Foundation

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Güher&Süher Pekinel Music Department
Pekinel’s Music Education Project in Istanbul: Foundation and Goals

In the summer of 2006 we were asked to give a benefit concert which we realised with Jacques Loussier, for a boarding school outside Istanbul for especially talented children and youths from all parts of Turkey. The school is supported by TEVITÖL, the Turkish Education Foundation. We visited the school and were impressed with the thirst for knowledge and the general enthusiasm of the students we met. Naturally we were very interested in the musical education. Some of the students played an instrument but due to the lack of space, instruments and teachers they were not able to really make any progress. For most of them it would have been too expensive to attend a music school and to coordinate lessons outside the school with the existing schedule would have been a problem. We were asked to improvise on the piano for the students. When we had finished one of them, his name is Egemen Kesikli, came up and wanted to do an improvisation himself. He never had piano lessons before but to our amazement his performance was of a surprisingly high level. Other students proved to be equally talented as Egemen. We were overwhelmed by the very positive spirit in general that inhabited the school. Upon the request of the students and the enthusiastic approval of the school management we decided to found a proper music department in order to develop the extraordinary potential of these young people. We carefully selected all the necessary instruments and teachers. In the first year we had 21 Students, today we have 85. We manage and finance this department ourselves.

Egemen Kesikli is one of our students. He comes from Diyarbakır in East Anatolia. Meanwhile he plays two instruments and even composes. The progress he has made since we first met him amazes his teachers and us as well. He scored a place among the best students in a summer-course for advanced students that he attended in the US last year. This year he graduates at the age of 17. Egemen decided to study music and politics and was granted a full scholarship by the St. Olaf College in the US. At the end of 2007 our students gave their first concert for the internationally operating Aptar Group. The representatives who attended the performance were extremely impressed and made a generous contribution to our budget.

90% of our students start playing an instrument and meet solfege and music history in a serious manner for the very first time in their lives. They are between 15 and 18 but actually should be able to already start at kindergarten age in order to finally work in leading positions internationally. This would be possible if TEVİTÖL had a primary school. We have always stressed the importance of starting a musical education as early as possible. However with our extraordinary gifted students we experience the fact that they manage to make faster progress than their mates in the conservatories. They easily could apply at universities abroad and make master degrees in two branches provided that they start earlier.

As experienced musicians we know the difficulties of dealing with extraordinary talent. It is crucial to maintain a long lasting inner power and energy in order to fully develop one’s potential. Another difficulty is to bring talent and personality in balance. It is a question of character how a person faces the difficulties of his path, deals with the ego and manages to keep disciplined and hard-working. Apart from this it is important to believe in yourself and in what you are doing.
 

Presently our goal is to support students like Egemen Kesikli. We want them not only to have excellent technical skills but to descend into the depth of their soul by making music. Through the education we provide we try to help them find a way to live in peace with themselves and with their social environment and at the same time to be fully able to deal with the enormous challenges of a fast changing world. The need for art to feed our souls is bigger than ever.

We strongly believe that music is the best means to bring people together and change sadness, loneliness and depression into enthusiasm. Of course everybody is listening to music all the time and everywhere. The thing is to find the music which truly reaches our souls. This is only possible through education and awareness of quality. The better our students are educated the better they will be prepared to find their ways and to cope with the areas they chose to work and live in.


Güher & Süher Pekinel, May 2009

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