Ozan is an eight year old musician who is partially sighted due to Albinism. He has been very vocal since he was born. His family talked and sang to him all the time and exposed him to all kinds of music including jazz and classical music from his early days. When he was one he could talk fluently in English and Turkish and when he was two years old he could sing many children's songs.
Sometimes he used to wake up in the middle of the night and told his parents that he was listening to the songs he'd heard during the day.
Starting at music school
When Ozan was five he started the Kindergarten program at Junior Guildhall and when he was seven he continued with the Saturday school there, studying double bass and piano. He enjoys singing in the school choir and plays piano at school concerts and double bass in the school orchestra.
RNIB's music exhibition
Ozan's parents used to hold enlarged A3 sheets of music in front of him so that he could was able to see what notes to play. This was rather impractical and not much fun for anybody. However, Ozan and his family recently went to an RNIB music exhibition and saw all the different types of technology available to blind and partially sighted musicians. Shortly afterwards, they bought Ozan a Music Pad, a type of electronic music stand which can display enlarged and modified music notation. This has made an amazing difference. According to Ozan, there are "no more dangling A3 pages" when he plays in the school orchestra!
RNIB music workshops
Ozan has attended several RNIB music workshops. Early in 2010, he enjoyed a number of music workshops including a day of medieval music, exploring and trying out serpents, lizards and bagpipes. Then later in the year he went on an RNIB workshop day entitled "Searching the Stave" making and creating music using enlarged and modified music notation. Ozan's most recent workshop with RNIB allowed him to bring his double bass to the Royal Opera House for a workshop on creating new music for Romeo and Juliet.
In his spare time Ozan composes piano and double bass music using special music notation software called Sibelius. He is working on a concerto that he thinks might take six months to complete. Not bad for an eight year old!
Further information about RNIB's Music Advisory Service