Teaching Philosophy: "First and foremost, I try to discover my students' musical interests. What excites them musically is what will inspire them to practice, so I try to focus on the songs, styles, bands and musicians they like. Then I create a structure and a plan to help them reach their musical goals in the most efficient, quick and fun way. For my younger students under the age of 10, I enjoy creating little games that help them improve their sense of rhythm, pitch, and musicality. For example, many of my younger students love the metronome application that I use on my iPad which has the sound of a monkey; I instruct them to march with their feet to the sound of the monkey, enabling them to experience and internalize the rhythm in their body while having fun at the same time."
Biography: Yaman Akdogan is a Turkish-born bass player living in Boston. He began playing guitar in middle school where he played in different rock bands, and then switched to bass in high school. After borrowing some jazz recordings from his pianist friend, he started becoming more interested in jazz music. After his high school graduation, Yaman was accepted as a Laboral Economics major at Dokuz Eylül University in Izmir, Turkey. While completing his studies in college, he studied jazz music theory and performance privately, with well-known jazz pianist, arranger, and educator Omur Gidel. He performed in jazz clubs and festivals with different local bands around Turkey.
In 2008 he participated in the Berklee College of Music's Umbria Jazz Clinics in Perugia, Italy, and studied with Grammy award-winning bassist Oscar Stagnaro. In the same year, he participated in Berklee's auditions in Athens, Greece as an accompanist bass player. After being recognized by the audition team he was invited to audition himself and was ultimately accepted by Berklee as a scholarship student. In 2010 he received a scholarship to participate in the Sienna Jazz Academy Summer Program where he studied with the great jazz musicians Avishai Cohen, Ferenc Nemeth, Scott Colley, Paolino Dalla Porta, Anders Jormin, Ricardo Del Fra, Furio Di Castri, Marco Tamburini, Francesco Petreni, Mario Raja, and Ettore Fioravanti.
Yaman graduated from the Berklee College of Music where he studied jazz performance on electric and acoustic bass under Ed Tomassi, Whit Browne, Lincoln Goines, Ron Mahdi, Danny Morris, Dave Samuels, Greg Hopkins, Steve Bailey, John Patitucci, Eddie Gomez, George Garzone, Hal Crook, Tia Fuller, John Repucci, Jetro Da Silva, Jackson Schultz, and Greg Mooter. He is currently performing and touring around the U.S. and Europe as a professional bass player. Yaman recently performed two times at the historic rock & roll club ''Whisky a Go Go'' in Los Angeles where famous rock bands such as Guns N' Roses, Led Zeppelin, and Doors performed multiple times. He has also been hired to teach ensemble classes as a part-time faculty member at the Bay Atlantic University in Washington D.C.
He has been teaching since 2013 and teaches guitar, bass, ukulele, and beginner drum lessons online and in person at Note-worthy Experiences, where he has taught since January 2017.
Learn more about Yaman in his Teacher Feature.
Biography: Yaman Akdogan is a Turkish-born bass player living in Boston. He began playing guitar in middle school where he played in different rock bands, and then switched to bass in high school. After borrowing some jazz recordings from his pianist friend, he started becoming more interested in jazz music. After his high school graduation, Yaman was accepted as a Laboral Economics major at Dokuz Eylül University in Izmir, Turkey. While completing his studies in college, he studied jazz music theory and performance privately, with well-known jazz pianist, arranger, and educator Omur Gidel. He performed in jazz clubs and festivals with different local bands around Turkey.
In 2008 he participated in the Berklee College of Music's Umbria Jazz Clinics in Perugia, Italy, and studied with Grammy award-winning bassist Oscar Stagnaro. In the same year, he participated in Berklee's auditions in Athens, Greece as an accompanist bass player. After being recognized by the audition team he was invited to audition himself and was ultimately accepted by Berklee as a scholarship student. In 2010 he received a scholarship to participate in the Sienna Jazz Academy Summer Program where he studied with the great jazz musicians Avishai Cohen, Ferenc Nemeth, Scott Colley, Paolino Dalla Porta, Anders Jormin, Ricardo Del Fra, Furio Di Castri, Marco Tamburini, Francesco Petreni, Mario Raja, and Ettore Fioravanti.
Yaman graduated from the Berklee College of Music where he studied jazz performance on electric and acoustic bass under Ed Tomassi, Whit Browne, Lincoln Goines, Ron Mahdi, Danny Morris, Dave Samuels, Greg Hopkins, Steve Bailey, John Patitucci, Eddie Gomez, George Garzone, Hal Crook, Tia Fuller, John Repucci, Jetro Da Silva, Jackson Schultz, and Greg Mooter. He is currently performing and touring around the U.S. and Europe as a professional bass player. Yaman recently performed two times at the historic rock & roll club ''Whisky a Go Go'' in Los Angeles where famous rock bands such as Guns N' Roses, Led Zeppelin, and Doors performed multiple times. He has also been hired to teach ensemble classes as a part-time faculty member at the Bay Atlantic University in Washington D.C.
He has been teaching since 2013 and teaches guitar, bass, ukulele, and beginner drum lessons online and in person at Note-worthy Experiences, where he has taught since January 2017.
Learn more about Yaman in his Teacher Feature.
Yaman has been working with both of our children (ages 6 and 9) providing guitar lessons. Both of our children immediately felt at ease with Yaman and always look forward to their weekly lesson. He greets them with a big smile and seems to genuinely love teaching them. Yaman is encouraging, outgoing, patient and enthusiastic. In less than a year both kids have learned a great deal from him and, most importantly, he has helped to foster their love of music. We are so grateful for his work!
-Kristin from Sudbury
-Kristin from Sudbury
