Dr Değirmenci from Harvard University was invited to visit the Musicology Seminar.

Musicologist Dr Tülin Değirmenci, who is doing research at the Center for Middle Eastern Studies at Harvard University, held a seminar entitled 'Writing Music in Nineteenth-Century Ottoman Istanbul: Hamparsum and the Invention of Tradition' at BAU Conservatory. Prof. Dr. Değirmenci gave a comprehensive presentation on Hamparsum notation, a historically and functionally important system that is accepted among the notation methods in the history of Ottoman music. This system was developed by Hamparsum Limonciyan (1768-1839) on the basis of the 'neuma' note and was based on the musical signs used in medieval Europe. It played an important role in the transfer of Ottoman music to written sources until the transition to Western notation. 

Mahmut Ergin, one of the first graduates of our Conservatory, played some parts of İsmail Dede Efendi's Mevlevi ayin, which Dr Değirmenci had translated from Hamparsum notation, in ney.   Conservatory Director Dr İsmet Aydın sent his congratulations and thanks to Dr Değirmenci and Mahmut Ergin at the event. The event was attended by our students and researchers in person and via online platforms.