Can and Melie: the two people who play.

Can

Handpan, rhythm, and theory.

Can is Turkish. In 2016 he bought his first handpan, joined a project called Music Medicine, and played improvised sessions with street musicians. Then life pulled him back. To survive, he returned to a commercial career, but the handpan never left his side.

He is certified in Integral Sound Healing by the Academy of Sound Healing (2024) and in Advanced Sound Facilitation by Shantika Academy (2025). He holds certificates for both.

He never let go of the dream. He came to Thailand to live as a musician and teacher, and on Samui he found the terrace: a clear horizon over the sea, forest all around, nothing but blue and green. He stayed. At a sound therapy training on the island he met Melie, and watching her open her own studio gave him the courage to follow the same path: he closed his business to give handpan teaching and sound therapy all of his time.

He plays handpan, bowls and drums, and has taught since 2024. He takes three or four new students most months, and works from how sound behaves: which notes sit well together, why a bowl keeps ringing after you let it go, how a room changes what you hear.

Melie

Gong, bowls, and yoga.

Melie studied public health and was working in a hotel when she took a sound therapy training with Shantika. It changed the course of her life.

She fell in love with the practice, went on to assist the sound therapy trainings at Shantika Academy, and then opened her own studio. She is also a yoga teacher, with a 200-hour Vikasa Yoga certification.

She plays gong, crystal bowls and Tibetan bowls. She also runs House of Holistic by Melie, which offers sound therapy, yoga, guided meditation and Tok Sen massage.

Together

Two players, one session.

We both play soft, by choice. There are no pounding drums and no loud gongs meant to jolt you awake. The sound stays low and grounding, because what we care about most is rest: one hour where the busy world drifts away.

We have held sound journeys together for over a year. Playing as a pair is the reason the sound never drops to silence: one of us can hold a long tone while the other moves around the mats, so the instruments answer each other instead of arriving one at a time.

Can plays handpan, bowls and drums. Melie plays gong, crystal bowls and Tibetan bowls. In a session that means the melody and the long tones are held by different pairs of hands, and we can hand the room back and forth without stopping.

We also teach. Can takes three or four new handpan students most months, and teaches rhythm and music theory with the instrument. Melie teaches yoga and has assisted the sound therapy trainings at Shantika Academy. Between us we hold the open sessions on the terrace, private sessions for couples and small groups, and sessions at villas, hotels and retreats across the island.

We have been invited to play at Four Seasons, Kamalaya, Anantara Lawana, W, Conrad, Absolute Sanctuary, Samujana, Vikasa, 5 Elements and Samaya Wellness, along with yoga studios and community spaces across the island. We hold a place in the Kamalaya wellness programme.

How it started

Noom Sound Studio, and the terrace.

Noom Sound Studio began with a handpan, a gong, and a terrace nobody was using. Can was teaching lessons on it. Melie brought bowls to one of them. We played together, saw that it worked, and started running open sessions on Wednesday and Sunday.

The terrace sits five minutes inland from Lamai beach, in the forest above the sea. It is open on three sides and covered overhead, so sessions run in the rain. Eight mats fit on it, and we have never wanted more. Park at the bottom, take the stairs, and follow the music.

Everything we do runs from there: sound journeys, handpan lessons, and sessions at villas and hotels across Koh Samui. Sessions run in English.

You need no experience for any of it. Come and play with us, or come and listen and do nothing at all. Either way, come as you are.