:37,463 And I didn't understand even what he was talking about. 96 00:06:37,463 --> 00:06:39,365 So I was laughing. 97 00:06:39,365 --> 00:06:42,702 And he thought I was not able to hear the note. 98 00:06:42,702 --> 00:06:47,607 But I was just laughing for the fact that he was asking me to give the note to him. 99 00:06:47,607 --> 00:06:49,642 And I didn't understand what he was talking about. 100 00:06:49,675 --> 00:06:51,344 So then he explained. 101 00:06:51,344 --> 00:06:56,382 But first he explained to my father that I would never be a musician. 102 00:06:56,382 --> 00:06:58,084 I don't have the talent. 103 00:06:58,284 --> 00:07:01,020 I don't hear the notes. 104 00:07:01,354 --> 00:07:04,290 My father said, Can we try it again tomorrow? 105 00:07:04,323 --> 00:07:08,394 We went there again tomorrow, the next day, and he said, No, 106 00:07:08,394 --> 00:07:10,163 I will not teach him. 107 00:07:10,229 --> 00:07:14,400 My wife can teach him. So his wife came, and she did the same thing, 108 00:07:14,434 --> 00:07:16,269 and I was laughing again. 109 00:07:16,269 --> 00:07:21,541 She said, This guy will never become anything in music. 110 00:07:21,607 --> 00:07:25,378 She said, I will have my daughter teach him. 111 00:07:25,411 --> 00:07:32,118 Their daughter came in and they were like, Erman, I am going to play a note 112 00:07:32,151 --> 00:07:37,423 on the piano and I will imitate it just like a flute with my mouth. 113 00:07:37,757 --> 00:07:40,259 Then I understood what she was talking about. 114 00:07:41,027 --> 00:07:44,697 She was asking me to imitate the sound of the piano. 115 00:07:44,730 --> 00:07:47,800 Then I started doing it. 116 00:07:47,867 --> 00:07:52,471 Then she was like, Mom, dad, come and see this guy is actually able to do this. 117 00:07:52,572 --> 00:07:56,475 Then later they figured out that actually I have a perfect pitch. 118 00:07:56,475 --> 00:07:59,011 But at first it was very funny. 119 00:07:59,045 --> 00:08:02,582 They said - There was a very famous was sentenced that he said, he said, 120 00:08:02,582 --> 00:08:08,120 If this guy enters the conservatory, I will become a shepherd at the conservatory. 121 00:08:08,154 --> 00:08:11,924 That was the sentence that the professor said. 122 00:08:12,024 --> 00:08:16,696 Then they said, Okay, well, now you understand how we are doing this. 123 00:08:16,729 --> 00:08:20,500 So they started putting multiple voices on the piano, and I was able 124 00:08:20,500 --> 00:08:24,403 to divide them and give them back. 125 00:08:24,437 --> 00:08:30,109 And so they said, Okay, now, if this guy doesn't win the exam, then 126 00:08:30,109 --> 00:08:35,047 I will become I will become a shepherd at the conservatory because now I have a perfect pitch. 127 00:08:35,081 --> 00:08:40,519 And so later on, I entered the exams, the auditions at the conservatory, 128 00:08:40,553 --> 00:08:44,090 and I became a conservatory student, and I was actually the first one 129 00:08:44,090 --> 00:08:49,595 to enter it, and they asked me eight notes at the same time. 130 00:08:49,629 --> 00:08:54,166 So they basically press down eight notes, and I was able to identify them. 131 00:08:54,600 --> 00:09:00,273 Then I started becoming a conservatory student at the age of 10. 132 00:09:00,273 --> 00:09:03,009 In Turkey, that was the earliest you can start. 133 00:09:03,042 --> 00:09:05,611 Now it starts at elementary school. 134 00:09:06,312 --> 00:09:10,616 So I became a student, and I'm still a student of music, 135 00:09:10,650 --> 00:09:15,521 and I still have perfect pitch. That's what I do. 136 00:09:15,554 --> 00:09:17,089 That's how my music journey started. 137 00:09:17,723 --> 00:09:19,492 But you're a violinist, right? You're not a pianist. 138 00:09:19,525 --> 00:09:20,826 I'm a violinist. 139 00:09:20,826 --> 00:09:26,299 At the entrance exam, they decide what instrument you can play 140 00:09:26,332 --> 00:09:29,735 based on your finger length, and they check your finger and they 141 00:09:29,769 --> 00:09:34,373 see how you can do and they said, Okay, you can choose two instruments. 142 00:09:34,407 --> 00:09:39,178 I said, Okay, either the piano or the violin. 143 00:09:39,178 --> 00:09:42,315 I was dying to do the piano. 144 00:09:42,315 --> 00:09:46,185 They said, No, you can do the violin because your fingers are not that long 145 00:09:46,185 --> 00:09:48,421 for the piano, which is funny now. 146 00:09:48,421 --> 00:09:52,925 My wife is a piano professor, and I can actually play the piano. 147 00:09:52,925 --> 00:09:56,762 Well, actually, at the time, probably they had teachers with no students, 148 00:09:56,762 --> 00:09:59,665 and they wanted to fill up their studio. 149 00:09:59,665 --> 00:10:02,635 They put me in a violin. I'm lucky to be a violinist. 150 00:10:02,635 --> 00:10:08,774 I'm married to a pianist, but I'm lucky to be a violinist, and we play together now. 151 00:10:08,774 --> 00:10:12,211 So your studies were in Istanbul, but you didn't stay in Istanbul 152 00:10:12,244 --> 00:10:15,548 for your higher education, did you? 153 00:10:16,082 --> 00:10:16,482 No. 154 00:10:16,515 --> 00:10:20,486 At first, I started actually in the Mediterranean part 155 00:10:20,519 --> 00:10:22,188 of the country, not in Istanbul. 156 00:10:22,288 --> 00:10:26,025 I did my middle school there, high school there, and the university, 157 00:10:26,025 --> 00:10:27,560 the undergraduate there. 158 00:10:27,560 --> 00:10:34,667 From Adana, I flew out to America to do my master's and doctorate. 159 00:10:34,667 --> 00:10:37,303 I did my master's at Pittsburgh State University and 160 00:10:37,303 --> 00:10:39,905 my doctorate at Florida State University. 161 00:10:40,506 --> 00:10:43,843 At the age of 26, I heard the same thing. 162 00:10:43,876 --> 00:10:46,545 They said, You became the doctor of music. 163 00:10:46,679 --> 00:10:47,747 And I said, What is this? 164 00:10:47,747 --> 00:10:48,781 I was just making music. 165 00:10:48,814 --> 00:10:52,284 So I was very young because I enjoyed what I was doing. 166 00:10:52,385 --> 00:10:55,221 So starting with the elementary school until finishing up doctorate, 167 00:10:55,254 --> 00:10:57,590 I never had a gap year or a gap month. 168 00:10:57,890 --> 00:11:03,663 At the age of 26, I had my DMA 169 00:11:03,663 --> 00:11:05,798 license, Doctor of Music and Arts license 170 00:11:05,831 --> 00:11:07,466 from Florida State University. 171 00:11:07,466 --> 00:11:15,041 And I think that I'm still a lifetime student of music, and that's what I do. 172 00:11:15,841 --> 00:11:18,778 So How long did you stay in the States? 173 00:11:18,878 --> 00:11:20,646 About seven years. 174 00:11:20,813 --> 00:11:24,984 After that, I had about two, three music 175 00:11:24,984 --> 00:11:28,654 teaching studios in Florida, in Alabama. 176 00:11:28,687 --> 00:11:33,125 Then I decided to travel back to Turkey. 177 00:11:33,159 --> 00:11:36,729 I moved to this historic, beautiful city of Istanbul. 178 00:11:36,762 --> 00:11:41,267 I'm not from Istanbul, but I moved back to Istanbul, and I have been 179 00:11:41,267 --> 00:11:43,069 living in Istanbul since then. 180 00:11:43,269 --> 00:11:47,840 It's been 12, 13 years since I moved back from States. 181 00:11:48,140 --> 00:11:51,877 When you came back, did you become a 182 00:11:51,911 --> 00:11:55,181 teacher immediately, or what did you do? 183 00:11:55,281 --> 00:11:59,919 At first, in America, I was an orchestra player in the symphony orchestras, 184 00:11:59,952 --> 00:12:02,154 and I had music teaching studios. 185 00:12:02,588 --> 00:12:06,525 I had a lot of students, private students, and then I was also a member 186 00:12:06,559 --> 00:12:09,095 of the orchestras in the violin section. 187 00:12:09,128 --> 00:12:16,035 When I came back, I wanted to have a six months off to see how Istanbul 188 00:12:16,068 --> 00:12:18,637 works, how Istanbul lives the day. 189 00:12:19,305 --> 00:12:22,074 And so when does the day start in Istanbul? 190 00:12:22,108 --> 00:12:23,008 When does it end? 191 00:12:23,342 --> 00:12:26,178 And then I figured out early enough that Istanbul never ends. 192 00:12:26,212 --> 00:12:31,050 Istanbul is a 24-hour city just like New York. 193 00:12:31,117 --> 00:12:34,453 And so then I started teaching some. 194 00:12:34,787 --> 00:12:37,490 I never became an orchestral player in Turkey. 195 00:12:37,523 --> 00:12:38,791 I'm still not. 196 00:12:38,791 --> 00:12:42,228 I do recitals with my wife throughout 197 00:12:42,228 --> 00:12:46,332 many countries in Europe and also in Turkey. 198 00:12:46,365 --> 00:12:50,035 Now I have two different education centers 199 00:12:50,069 --> 00:12:53,539 in Istanbul, and I'm also a university 200 00:12:53,539 --> 00:13:00,479 teacher at Bahcesehir University, where I teach violin and chamber music, 201 00:13:00,479 --> 00:13:05,618 but outside of the university, I start teaching kids at the age of two, 202 00:13:05,618 --> 00:13:08,821 to kids, and also I work in special education. 203 00:13:08,821 --> 00:13:13,058 I work with autistic kids using my methods. 204 00:13:13,626 --> 00:13:16,395 That's at the House of Arts, right? 205 00:13:16,395 --> 00:13:18,764 That's the House of Arts and Sciences. 206 00:13:18,764 --> 00:13:23,702 What is the story behind the House of Arts and Science? 207 00:13:24,103 --> 00:13:29,008 Well, I couldn't find a job, so I had to find my own. 208 00:13:29,041 --> 00:13:32,411 That was the story, actually, because I had music 209 00:13:32,411 --> 00:13:34,046 teaching studios back in America. 210 00:13:34,046 --> 00:13:38,751 When I came back here, I wanted to do the same here. 211 00:13:38,751 --> 00:13:41,787 At first, I wanted to become a university teacher, but I was so young. 212 00:13:41,821 --> 00:13:42,922 I was at the age of 26. 213 00:13:42,955 --> 00:13:45,724 Nobody hired me as an assistant professor at that age. 214 00:13:46,091 --> 00:13:49,795 And so I started having private students. 215 00:13:49,795 --> 00:13:55,835 And later on, I formed my first education center that was named House of Music. 216 00:13:56,402 --> 00:14:00,806 Then I wanted to always have science classes and art classes 217 00:14:00,840 --> 00:14:03,576 in the same place at a young age. 218 00:14:03,976 --> 00:14:08,881 Students would come in and they can do chess and they can do physics, 219 00:14:08,881 --> 00:14:13,252 and they can do violin and piano and guitar at the same time. 220 00:14:13,285 --> 00:14:19,225 So that was the goal because I believe art and science It should always be together. 221 00:14:19,225 --> 00:14:21,293 And so that was the story behind it. 222 00:14:21,327 --> 00:14:25,931 So from House of Music, we turned that into House of Arts and Sciences, and at 223 00:14:25,965 --> 00:14:29,969 a very historic building in Istanbul. 224 00:14:29,969 --> 00:14:32,304 And that's what we still do. 225 00:14:32,304 --> 00:14:34,506 We have the second location now. 226 00:14:34,506 --> 00:14:36,208 Istanbul has two different sides. 227 00:14:36,242 --> 00:14:40,412 One is on a Torian side, the Asian side, and there's the European side, too. 228 00:14:40,446 --> 00:14:44,717 We have one center in the Asian side and one in the European side. 229 00:14:44,717 --> 00:14:46,652 That's what we do. 230 00:14:46,652 --> 00:14:52,324 But mainly, our education centers are now working only in the field of music. 231 00:14:53,025 --> 00:14:58,998 What made you start working with children with learning disabilities? 232 00:14:59,331 --> 00:15:03,235 Back in US, I had a student. 233 00:15:03,269 --> 00:15:10,042 One day, one family came and said, We have a student who is mildly autistic. 234 00:15:10,042 --> 00:15:13,779 Well, up until that time, that was probably the first time 235 00:15:13,779 --> 00:15:16,148 I heard that term. 236 00:15:16,148 --> 00:15:18,817 I said, What is autism? 237 00:15:18,817 --> 00:15:24,490 And his mom explained what it is. 238 00:15:24,890 --> 00:15:30,029 She said, he just learns everything normal, but then 239 00:15:30,029 --> 00:15:32,731 he can act different sometimes. 240 00:15:33,132 --> 00:15:36,535 He came into my class, and so I started working with him. 241 00:15:36,568 --> 00:15:38,804 But the first class was very interesting. 242 00:15:38,837 --> 00:15:41,173 He just, like a shark. 243 00:15:41,640 --> 00:15:45,210 He would just travel around me. 244 00:15:45,210 --> 00:15:48,647 He would just walk around me as I was telling him how to do 245 00:15:48,681 --> 00:15:52,451 this song, how to play this song. 246 00:15:52,484 --> 00:15:57,189 He would stop, play, and then he would start circling again. 247 00:15:57,690 --> 00:16:04,596 After two classes, I called his mom and I said, 248 00:16:04,596 --> 00:16:09,468 It seems like I'm unable to teach him because he is just circling around me, 249 00:16:09,468 --> 00:16:13,038 and I feel like he's not listening to me. 250 00:16:13,038 --> 00:16:16,475 So it might be better to maybe find a different teacher 251 00:16:16,475 --> 00:16:18,610 who knows what this is all about. 252 00:16:18,610 --> 00:16:23,482 She was like, How about in the third lesson, you ask him what 253 00:16:23,515 --> 00:16:26,352 he learned in the first two lessons? 254 00:16:26,352 --> 00:16:28,988 I didn't know that he's a recording machine. 255 00:16:29,755 --> 00:16:33,892 The third lesson came by and I said, Hey, can you tell me 256 00:16:33,926 --> 00:16:36,862 what I taught you in the first lesson? He was like, Yes. 257 00:16:37,830 --> 00:16:44,003 For 45 minutes lesson, he talked about the entire class, minute by minute, 258 00:16:44,436 --> 00:16:46,872 second by second, with every detail. 259 00:16:47,072 --> 00:16:52,644 I learned that actually he's listening to me as he was circling around me. 260 00:16:52,678 --> 00:16:56,315 It was quite an experience. He was a great violinist. 261 00:16:56,348 --> 00:16:57,716 He was a great pianist, too. 262 00:16:58,717 --> 00:17:03,188 We had great two years together with him, and he would not 263 00:17:03,288 --> 00:17:08,193 talk to me too much in the lesson, but he would always listen 264 00:17:08,193 --> 00:17:11,397 and do what I tell him to do on the violin. 265 00:17:11,430 --> 00:17:13,432 It was very interesting. 266 00:17:13,599 --> 00:17:17,069 Then when I came back here - 267 00:17:17,469 --> 00:17:21,306 Back in US, I had started working with kids 268 00:17:21,306 --> 00:17:25,744 using symbols and colors, not with that autistic kid, specifically, 269 00:17:25,744 --> 00:17:28,914 but with the early-age students. 270 00:17:28,947 --> 00:17:34,586 The reason was, I had a student, I still talk to them, Avery, 271 00:17:34,586 --> 00:17:39,358 she was at the age of 10, and she would come into my violin lessons. 272 00:17:39,525 --> 00:17:43,929 She had a sister who was at the age of three or two 273 00:17:43,962 --> 00:17:45,964 and a half at the time, Edison. 274 00:17:46,465 --> 00:17:51,003 Edison would be at the end of each class that we do with Avery, 275 00:17:51,003 --> 00:17:53,071 and Edison would be like, Can I also play? 276 00:17:53,105 --> 00:17:55,741 I would be like, No, you can't play. 277 00:17:55,941 --> 00:17:58,610 It's too early. 278 00:17:58,610 --> 00:18:01,413 She would be so devastated. 279 00:18:02,047 --> 00:18:05,184 One day, her mom came to me and said, 280 00:18:05,184 --> 00:18:08,220 Erman, can you maybe try with her? 281 00:18:08,220 --> 00:18:11,156 I said, no, she's too young. 282 00:18:11,223 --> 00:18:14,793 She cannot learn the notes. 283 00:18:15,327 --> 00:18:16,962 So I denied that. 284 00:18:16,995 --> 00:18:21,967 Later on, she came into my class for about six months. 285 00:18:22,501 --> 00:18:27,573 I tried very hard to teach her 286 00:18:27,573 --> 00:18:30,642 how to read the notes. 287 00:18:31,043 --> 00:18:33,145 The first month, she loved the violin. 288 00:18:33,145 --> 00:18:36,882 At the end of six months, she hated the violin because it's just so difficult 289 00:18:37,082 --> 00:18:41,186 to learn with the traditional methods. 290 00:18:41,186 --> 00:18:47,359 And slowly, one by one, one day, I was driving on Interstate 10 291 00:18:47,359 --> 00:18:52,731 in Florida and I said, How can I do something different to teach her? 292 00:18:52,731 --> 00:18:57,803 Because she's unable to understand everything I say. 293 00:18:57,836 --> 00:19:04,209 All of a sudden, as I was driving, on I10, I said, How about instead 294 00:19:04,243 --> 00:19:07,513 of saying the note names, I say colors? 295 00:19:07,513 --> 00:19:14,553 Instead of saying C or Do in Europe, I say yellow. 296 00:19:14,553 --> 00:19:19,825 Instead of the violin strings, I say, instead of saying GDAE string, 297 00:19:19,825 --> 00:19:22,728 how about I say circle? 298 00:19:23,095 --> 00:19:24,496 So I tried. 299 00:19:25,931 --> 00:19:30,702 In the next two lessons, she learned about five songs. 300 00:19:30,702 --> 00:19:34,239 For six months, it was a struggle of nothing. 301 00:19:34,806 --> 00:19:41,346 We started using symbols and colors to learn, and that later turned into 302 00:19:41,446 --> 00:19:44,049 a method that I worked on. 303 00:19:44,082 --> 00:19:48,287 For about 12 years, I worked on the method before I published The First Steps 304 00:19:48,287 --> 00:19:49,988 of a Little Artist book. 305 00:19:50,088 --> 00:19:53,692 With the book, we work in special education. 306 00:19:53,892 --> 00:19:56,595 We teach autistic kids how to play the piano. 307 00:19:56,628 --> 00:20:00,299 The first book came out on piano because it's an educational approach. 308 00:20:00,332 --> 00:20:04,803 The publication was easier on the piano. 309 00:20:04,836 --> 00:20:07,906 Now we are working on the violin book, the violin book, and the xylophone 310 00:20:07,940 --> 00:20:12,377 will come out, and there's the ukulele will come out, and there is going 311 00:20:12,411 --> 00:20:18,617 to be a rhythm book for autistic kids and also the early childhood kids. 312 00:20:18,650 --> 00:20:21,486 We are using symbols and colors to teach the kids. 313 00:20:21,587 --> 00:20:24,122 That's how it all started, and that's what we do now. 314 00:20:24,389 --> 00:20:25,290 Okay. 315 00:20:25,557 --> 00:20:30,796 If we are a little bit more detailed, right now, your book. 316 00:20:30,829 --> 00:20:36,501 You also have an introduction video that we will post, 317 00:20:36,501 --> 00:20:38,070 we will share with ArtsAbly. 318 00:20:38,103 --> 00:20:43,241 But basically, it's about now teaching 319 00:20:43,308 --> 00:20:46,578 some teachers to acquire this method 320 00:20:46,612 --> 00:20:51,083 so that they can also share this method with their own children. 321 00:20:52,117 --> 00:20:54,586 Well, yeah, we do teach students, and we 322 00:20:54,586 --> 00:20:59,358 also teach teachers to show them how they 323 00:20:59,391 --> 00:21:03,929 can use this book in their education, especially at the age of two, three, 324 00:21:04,062 --> 00:21:07,432 and four, they use the book until five. 325 00:21:07,566 --> 00:21:13,839 With the five, kids slowly start learning the alphabet. 326 00:21:13,839 --> 00:21:18,477 And alphabet is also - The letters are also symbols, basically. 327 00:21:18,477 --> 00:21:21,880 Once they start learning the letters, they can easily 328 00:21:21,913 --> 00:21:24,783 learn the notes, in my opinion. That's what we do. 329 00:21:24,783 --> 00:21:27,719 At the age of five, we do a little transition 330 00:21:27,753 --> 00:21:31,857 to learn the notes, but at first we start with only colors and symbols. 331 00:21:31,890 --> 00:21:35,294 We have colors on the keyboard of piano. 332 00:21:35,327 --> 00:21:40,999 The C is black and D is yellow and E is green. 333 00:21:41,033 --> 00:21:43,001 There's orange for the F. 334 00:21:43,101 --> 00:21:44,836 We have the colors on the piano. 335 00:21:44,870 --> 00:21:47,406 We have stickers at the end of the book. 336 00:21:47,439 --> 00:21:50,075 We have stickers that they put on the keyboard. 337 00:21:50,308 --> 00:21:54,479 Also, symbols are identifying our hands. 338 00:21:54,713 --> 00:21:58,750 We have the circle hand and we have the triangle hand. 339 00:21:58,750 --> 00:22:03,155 Because at the age of three, who knows what right is, 340 00:22:03,155 --> 00:22:05,691 what left is, and it's so difficult. 341 00:22:05,724 --> 00:22:10,195 What we do is we have these kids friendly markers. 342 00:22:10,228 --> 00:22:13,298 We drove a little circle here and a little triangle here. 343 00:22:13,332 --> 00:22:15,967 Now they have the triangle hand and circle hand. 344 00:22:16,034 --> 00:22:18,003 It's a lot easier for them to identify that way. 345 00:22:18,303 --> 00:22:24,643 What they do is they look at the book and see the symbols, and then they just found 346 00:22:24,710 --> 00:22:28,980 that very same symbol on the keyboard, and they just play the note. 347 00:22:29,314 --> 00:22:33,151 So easily, they can start playing the melodies using this method. 348 00:22:34,119 --> 00:22:39,591 Also the different notes length 349 00:22:39,691 --> 00:22:41,626 are represented by symbols too, right? 350 00:22:42,127 --> 00:22:43,829 Yeah, the size of the symbol changes. 351 00:22:44,129 --> 00:22:46,965 If it's a little longer note, like a two beat long, 352 00:22:46,998 --> 00:22:51,570 then the size of the symbol doubles. 353 00:22:52,104 --> 00:22:56,775 If it's a dotted quarter, then it's a different size. 354 00:22:56,808 --> 00:23:00,746 They can see this in the book clearly. 355 00:23:01,113 --> 00:23:03,782 We also teach them how to compose with colors. 356 00:23:03,782 --> 00:23:05,484 Oh, that's nice. 357 00:23:05,484 --> 00:23:07,486 That's very important for me. 358 00:23:07,519 --> 00:23:13,158 We have composition pages for the kids because I do believe that it is very, 359 00:23:13,191 --> 00:23:18,196 very important to compose an idea. 360 00:23:18,663 --> 00:23:20,565 It doesn't have to be a melody. 361 00:23:20,565 --> 00:23:26,805 They can compose anything and that can help in their later life 362 00:23:26,805 --> 00:23:30,742 to create something different. 363 00:23:30,742 --> 00:23:33,678 The idea of creation is quite important for me. 364 00:23:33,712 --> 00:23:37,949 What they have is they have symbols without the colors. 365 00:23:37,949 --> 00:23:41,686 We ask them to color them, the symbols, and they can create 366 00:23:41,720 --> 00:23:45,957 their own melodies based on the colors that they put on the blank symbols 367 00:23:45,991 --> 00:23:47,392 that we provide. 368 00:23:47,526 --> 00:23:50,162 How do you work with the children on that? 369 00:23:50,162 --> 00:23:53,131 They first have to 370 00:23:53,131 --> 00:23:56,701 acquire this method first as a player, 371 00:23:56,701 --> 00:24:01,006 and then you sit with them and you say, Now it's your turn, compose a melody? 372 00:24:01,006 --> 00:24:02,808 How do you do that? 373 00:24:02,841 --> 00:24:05,577 Well, first of all, we start with just finding the notes on the piano, 374 00:24:05,610 --> 00:24:09,448 well, the colors and the symbols. 375 00:24:09,481 --> 00:24:13,518 The first 26 pages of the piano, we have free fingering. 376 00:24:13,552 --> 00:24:19,024 They can look at the symbol, play the symbol with any finger that they like. 377 00:24:19,024 --> 00:24:23,195 Later on, we ask them to have designed fingers. 378 00:24:23,195 --> 00:24:27,465 What we do is C has to be played with the first finger. 379 00:24:27,465 --> 00:24:29,568 But what is first finger for a two years old? 380 00:24:29,601 --> 00:24:34,272 What we say is, So Now you have the circle hand, and now you have the black finger, 381 00:24:34,840 --> 00:24:38,243 the yellow finger, that's the D, and there's the green finger, 382 00:24:38,276 --> 00:24:43,982 that's the E, there's the F, there's the pinky as being the note G. 383 00:24:44,749 --> 00:24:50,622 With the A and be later on, we ask them to decide on their own because I like giving 384 00:24:51,022 --> 00:24:54,626 children to decide what they want to do. 385 00:24:54,626 --> 00:25:01,266 With two notes, we give them the decision, and they can just play them 386 00:25:01,266 --> 00:25:03,168 if they even want with their nose. 387 00:25:03,168 --> 00:25:07,806 Because at the age of two, we do 20 minutes lessons. 388 00:25:07,839 --> 00:25:13,845 We want to give them the idea of freedom, creating something 389 00:25:14,079 --> 00:25:18,016 and learning something different. 390 00:25:18,049 --> 00:25:19,885 That's how we do it. 391 00:25:19,918 --> 00:25:25,223 Then when the composition pages come, we give them the markers 392 00:25:25,223 --> 00:25:30,862 with the blank circles, and we ask them, What notes 393 00:25:30,862 --> 00:25:34,833 do you want to give to this white circle? 394 00:25:34,833 --> 00:25:39,571 They say, Okay, this is going to be the green, the note E. 395 00:25:39,571 --> 00:25:43,608 The other one is going to be the red, the note G. 396 00:25:43,608 --> 00:25:46,945 We have a page, the harmony page, I like to call. 397 00:25:46,945 --> 00:25:50,448 I took counterpoint lessons for years and harmony lessons 398 00:25:50,482 --> 00:25:52,584 for years, composition lessons. 399 00:25:52,584 --> 00:25:57,489 But we asked them to look at the Colorful Friends page. 400 00:25:57,489 --> 00:26:01,960 What Colorful Friends page is, how in music we have the C, E, G. 401 00:26:01,993 --> 00:26:04,829 When you play them together, that's a C major chord. 402 00:26:04,829 --> 00:26:07,232 We say, these are good friends. 403 00:26:07,232 --> 00:26:11,636 The black and the green and the red, if you put them together, 404 00:26:11,670 --> 00:26:13,138 they're going to sound better. 405 00:26:13,238 --> 00:26:16,875 What they do is, okay, so I have a black note here 406 00:26:16,908 --> 00:26:21,913 that I colored, and now it's better to use either green or the red. 407 00:26:21,913 --> 00:26:24,449 That's basically a counterpoint class. 408 00:26:24,449 --> 00:26:27,619 Then they say, okay, so I will play the green. 409 00:26:27,619 --> 00:26:31,790 Now they have the C and E, and when they play together, they sound better. 410 00:26:31,790 --> 00:26:36,328 We asked them to learn the counterpoint in one page. 411 00:26:36,728 --> 00:26:37,729 How does it work? 412 00:26:37,729 --> 00:26:41,599 It works similarly for the other instruments, but something 413 00:26:41,599 --> 00:26:45,403 like the xylophone or the ukulele. 414 00:26:46,605 --> 00:26:51,142 One hand is the fourth hands and one hand is the melody hand. 415 00:26:51,876 --> 00:26:58,450 Yeah. With the piano, we have two hands, circle and triangle. 416 00:26:58,483 --> 00:27:01,419 With the violin, those symbols are different. 417 00:27:01,619 --> 00:27:05,657 With the violin, the strings are the symbols and the notes 418 00:27:05,690 --> 00:27:07,892 are the colors on your finger. 419 00:27:07,926 --> 00:27:09,394 With the ukulele, the same thing. 420 00:27:09,728 --> 00:27:13,465 The different strings are different symbols, and we draw those symbols on 421 00:27:13,465 --> 00:27:15,667 the backside of the bridge on the violin. 422 00:27:15,667 --> 00:27:18,536 When they hold the violin, they see the colors and symbols. 423 00:27:18,570 --> 00:27:21,006 What they do is, okay, so now we have, 424 00:27:21,006 --> 00:27:23,141 let's say, the Twinkle Twinkle Little Star. 425 00:27:23,141 --> 00:27:28,146 They play circle, circle, star, star, and the yellow star, yellow star, 426 00:27:28,146 --> 00:27:31,216 the first finger, and the black star. 427 00:27:31,249 --> 00:27:34,586 So that's A, E, E, F sharp, F sharp, E. 428 00:27:35,320 --> 00:27:38,490 Instead of saying that, we have circles. 429 00:27:38,523 --> 00:27:43,161 The circles are the things that they start seeing when they are born, the first day. 430 00:27:43,428 --> 00:27:47,932 It's a lot easier for them to identify and understand with this. 431 00:27:47,932 --> 00:27:49,667 With the xylophone, it's just like the piano. 432 00:27:49,667 --> 00:27:55,206 So you have the colors for the notes and the symbols for the hands. 433 00:27:55,206 --> 00:27:56,307 I see. 434 00:27:56,307 --> 00:27:59,611 Right now, there is one book, there's going to be several different books 435 00:27:59,678 --> 00:28:01,913 about this method. 436 00:28:01,980 --> 00:28:09,621 Any plans for other projects related to your school or your method? 437 00:28:09,954 --> 00:28:15,326 Yes, we want to work with elderly 438 00:28:15,326 --> 00:28:18,763 because what happens is at the age of two 439 00:28:18,797 --> 00:28:22,033 and three, the biggest struggle is learning the notes. 440 00:28:22,701 --> 00:28:27,572 At the age of 62, 63, it is the same thing, learning the notes. 441 00:28:27,872 --> 00:28:32,110 Because with the staff, it's very difficult to identify 442 00:28:33,044 --> 00:28:37,949 the G, the E, the F, the A, and then the different sizes, 443 00:28:38,383 --> 00:28:42,487 and identify them there, and then find them on the piano or 444 00:28:42,520 --> 00:28:45,957 the violin, whatever you play, and then playing one note, even 445 00:28:46,424 --> 00:28:50,395 Even the Twinkle Twinkle Little Star, you have tens of notes. 446 00:28:50,428 --> 00:28:55,166 It is very difficult with the elderly to play an instrument 447 00:28:55,266 --> 00:28:57,102 or start an instrument. 448 00:28:57,102 --> 00:28:59,604 What we do is we also teach them with the color. 449 00:28:59,604 --> 00:29:05,710 At the first class, they start playing the melodies other than learning the notes 450 00:29:05,844 --> 00:29:09,447 for about six months, finding them on the keyboard for another three months, 451 00:29:09,447 --> 00:29:11,816 and then playing one song. 452 00:29:11,850 --> 00:29:15,820 We teach elderly using the book again. 453 00:29:15,820 --> 00:29:17,922 But we just change the repertoire. 454 00:29:17,922 --> 00:29:21,659 We teach them songs that they like to hear, and we basically 455 00:29:21,659 --> 00:29:28,600 apply that system to a regular song. 456 00:29:28,633 --> 00:29:30,635 They also do it. 457 00:29:30,668 --> 00:29:32,504 Now we are working on that, on the violin 458 00:29:32,537 --> 00:29:38,676 and on the piano, because at a late age, 459 00:29:38,676 --> 00:29:42,147 it is quite important to use your fingers, use your eyesight, 460 00:29:42,247 --> 00:29:44,249 and use your hearing. 461 00:29:44,516 --> 00:29:51,055 If you use this on a daily basis, it is believed that the process 462 00:29:51,089 --> 00:29:55,994 of dementia comes back to you way later. 463 00:29:55,994 --> 00:29:59,264 It won't come back, but it slows 464 00:29:59,264 --> 00:30:03,168 the process of dementia. 465 00:30:03,201 --> 00:30:07,372 It doesn't remove the dementia of your life. 466 00:30:07,372 --> 00:30:09,374 I hope one day it will, 467 00:30:09,374 --> 00:30:15,747 but it helps elderly to do a different activity. 468 00:30:16,281 --> 00:30:20,618 Am I mistaken or you also have a project for blind people? 469 00:30:20,618 --> 00:30:22,020 Yeah. 470 00:30:22,086 --> 00:30:23,388 What is that? 471 00:30:23,388 --> 00:30:29,427 Well, actually, it is one of the goals in life that I want to do. 472 00:30:29,427 --> 00:30:35,834 I'm working on that for about, I don't know, five, six years. 473 00:30:36,634 --> 00:30:40,638 One day, I went to a museum in Istanbul. 474 00:30:40,838 --> 00:30:46,411 That was a museum called Dialogue in the Dark. 475 00:30:46,444 --> 00:30:50,882 And in the museum, nine people 476 00:30:50,882 --> 00:30:55,320 become a team, and then they travel with you 477 00:30:55,320 --> 00:31:01,159 in a pitch-black environment, and they introduce Istanbul to you. 478 00:31:01,226 --> 00:31:06,764 This museum, I hear that in about 60 countries, they have this museum. 479 00:31:07,031 --> 00:31:11,903 And in Turkey, in Istanbul, we have a museum that is here forever 480 00:31:11,903 --> 00:31:13,805 because they sometimes do it. 481 00:31:13,838 --> 00:31:17,041 This museum goes to a different country and they stay there for about two years 482 00:31:17,075 --> 00:31:19,043 in the country for one year. 483 00:31:19,077 --> 00:31:21,546 But in Istanbul, it's for a lifetime. 484 00:31:21,546 --> 00:31:23,915 When I went to that museum, 485 00:31:23,915 --> 00:31:30,088 we were traveling in pitch-black, Istanbul. 486 00:31:30,088 --> 00:31:33,558 They would take you to grocery store, 487 00:31:33,558 --> 00:31:37,395 you hop on the ferry, and they basically 488 00:31:37,629 --> 00:31:42,300 make you feel like, yes, you don't see it, but you can feel it 489 00:31:42,300 --> 00:31:45,703 and you can hear it and you can touch it. 490 00:31:45,703 --> 00:31:50,241 You would to the grocery store and they would ask you, Find apples 491 00:31:50,241 --> 00:31:53,177 and buy one kilo of apples. 492 00:31:53,211 --> 00:31:55,413 You'd be like, How? 493 00:31:55,446 --> 00:32:01,219 And be like, Okay, well, hold the apple and smell it 494 00:32:01,219 --> 00:32:03,187 so that you will know that it's an apple. 495 00:32:03,321 --> 00:32:05,757 It was quite an experience. 496 00:32:05,757 --> 00:32:11,729 When I got out of that museum, our tour guide was a blind person. 497 00:32:12,096 --> 00:32:16,234 His name was Ingen, and he inspired me very much. 498 00:32:16,634 --> 00:32:18,703 I said, Can I have coffee with you one day? 499 00:32:18,803 --> 00:32:20,605 He's like, Yes, of course. 500 00:32:20,638 --> 00:32:23,074 He's such a funny guy. 501 00:32:23,107 --> 00:32:26,077 He's like, So one day we had coffee with him, and I said, 502 00:32:26,077 --> 00:32:29,047 What does music mean for a blind person? 503 00:32:29,147 --> 00:32:31,616 He said, Music is life. 504 00:32:31,749 --> 00:32:36,587 I said, Okay, and we are going to be friends for a lifetime now 505 00:32:36,587 --> 00:32:39,457 because music is life for me too. 506 00:32:39,991 --> 00:32:43,561 I started writing a musical journey 507 00:32:43,561 --> 00:32:46,564 where all the blind people people 508 00:32:46,564 --> 00:32:49,167 come into an auditorium. 509 00:32:49,467 --> 00:32:53,104 There's a chamber orchestra on stage playing with candles. 510 00:32:53,104 --> 00:32:57,208 The auditorium is pitch black dark, only the musicians see. 511 00:32:57,208 --> 00:33:03,481 They're going to play songs, compositions from seven different countries. 512 00:33:03,548 --> 00:33:10,088 Two theater artists will talk about a story 513 00:33:10,088 --> 00:33:13,091 that goes through those seven countries. 514 00:33:13,157 --> 00:33:17,996 Each time they travel to a different country in in their journey, 515 00:33:18,629 --> 00:33:24,602 they talk about Egypt, and the orchestra starts playing Egyptian composers. 516 00:33:24,602 --> 00:33:32,944 In that auditorium, they're going to smell something different when the Egypt comes 517 00:33:32,944 --> 00:33:39,117 When they go to India, the fragrance changes in the auditorium and the songs 518 00:33:39,150 --> 00:33:45,022 change in the chamber music orchestra and the storyline changes also. 519 00:33:45,022 --> 00:33:48,860 That's going to be an experience concert, I like to call. 520 00:33:48,860 --> 00:33:50,495 They will go to the stage. 521 00:33:50,528 --> 00:33:55,266 Also, people with eyesight can also come in, 522 00:33:55,266 --> 00:33:59,237 but they will be blind in the auditorium because it's going to be pitch black. 523 00:33:59,270 --> 00:34:03,441 I want them to close their eyes 524 00:34:03,441 --> 00:34:06,377 and be in an auditorium where they won't 525 00:34:06,411 --> 00:34:11,582 see anything, but they will listen to the music, 526 00:34:11,582 --> 00:34:16,821 they will hear the stories of those seven countries, they will smell smell different 527 00:34:16,821 --> 00:34:19,757 fragrances of those seven countries. 528 00:34:19,757 --> 00:34:24,862 Hopefully, I'd like to add something else. 529 00:34:24,862 --> 00:34:27,331 I want them to also touch something. 530 00:34:27,865 --> 00:34:34,739 When the story goes to Africa, I want them to find that banana 531 00:34:34,739 --> 00:34:36,741 tied somewhere on their chair. 532 00:34:36,741 --> 00:34:39,677 I want them to find it on their chair. 533 00:34:39,710 --> 00:34:42,847 So I want them to experience something different. 534 00:34:42,847 --> 00:34:44,549 And I have been working on this storyline. 535 00:34:44,549 --> 00:34:49,020 I'm writing this story, and I'm also finding the compositions 536 00:34:49,020 --> 00:34:53,224 for those seven countries, and hopefully, one day, we'll be able to do it. 537 00:34:53,357 --> 00:34:55,660 Wow. It's a very interesting project. 538 00:34:55,660 --> 00:34:59,063 The mix of feeling and smelling and 539 00:34:59,063 --> 00:35:03,668 all the senses that you can really think of 540 00:35:03,668 --> 00:35:08,039 when you don't consider sight, right? 541 00:35:08,272 --> 00:35:11,108 That's what I want to do, and that's what I have been working on. 542 00:35:11,142 --> 00:35:13,878 I'm almost done with the storyline. 543 00:35:13,911 --> 00:35:20,751 The story starts in 1500s in Istanbul, and it goes to Egypt, 544 00:35:20,751 --> 00:35:24,188 it goes to India, and there's no... 545 00:35:24,188 --> 00:35:30,328 It's a fiction story. It goes to America and listen to jazz and comes to France and 546 00:35:30,328 --> 00:35:34,031 smell different fragrances in the history of Paris. 547 00:35:34,599 --> 00:35:37,635 We play French music there, and 548 00:35:37,668 --> 00:35:42,707 the theater artist will be talking about 549 00:35:42,707 --> 00:35:45,109 these stories in a very theatrical way. 550 00:35:45,243 --> 00:35:52,150 There will different sound examples in the concert. 551 00:35:52,283 --> 00:35:56,287 They will be hearing the birds, and they will be hearing the fairies, they 552 00:35:56,320 --> 00:36:00,558 will be hearing the arrows being shot at. 553 00:36:00,591 --> 00:36:04,862 It's a story, and it's going to be an exciting story. 554 00:36:05,263 --> 00:36:08,566 With all these experiences and projects 555 00:36:08,599 --> 00:36:12,670 that you have with thinking of another 556 00:36:12,670 --> 00:36:19,043 way of playing music or developing accessible ways of performing music. 557 00:36:19,610 --> 00:36:23,247 I always have this question that I really like, and it's about 558 00:36:23,281 --> 00:36:27,752 accessibility in the arts, or sometimes we talk about disability culture 559 00:36:27,752 --> 00:36:29,720 because it's really what it is. 560 00:36:29,754 --> 00:36:34,325 What does it mean for you to work in an environment where you promote 561 00:36:34,325 --> 00:36:36,427 accessibility in the arts? 562 00:36:37,562 --> 00:36:40,264 It means many things, and especially this last project 563 00:36:40,264 --> 00:36:43,367 that I'm talking about, the musical journey. 564 00:36:44,702 --> 00:36:49,073 When people go to a concert, 565 00:36:49,073 --> 00:36:55,580 they experience a music that was composed 566 00:36:55,580 --> 00:36:57,782 hundreds and hundreds of years ago. 567 00:36:57,782 --> 00:37:05,423 But when I go to concerts, I see less and less people 568 00:37:05,423 --> 00:37:09,527 that are blind, that are autistic. 569 00:37:09,560 --> 00:37:12,063 In my concert, in my recitals, there's a rule. 570 00:37:12,563 --> 00:37:16,834 If there's an autistic kid, and if the concert hall doesn't let 571 00:37:16,834 --> 00:37:22,974 kids with autism, then I'm not going on stage because art 572 00:37:22,974 --> 00:37:27,044 should be accessible for everyone. 573 00:37:27,545 --> 00:37:29,580 If... 574 00:37:30,548 --> 00:37:32,984 I did special concerts 575 00:37:32,984 --> 00:37:36,654 for kids with Down syndrome. 576 00:37:36,687 --> 00:37:42,693 And some of those concerts were 577 00:37:42,693 --> 00:37:46,130 some of the memories, I will never forget them. 578 00:37:46,530 --> 00:37:50,401 I want all the artists, all the concert artists, and musicians, 579 00:37:50,434 --> 00:37:54,438 and theater artists to experience this. 580 00:37:54,672 --> 00:38:00,544 That's why accessibility in arts should be 581 00:38:00,544 --> 00:38:04,282 worked on even more every day, 582 00:38:04,348 --> 00:38:08,352 but I see less and less every day. 583 00:38:09,320 --> 00:38:12,823 Unfortunately, in Turkey, in Istanbul, there was a restaurant, for instance. 584 00:38:12,823 --> 00:38:15,026 It was the dinner in the dark. 585 00:38:15,026 --> 00:38:21,332 That was the concept. You would only say what you have allergies, your allergies, 586 00:38:21,365 --> 00:38:26,704 and then they would serve you food that you would never know what it is. 587 00:38:26,704 --> 00:38:30,875 But unfortunately, they closed the restaurant. 588 00:38:30,908 --> 00:38:36,714 But I want to be able to promote concerts 589 00:38:36,714 --> 00:38:39,784 and give concerts for children, especially, 590 00:38:39,784 --> 00:38:41,185 who are blind. 591 00:38:41,185 --> 00:38:44,522 My wife, we are very lucky that we have a student 592 00:38:44,522 --> 00:38:51,295 who is living in a a very different part of the country, and we teach her online. 593 00:38:51,962 --> 00:38:55,299 She is an incredible pianist. 594 00:38:55,299 --> 00:39:01,405 But if we just say, Oh, she's blind, she cannot play the piano, 595 00:39:01,405 --> 00:39:04,342 that would be such a loss because she plays incredible. 596 00:39:04,342 --> 00:39:07,211 I will send you videos, and it's incredible. 597 00:39:07,211 --> 00:39:13,984 Therefore, all of these examples tells us that we should be more accessible 598 00:39:13,984 --> 00:39:19,623 for everyone, and we should not limit our educations, 599 00:39:19,757 --> 00:39:24,195 our teachings in also one area. 600 00:39:24,195 --> 00:39:26,530 We shouldn't have an age limit. 601 00:39:26,530 --> 00:39:30,434 We shouldn't have a student-type limit. 602 00:39:31,302 --> 00:39:35,706 In my opinion, and every day we're working on that more. 603 00:39:36,006 --> 00:39:43,848 Yes. I mean, the preconceived notion of disability and music being so opposite 604 00:39:43,881 --> 00:39:46,984 is so stupid in a way. It is not. 605 00:39:46,984 --> 00:39:48,986 Very much so. 606 00:39:49,420 --> 00:39:56,127 I'm happy to find people from all over the world who are defending this. 607 00:39:56,160 --> 00:39:57,962 Let's find a way. 608 00:39:57,995 --> 00:40:02,933 There is no reason for these students not to play music. 609 00:40:03,400 --> 00:40:07,037 That's really nonsense. 610 00:40:07,037 --> 00:40:11,208 Actually, Braille himself was a pianist, too. 611 00:40:11,208 --> 00:40:13,677 And he has a piano method. 612 00:40:13,711 --> 00:40:14,945 Yes, of course. 613 00:40:15,112 --> 00:40:20,418 We found the book, and he actually worked on that. 614 00:40:20,451 --> 00:40:24,422 Unfortunately, that is not talked about quite as much. 615 00:40:24,555 --> 00:40:30,094 We traveled to the different city just because in that city, there was a library 616 00:40:30,127 --> 00:40:36,801 that we could find the books, and we can find different ways of printing music. 617 00:40:37,668 --> 00:40:40,838 We have all the audiobooks now, 618 00:40:40,838 --> 00:40:45,276 and we can also have different printer systems, which you do now. 619 00:40:45,276 --> 00:40:50,881 We just need to implement the different music notation software so that actually 620 00:40:50,981 --> 00:40:56,320 we can print out the Beethoven Sonata with just a different 621 00:40:56,353 --> 00:40:57,855 system, different notation. 622 00:40:57,888 --> 00:41:01,525 We can think outside of the box, it's 21st century. 623 00:41:01,725 --> 00:41:02,393 Exactly. 624 00:41:02,426 --> 00:41:08,866 With new technology - in ArtsAbly, there has been a few musicians 625 00:41:08,866 --> 00:41:14,138 who identify as blind and who have shown that with the new technologies 626 00:41:14,138 --> 00:41:19,710 that are developed today, we can easily use a device and have some 627 00:41:19,710 --> 00:41:26,150 guidance or some audio voice system that they're used to. 628 00:41:26,150 --> 00:41:29,119 With that, they can do anything. 629 00:41:29,587 --> 00:41:35,759 My wife teaches every Saturday at 9: 00 AM to our little student 630 00:41:35,860 --> 00:41:41,398 who is blind, Ipek, and she's incredible. 631 00:41:41,398 --> 00:41:44,635 Every Saturday morning is so much fun 632 00:41:44,668 --> 00:41:49,874 for us because every day she practices. 633 00:41:49,874 --> 00:41:56,480 And every week my wife gives a different song and plays that different song for her. 634 00:41:56,480 --> 00:41:58,649 She records that. 635 00:41:58,649 --> 00:42:03,821 Then the following week, it's a concert performance. 636 00:42:03,821 --> 00:42:07,057 Normally, if she goes to a different education center, 637 00:42:07,091 --> 00:42:13,864 it'll be like, I'm sorry, we can't do this because she cannot see the staff. 638 00:42:13,864 --> 00:42:15,799 That's just nonsense now. 639 00:42:15,799 --> 00:42:18,202 There's so many different technologies. 640 00:42:18,202 --> 00:42:23,440 Most of those people, if they don't see, then they hear better. 641 00:42:23,440 --> 00:42:24,942 And they memorize better. 642 00:42:24,942 --> 00:42:30,848 Yes. She has a perfect pitch, and she memorizes so many different songs. 643 00:42:30,881 --> 00:42:32,650 They are pianistic songs now. 644 00:42:32,683 --> 00:42:34,585 They're not only kids' songs. 645 00:42:34,585 --> 00:42:37,755 They are pianistic repertoire now she memorizes. 646 00:42:37,755 --> 00:42:40,724 My wife has another university student, 647 00:42:40,724 --> 00:42:45,729 and he's able to see, but very difficult 648 00:42:45,729 --> 00:42:46,864 for him to see anything. 649 00:42:46,897 --> 00:42:53,804 What he does is he takes the photo of the song and then zoom in 650 00:42:54,238 --> 00:42:55,639 and memorize everything. 651 00:42:55,673 --> 00:42:59,343 She plays Chopin's and Beethoven sonatas. 652 00:42:59,677 --> 00:43:04,114 It shouldn't be that easy to say no. 653 00:43:05,382 --> 00:43:10,621 Yeah, and it's a good segue to what I'm going to ask next, 654 00:43:10,621 --> 00:43:17,161 which is about - I believe that our life is full of encounters and people who 655 00:43:17,161 --> 00:43:21,799 might have come to a part of your life and then it changes something. 656 00:43:21,799 --> 00:43:25,836 Then you think in another way and say that that's brilliant. 657 00:43:25,836 --> 00:43:32,109 I was wondering if you had two or three people to think of, or maybe one, 658 00:43:32,109 --> 00:43:37,114 to think of who really came to a part of your life where it motivated you 659 00:43:37,147 --> 00:43:42,686 to think otherwise, or taught you a lesson that you're still 660 00:43:42,720 --> 00:43:45,589 teaching today as a teacher, maybe. 661 00:43:45,589 --> 00:43:47,891 Who would it be and why? 662 00:43:49,393 --> 00:43:50,961 I have two people. 663 00:43:51,028 --> 00:43:55,432 I have so many people, but lately, I want to say especially two 664 00:43:55,432 --> 00:43:58,635 people, and they're both blind. 665 00:43:59,236 --> 00:44:01,805 One is Ipek. 666 00:44:01,805 --> 00:44:03,807 She's at the age of nine. 667 00:44:03,807 --> 00:44:08,345 That's Saturday, 9: 00 AM lessons for us, for my wife, and I'm a guest 668 00:44:08,345 --> 00:44:12,116 of that lesson that I listened to them. 669 00:44:12,149 --> 00:44:17,755 Also, our tour guide in the Dialogue in the Dark museum. 670 00:44:17,755 --> 00:44:20,124 He changed my life. 671 00:44:20,157 --> 00:44:23,460 I think so differently after him. 672 00:44:23,627 --> 00:44:31,802 He is almost at a talent level of an opera singer. 673 00:44:31,902 --> 00:44:35,739 He has this baritone voice that is so colorful. 674 00:44:35,806 --> 00:44:39,410 I'm very sorry that I didn't meet with him 675 00:44:39,443 --> 00:44:44,248 earlier, but every time I talk with him, 676 00:44:44,248 --> 00:44:48,318 he makes me laugh It's just incredible. 677 00:44:48,485 --> 00:44:55,392 This guy looks at life in a very, very different way. 678 00:44:55,392 --> 00:45:00,764 He says he became blind later on in his life because of a sickness. 679 00:45:00,798 --> 00:45:06,570 He says before he was blind, 680 00:45:06,570 --> 00:45:08,405 he was so scared of flying. 681 00:45:08,405 --> 00:45:10,174 He says, Now I don't see. 682 00:45:10,207 --> 00:45:12,376 I can travel anywhere. 683 00:45:12,376 --> 00:45:16,146 He just makes everything so funny. 684 00:45:17,314 --> 00:45:22,286 My way of looking at life has changed. 685 00:45:23,020 --> 00:45:25,823 My way of seeing things has changed. 686 00:45:25,823 --> 00:45:31,829 One day, I said - he uses bus system in Istanbul and it takes 687 00:45:31,829 --> 00:45:33,731 quite a while for him to go home. 688 00:45:33,731 --> 00:45:35,232 I said, Can I drop you off? 689 00:45:35,766 --> 00:45:38,469 That day, I had the car with me, and he said, Okay. 690 00:45:38,469 --> 00:45:42,773 So we got out of the parking lot, and 691 00:45:42,773 --> 00:45:50,080 step by step, as if he drove this direction yesterday, 692 00:45:50,080 --> 00:45:53,250 he told me the directions to his house 693 00:45:53,250 --> 00:45:57,387 and how I can get out of that neighborhood and go on an Interstate. 694 00:45:57,387 --> 00:45:58,522 It was incredible. 695 00:45:58,522 --> 00:46:01,759 The memory that he has was just incredible. 696 00:46:01,759 --> 00:46:07,464 And when I'm sad and when I feel hopeless, 697 00:46:07,998 --> 00:46:10,601 I think of him, I call him, text him, 698 00:46:10,601 --> 00:46:14,204 and life changes in that minute. 699 00:46:14,204 --> 00:46:22,146 So my goal is our son should look 700 00:46:22,146 --> 00:46:26,183 at things differently at all times, and 701 00:46:26,183 --> 00:46:32,356 he should change his opinion at all times because opinions can be updated, 702 00:46:32,356 --> 00:46:34,424 and they shouldn't stay still. 703 00:46:34,424 --> 00:46:36,527 I have two people like that. 704 00:46:36,527 --> 00:46:39,496 One is a young little pianist and the other one is a tour guide, 705 00:46:39,530 --> 00:46:42,166 and they changed my life. 706 00:46:42,166 --> 00:46:43,400 I look at life differently. 707 00:46:43,433 --> 00:46:47,304 Actually, I want to say another one too, yeah, an autistic kid. 708 00:46:47,671 --> 00:46:54,845 When he came to us, he was unable to actually hold his legs. 709 00:46:55,045 --> 00:46:57,981 His legs would always touch the piano and it would have hit the piano. 710 00:46:58,015 --> 00:47:03,387 For about two years, I held his legs in order to teach him a note. 711 00:47:03,387 --> 00:47:07,157 Now he's entering international piano competitions. 712 00:47:07,624 --> 00:47:11,528 He learned and changed, 713 00:47:11,528 --> 00:47:15,866 transformed his life with the help 714 00:47:15,866 --> 00:47:21,605 of his family, especially mom and dad. 715 00:47:22,372 --> 00:47:25,309 I'm going to have dinner with him this Friday. 716 00:47:25,742 --> 00:47:29,513 When I want to ask anything about Mozart, I ask him because he is 717 00:47:29,513 --> 00:47:34,585 this Mozart library in his mind, and it is so interesting. 718 00:47:34,585 --> 00:47:39,923 He also changed the way I looked at autistic kids. 719 00:47:39,923 --> 00:47:44,294 Now I think autism is such a talent 720 00:47:44,294 --> 00:47:47,397 because he has a perfect pitch that I cannot imagine. 721 00:47:48,332 --> 00:47:54,605 He can tell you the note of a vacuum cleaner. 722 00:47:55,439 --> 00:47:57,207 It's incredible. 723 00:47:57,574 --> 00:48:00,210 Now he's a conservatory student. 724 00:48:00,844 --> 00:48:05,148 He a law student, and we are just enjoying 725 00:48:05,148 --> 00:48:07,384 listening to him at a concert on stage. 726 00:48:07,751 --> 00:48:09,419 So, yeah, three people like that. 727 00:48:09,987 --> 00:48:14,791 Well, thank you so much for sharing all these stories with us, 728 00:48:14,791 --> 00:48:21,064 and I wish you a lot of success with your project, which is amazing. 729 00:48:21,565 --> 00:48:22,699 Thank you. 730 00:48:22,699 --> 00:48:26,903 Have a great day, and I'm pretty sure we're going to talk to each other. 731 00:48:27,371 --> 00:48:29,406 Thank you very much for doing this, Diane. 732 00:48:29,439 --> 00:48:31,541 I'm very happy to be a guest of your podcast. 733 00:48:32,109 --> 00:48:33,343 That was lovely. Thanks a lot. 734 00:48:33,810 --> 00:48:35,345 Thank you. Have a great day. 735 00:48:35,612 --> 00:48:36,446 Thank you. You too. 736 00:48:36,680 --> 00:48:37,314 Bye.. 737 00:48:38,181 --> 00:48:43,320 ♪ Closing theme music ♪