Duygu PİJİ KÜÇÜK

She began her music education in 1988 at the TRT Istanbul Radio Polyphonic Children’s Choir. In 1993 she became a student at the Istanbul Avni Akyol Fine Arts High School, and in 1997 at the Music Education Department of the Marmara University Atatürk Faculty of Education. Throughout her high school and university education, she continued her piano studies with Fahri Pekiner, Ali Darmar and Prof. Dilek Batıbay. She also studied the style of baroque works and harpsichord with Prof. Leyla Pınar. She graduated first in her faculty from the Marmara University Music Education Department in 2001, from the Master’s Program in 2003, and from the Doctoral Program in 2006. Piji Küçük, who began working as a Research Assistant in the Marmara University Music Education Department in 2004, received the title of Associate Professor in 2015 and Professor in 2021. In the field of educational music, her book titled “Come On Children, Let’s Sing,” prepared with Prof. Dr. Levent Deniz in 2015; the book titled “Children Sing,” which she edited and which consists of original children’s songs written by students taking her Accompaniment Playing course, in 2019; and the book titled “When Our Hands Unite,” with Pınar Piji, in 2020, were published. In 2021 she completed the “Jazz Improvisation” certificate program within Berklee College of Music. Between 1998 and 2022 she took part as the accompanist (correpetiteur) of the Marmara University Polyphonic Choir in numerous national and international choir festivals and competitions. In addition to her faculty membership, since 2017 she has served as the accompanist of the TRT Istanbul Radio Polyphonic Children’s Choir.

At the undergraduate and graduate levels she teaches Piano Education, Piano Accompaniment, Orchestra/Chamber Music, School Music Repertoire and Music Culture courses. Her research areas are studies in the field of social psychology such as self-efficacy in music education, study habits, exam anxiety, critical thinking, communication skills, problem-solving skills and creativity, as well as scale-development studies for piano accompaniment and choir education.