I wrote my first composition in 2010.I first composed it as a song, inspired by Orhan Veli's poem Gün Doğuyor, meaning "The Day is Dawning", but then I converted it to an instrumental piece. The moment I finished the piece, I knew that I would want to do this again and again. Creating something from scratch, and for once, being on the other side, the side of Beethoven and John Lennon and listening to a complete piece of music, knowing every single note in it is simply a feeling that cannot be described fully by words. This is one of my favorite poems by Orhan Veli, and here are its first and last stanzas (the city, in this case is Istanbul):
The tongues of the nights are being unraveled,
The shadows are scattering off into the depths.
Taking the magic of puzzles,
The day dawns over the city.
And like a rush of sea,
The day dawns over the city.
Sunday, September 30, 2012
Our Sinister Friends
Everyday, when I come home, I wash my hands, grab a bite or two, sit down and do my homework, and then play the piano. If I try to change one of these “rituals”, my afternoon would be messed up and I probably wouldn't be able to do the things that I needed to do. These things we call habits are the parts of our personalities which make us unique; they complete the emptiness in our lives and distinguish us from each other. However, they may be easily compared to addictions- even though they are not at all the same; at first, they seem harmless and just like normal sets of actions, but when you realize that you’re doing them all the time –and that is, if you do realize it- they are very, very hard to get rid of.
What do we understand when we say habit? Habits are actions we have to do in order to keep on living the way we are living currently. They are things we accomplish or say, sometimes without thinking about them. For example, we say “Afiyet Olsun” in Turkish when we are leaving the dinner table. You might say that that is not a habit, but a tradition: but if you trace the traditions back in time, you will see that all traditions actually come from habits. Okonkwo eating bowls of food made by each of his wives, is his habit, which has sprung from his roots, his traditions. Also, saying “Afiyet Olsun”, is also a habit of me, enforced by our traditions and the Turkish culture. Sometimes, when traditions become habits, they become too strong to deny.
Sometimes, habits start out as something we have to do, like wearing a tie to work; but as time passes, this act may grow on someone and they may start to wear ties when going to the market or out for a walk. In the harvesting season, Okonkwo wakes up every morning to go out and do work on the farm. After this long session of continuous work everyday, when the dry season arrives, Okonkwo finds himself to be craving for something to do and to work on. His work, to harvest yams, to tend his farm, has become one of his habits and once that is taken away from him, he feels empty and useless. This is also the reason why control freaks and people with OCD's get so attached to their habits; they need things to fill up their lives and to go according to plan.
Habits are the actions we take, the things we say which make us human and unique. They are like a new pets we have; first, they feel out of place, but then they grow on us and fit in. A habit may be to look at the corridor when you hear someone's footsteps, expecting them, even though that someone may be deceased, or to eat three bowls of food every night. They may be considered to be sinister, they sneak up on us and find their places in our personality,become our "friends", and then they grow on us, making it very hard to get rid of them - if we ever want to.
What do we understand when we say habit? Habits are actions we have to do in order to keep on living the way we are living currently. They are things we accomplish or say, sometimes without thinking about them. For example, we say “Afiyet Olsun” in Turkish when we are leaving the dinner table. You might say that that is not a habit, but a tradition: but if you trace the traditions back in time, you will see that all traditions actually come from habits. Okonkwo eating bowls of food made by each of his wives, is his habit, which has sprung from his roots, his traditions. Also, saying “Afiyet Olsun”, is also a habit of me, enforced by our traditions and the Turkish culture. Sometimes, when traditions become habits, they become too strong to deny.
Sometimes, habits start out as something we have to do, like wearing a tie to work; but as time passes, this act may grow on someone and they may start to wear ties when going to the market or out for a walk. In the harvesting season, Okonkwo wakes up every morning to go out and do work on the farm. After this long session of continuous work everyday, when the dry season arrives, Okonkwo finds himself to be craving for something to do and to work on. His work, to harvest yams, to tend his farm, has become one of his habits and once that is taken away from him, he feels empty and useless. This is also the reason why control freaks and people with OCD's get so attached to their habits; they need things to fill up their lives and to go according to plan.
Habits are the actions we take, the things we say which make us human and unique. They are like a new pets we have; first, they feel out of place, but then they grow on us and fit in. A habit may be to look at the corridor when you hear someone's footsteps, expecting them, even though that someone may be deceased, or to eat three bowls of food every night. They may be considered to be sinister, they sneak up on us and find their places in our personality,become our "friends", and then they grow on us, making it very hard to get rid of them - if we ever want to.
Saturday, September 29, 2012
A Shower in the Audition Room
Today, I watched Woody Allen's new movie, To Rome with Love. I cannot say that I liked it very much, but it does have some nice points. The movie contains four different stories, each taking place in Rome. One of these stories is about a girl tourist from New York and an Italian lawyer who meet in Rome and decide to marry each other. Another story connected to this one is that the parents of the girl (her father played by Woody Allen,Jerry, a failed ex-specialist in the music record industry and the staging of operas) come to meet their in-laws. Jerry hears the boy's father, Giancarlo, singing in the shower and recognizes that he has a beautiful voice and talent, so he takes him to an audition. However, he sings very poorly at his audition, so when Jerry puts on operas starring Giancarlo, he sets up a shower on the stage and Giancarlo sings in the shower, during the show.
This got me thinking on why we can do something perfectly on our own, until we decide to go and show it to someone. When we solve math questions at home, practicing for the exam, we seem to do okay. But when it comes to the actual exam, we seem to write 4x3=7 and blank out on the formulas we need to use. Most people relate this to getting excited.
For me, except in the case of tests, it seems to be the opposite - for most of the time. I seem to play the most difficult passages of a piece perfectly on stage, while I couldn't get them correct, not even once, at home. But with the sea of people looking at you, the blaring white spot lights, your sheet music neatly laid out side-by-side on the note stand of the piano, this doesn't work all the time.
Even though adrenaline and excitement can push us to do stuff normally out of our reach, they can do the opposite as well - and they do, for most of the time. Everyone sings their audition piece beautifully in the shower, everyone solves the complicated problem at one try at home, everyone can balance the fork on their nose when no one is looking, but the moment one person flicks their eyes at you, all of your extraordinary talents seem to vanish. Only, if only, we could have a shower in the audition room.
This got me thinking on why we can do something perfectly on our own, until we decide to go and show it to someone. When we solve math questions at home, practicing for the exam, we seem to do okay. But when it comes to the actual exam, we seem to write 4x3=7 and blank out on the formulas we need to use. Most people relate this to getting excited.
For me, except in the case of tests, it seems to be the opposite - for most of the time. I seem to play the most difficult passages of a piece perfectly on stage, while I couldn't get them correct, not even once, at home. But with the sea of people looking at you, the blaring white spot lights, your sheet music neatly laid out side-by-side on the note stand of the piano, this doesn't work all the time.
Even though adrenaline and excitement can push us to do stuff normally out of our reach, they can do the opposite as well - and they do, for most of the time. Everyone sings their audition piece beautifully in the shower, everyone solves the complicated problem at one try at home, everyone can balance the fork on their nose when no one is looking, but the moment one person flicks their eyes at you, all of your extraordinary talents seem to vanish. Only, if only, we could have a shower in the audition room.
Thursday, September 27, 2012
The Art of Sound and Silence
Last night, I went to listen to Fazıl Say, one of Turkey's -probably also the world's- most talented musicians. The way he played with the piano, as if it was his sole jewel and his slave, the way he just got into his music, seeming to be completely isolated from the world. And just as I thought this, it all clicked. Maybe the reason why people create music is to isolate themselves from the world, from their problems; and not just to "express themselves".
So why do we have such different kinds of music? During a period of one hour, Say played: his own compositions, in one of which he held the strings of the piano to make it sound like the Turkish instrument saz, the Moonlight Sonata by Beethoven, Summertime by Gershwin (with his own jazzy modifications), and Chopin's Nocturne No.20, in C# minor. At the end of the concert, I thought the only thing missing was a bit of Beatles and Queen. In his own compositions, he strives to reflect a thought, reflect İstanbul, for instance. In the Moonlight Sonata, Beethoven struggles to imitate moonlight, both its soft, delicate touch (the first movement) and its harsh, bright shine (the third movement). Gershwin gives a smooth yet bouncy, melodic yet not-sounding-quite-right feeling in Summertime, with syncopation and many, many accidentals. Chopin, on the other hand, is melodic, smooth and flowing, fitting exactly the definition of "nocturne", which is "night music".
All of these different kinds of music represent their composers and their way of shutting the rest of the world out and going on a journey. While some choose to paint and some choose to act, these masterminds, from Bach to Freddie Mercury, John Lennon to Chopin, Bartok to Axl Rose, choose to forget, and help us, the listeners/musicians, to forget, using music; the art of skillfully using both sound, and silence.
So why do we have such different kinds of music? During a period of one hour, Say played: his own compositions, in one of which he held the strings of the piano to make it sound like the Turkish instrument saz, the Moonlight Sonata by Beethoven, Summertime by Gershwin (with his own jazzy modifications), and Chopin's Nocturne No.20, in C# minor. At the end of the concert, I thought the only thing missing was a bit of Beatles and Queen. In his own compositions, he strives to reflect a thought, reflect İstanbul, for instance. In the Moonlight Sonata, Beethoven struggles to imitate moonlight, both its soft, delicate touch (the first movement) and its harsh, bright shine (the third movement). Gershwin gives a smooth yet bouncy, melodic yet not-sounding-quite-right feeling in Summertime, with syncopation and many, many accidentals. Chopin, on the other hand, is melodic, smooth and flowing, fitting exactly the definition of "nocturne", which is "night music".
All of these different kinds of music represent their composers and their way of shutting the rest of the world out and going on a journey. While some choose to paint and some choose to act, these masterminds, from Bach to Freddie Mercury, John Lennon to Chopin, Bartok to Axl Rose, choose to forget, and help us, the listeners/musicians, to forget, using music; the art of skillfully using both sound, and silence.
Saturday, September 22, 2012
The Blue Pill or the Red Pill?
One of the most famous movies of all time, The Matrix, is one of my favorites.Not just because it is innovative and presents completely new thoughts, but because it leaves the audience thinking for a while.
The main character, Neo, is offered a choice: either to see what the Matrix is and to learn what exactly the world he's living in is, or to go on with his life. When you think about it, we face similar questions everyday, even though they may be at smaller scales. When the newspaper is sitting on the table while you are eating breakfast, you may choose to read it and get to know more about the world you're living in and about other people, or you may choose not to.
I cannot say that I am a supporter of the quote "Ignorance is bliss", which is exactly what Cypher says to an Agent, when Cypher says to him that he wants to go back to sleep and keep on living in the Matrix. Well, sometimes not knowing something may make you feel better, but in the long run, that forgotten fact that you neglected a long time ago may come back and haunt you.
Whether it was intended or not, the movie The Matrix is very similar to Plato's Allegory of the Cave. The people living in the Matrix are the ones chained up in the cave, the person who got out of the cave is Morpheus, going back into the cave, trying to free some more people, and the cave is The Matrix, in which everyone is actually living in a made-up world, being told what to feel and what to think.
One cannot help but wonder whether we may actually be living in a similar simulated world, after all, we cannot know if we are or not. Watching The Matrix just gets the wheels in your head turning, and you face the question you face again and again, whether to keep thinking and searching for the answers or not to, whether to take the blue pill or the red pill.
The main character, Neo, is offered a choice: either to see what the Matrix is and to learn what exactly the world he's living in is, or to go on with his life. When you think about it, we face similar questions everyday, even though they may be at smaller scales. When the newspaper is sitting on the table while you are eating breakfast, you may choose to read it and get to know more about the world you're living in and about other people, or you may choose not to.
I cannot say that I am a supporter of the quote "Ignorance is bliss", which is exactly what Cypher says to an Agent, when Cypher says to him that he wants to go back to sleep and keep on living in the Matrix. Well, sometimes not knowing something may make you feel better, but in the long run, that forgotten fact that you neglected a long time ago may come back and haunt you.
Whether it was intended or not, the movie The Matrix is very similar to Plato's Allegory of the Cave. The people living in the Matrix are the ones chained up in the cave, the person who got out of the cave is Morpheus, going back into the cave, trying to free some more people, and the cave is The Matrix, in which everyone is actually living in a made-up world, being told what to feel and what to think.
One cannot help but wonder whether we may actually be living in a similar simulated world, after all, we cannot know if we are or not. Watching The Matrix just gets the wheels in your head turning, and you face the question you face again and again, whether to keep thinking and searching for the answers or not to, whether to take the blue pill or the red pill.
Friday, September 21, 2012
Loki at the Market
People have believed in many things since they have been created; in "trees of life", in a "feather of truth", in a god of war with a hammer, in a dog-headed god of the dead. These mighty heroes of the early times and their stories are what we call mythology.
But why do we need to believe in something? Because people are vulnerable. They can be destroyed by a gust of wind, a rush of water, so they need somebody or something else to believe in - or blame it on.
Since neither of one us has lived in Ancient Egypt and has seen Anubis with their own eyes, we cannot know whether he existed. For all we know, Loki could have been strolling around a market in one of his famous disguises, among the tradesmen, the slaves, the animals for sale, and of course, the people.
Most people regard mythology as legends. And that is what they are, but how do we know that? From hieroglyphs? From ancient texts? From cave paintings? No, we don't know it, we just assume it, maybe because it doesn't seem logical, or maybe its just too juicy and too rich for our brains. Au contraire, we should believe in them since they were written down. That's what we do today when we go to the library and read something in a book, we believe it because it is written in a book. But we can be sure of something: the people back then had very, very, large imaginations not fastened tight by facts and logic, but set free by belief and their ability to think; think outside the box, think outside their world, towards the "tree of life" and the "world of the dead"...
But why do we need to believe in something? Because people are vulnerable. They can be destroyed by a gust of wind, a rush of water, so they need somebody or something else to believe in - or blame it on.
Since neither of one us has lived in Ancient Egypt and has seen Anubis with their own eyes, we cannot know whether he existed. For all we know, Loki could have been strolling around a market in one of his famous disguises, among the tradesmen, the slaves, the animals for sale, and of course, the people.
Most people regard mythology as legends. And that is what they are, but how do we know that? From hieroglyphs? From ancient texts? From cave paintings? No, we don't know it, we just assume it, maybe because it doesn't seem logical, or maybe its just too juicy and too rich for our brains. Au contraire, we should believe in them since they were written down. That's what we do today when we go to the library and read something in a book, we believe it because it is written in a book. But we can be sure of something: the people back then had very, very, large imaginations not fastened tight by facts and logic, but set free by belief and their ability to think; think outside the box, think outside their world, towards the "tree of life" and the "world of the dead"...
Wednesday, September 19, 2012
Touching = Existence?
Besides sight, one of the senses we most rely on is touching. Some people say that they need to see something to believe it, while some are fine with the rumors about it. The brain works in mysterious ways and we don't know what's going on beneath the layers of skin and muscle at the tips of our fingers. However, our most reliable sense is touching, because when you can feel something with your own fingers, you know it exists... Right? But what about music? And the dramatic arts? Sure, you can touch the cold, slippery and white surface of the G # key of a piano, you can pluck the strings of a violin or guitar, but can you really "touch" music? And, if you can't, does it really mean that it doesn't exist?
This is were it falls apart, and this happens with all the senses. Sometimes you are so sure that you heard someone call your name, when they really didn't, that you cannot believe that it was just your imagination. So to generalize the senses, and to say that totally depending on one would be fine is not right.
Touching is probably the most limited of our senses. You need to reach, touch and feel, while with eyes, you just look and your brain does the work for you. However, it is certainly the most tempting one. Most of the children get in trouble for touching things that they are not supposed to touch, like the vase on the top shelf, or the very expensive miniature replica of the Titanic. I mean, which one of us didn't reach out to touch the sarcophagus in the Natural History Museum, standing so appealingly behind a red velvet rope that says clearly: "Do NOT Touch"?
Our fingers connect us to the world in a much different way compared to our other senses. They can feel the harsh texture of a tree bark, the smooth, runny water, the plastic keyboard... And we know that these things exist, because? Because we can touch them. But for the things we cannot touch, our other senses come to help us. We can't touch music, but our ears come to our rescue and thus allow us to experience one of the most beautiful things in the world. So not all things are solid, not all things have a texture. Some things, we just cannot touch. Even though touching something may mean it that it exists, not being able to touch something doesn't mean that it doesn't exist. This shows that one of our five senses, touching, can only do so much for us and is not completely reliable.
This is were it falls apart, and this happens with all the senses. Sometimes you are so sure that you heard someone call your name, when they really didn't, that you cannot believe that it was just your imagination. So to generalize the senses, and to say that totally depending on one would be fine is not right.
Touching is probably the most limited of our senses. You need to reach, touch and feel, while with eyes, you just look and your brain does the work for you. However, it is certainly the most tempting one. Most of the children get in trouble for touching things that they are not supposed to touch, like the vase on the top shelf, or the very expensive miniature replica of the Titanic. I mean, which one of us didn't reach out to touch the sarcophagus in the Natural History Museum, standing so appealingly behind a red velvet rope that says clearly: "Do NOT Touch"?
Our fingers connect us to the world in a much different way compared to our other senses. They can feel the harsh texture of a tree bark, the smooth, runny water, the plastic keyboard... And we know that these things exist, because? Because we can touch them. But for the things we cannot touch, our other senses come to help us. We can't touch music, but our ears come to our rescue and thus allow us to experience one of the most beautiful things in the world. So not all things are solid, not all things have a texture. Some things, we just cannot touch. Even though touching something may mean it that it exists, not being able to touch something doesn't mean that it doesn't exist. This shows that one of our five senses, touching, can only do so much for us and is not completely reliable.
Friday, September 14, 2012
The Reins of Your Mind
"Intelligence offends by its very nature, thinking annoys the people in the cave."Simone Weil
Sometimes, one cannot help but wonder what the world would be like if we couldn’t think. In fact, the only thing which separates us from animals is our brain and our ability to think beyond the id, beyond our basic needs and wants, towards the greater good or the benefit of the others. While some people strive for knowledge and believe that there is not end to it, some people, those who choose to live in the dark, find thinking and knowledge extremely irritating.
Knowledge may be regarded as a guiding light throughout our life. It helps us in every step of our lives; when we shop we know the best place to buy the goods, when we want to eat we know the best restaurant etc. However, knowing things doesn’t make one intelligent, or thoughtful. What people are truly against to is intelligence and thinking, which are both incredible processes of the mind forcing us to push the limits of our imagination. People who are happy with their current style of living, their current bank of “knowledge”, don’t want to disturb the happy illusion of the perfect life, so they refuse to think and they get annoyed by anyone who knows and thinks more than them. This is the true nature of knowledge. Unfortunately, no matter how hard people with different thoughts and more intelligence than the others try to enlighten the people in their surroundings, most of the time they feel as if they are talking to a wall: a wall which has a mind of its own, but refuses to use it.
The biggest example of how people find other people who know more than them or have more solid ideas annoying is the constant battle between religion and science. While the scientists say persistently that the number of suns just like ours in the whole universe –which expands drastically even as you read this- is equal to the number of tiny sand grains in all of the beaches on the world, religious people insist on saying that, for example, “God –or who/what they believe in- has created it all just for humans”. These are people who live in the cave of ignorance, darkened and isolated by their ignorance, refusing even to accept the ray of sun coming in through the small opening, which, if wanted, could be widened to let more sun, more knowledge, more people, more creativity and thinking in. Thinking, hypothesizing, and contemplating are actions taken by those who are in the sun, by those of us who have once and for all accomplished to get out of that cave of ignorance and to unleash the reins of their mind.
Sometimes, one cannot help but wonder what the world would be like if we couldn’t think. In fact, the only thing which separates us from animals is our brain and our ability to think beyond the id, beyond our basic needs and wants, towards the greater good or the benefit of the others. While some people strive for knowledge and believe that there is not end to it, some people, those who choose to live in the dark, find thinking and knowledge extremely irritating.
Knowledge may be regarded as a guiding light throughout our life. It helps us in every step of our lives; when we shop we know the best place to buy the goods, when we want to eat we know the best restaurant etc. However, knowing things doesn’t make one intelligent, or thoughtful. What people are truly against to is intelligence and thinking, which are both incredible processes of the mind forcing us to push the limits of our imagination. People who are happy with their current style of living, their current bank of “knowledge”, don’t want to disturb the happy illusion of the perfect life, so they refuse to think and they get annoyed by anyone who knows and thinks more than them. This is the true nature of knowledge. Unfortunately, no matter how hard people with different thoughts and more intelligence than the others try to enlighten the people in their surroundings, most of the time they feel as if they are talking to a wall: a wall which has a mind of its own, but refuses to use it.
The biggest example of how people find other people who know more than them or have more solid ideas annoying is the constant battle between religion and science. While the scientists say persistently that the number of suns just like ours in the whole universe –which expands drastically even as you read this- is equal to the number of tiny sand grains in all of the beaches on the world, religious people insist on saying that, for example, “God –or who/what they believe in- has created it all just for humans”. These are people who live in the cave of ignorance, darkened and isolated by their ignorance, refusing even to accept the ray of sun coming in through the small opening, which, if wanted, could be widened to let more sun, more knowledge, more people, more creativity and thinking in. Thinking, hypothesizing, and contemplating are actions taken by those who are in the sun, by those of us who have once and for all accomplished to get out of that cave of ignorance and to unleash the reins of their mind.
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