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A Potomac, Maryland, father has found stardom on the social media app TikTok. Dan Binstock has played piano his entire life, but he can also play a song immediately after listening to it.
During the pandemic, that began with his daughter quizzing him on songs but has since grown into taking countless requests from the thousands of people watching his videos, one of which has more than 23 million views.
鈥淚t鈥檚 so weird that so many people are responding to it like this,鈥� Binstock told 草莓传媒.
Initially, when Binstock presented the TikTok idea to a focus group, made up of his two young daughters, it wasn鈥檛 well received.
鈥淭hey both were completely embarrassed of me. They said, ‘This is ridiculous, you鈥檙e 48 years old, you shouldn鈥檛 be on TikTok,’鈥� Binstock joked.
But both girls eventually had a change of heart, and his daughter Alexa became a producer of sorts, helping dad shoot, edit and post videos. She would even push her dad to make more videos when viewership levels dropped.
鈥淪he would text me from school and she still does, and she goes, ‘Dad, you鈥檝e got to post something, people aren鈥檛 watching anymore,鈥� Binstock said.
How can he listen to songs and play them back by ear so quickly? Binstock said part of it is because of a condition he has known as synesthesia. It is a perceptual phenomenon in which he doesn鈥檛 only hear music, he sees the sound.
鈥淪o my whole life, whenever I鈥檝e heard something, I just hear it in colors and notes,鈥� Binstock said.
Binstock said it began at the age of 5, when his parents took him to see the musical 鈥淥klahoma!鈥� Afterward, he started playing it on the piano at home.
His daughter Alexa recalled that before he reached TikTok celebrity status, her father would start playing music that she鈥檇 play from her phone.
鈥淚鈥檒l just be scrolling on TikTok and I鈥檒l be like sitting on the couch and like all of a sudden I鈥檒l hear him playing the sound on the piano,鈥� Binstock鈥檚 daughter said.
Alexa, 15, said it isn鈥檛 bad having a TikTok star for a dad.
鈥淚 was in the bathroom at school one day and someone was like, ‘I found your dad鈥檚 TikTok.’鈥�
The teen said it is cool to share in her father鈥檚 online success and see the numbers go up as more and more people watch his videos.
Binstock said he has received inquiries from record labels and organizations wanting to sponsor his content, but as the recruiter for law firms at Garrison & Sisson, he said he won鈥檛 be taking the show on the road.
鈥淚 can鈥檛 quit my day job any time soon,鈥� Binstock said.
He did say he plans to keep the TikTok videos coming.
鈥淎s much as people enjoy hearing the music, I will keep doing this because it鈥檚 my favorite thing in the world to do,鈥� he said.
