Steps Learning Center<\/a>\u00a0in Orlando, brought her three children and 13 students from her microschool. Steps Learning Center aims to help\u00a0children with autism, Down syndrome and developmental differences\u00a0be successful in their education, according to its website.\u00a0<\/p>\n\u201cI like the focus shift on their exceptionalities and that they are just exceptional individuals,\u201d Batista said. \u201cRather than ‘We\u2019re doing this and including you guys,’ it just feels more like ‘This was for you guys.’\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
The UCF Concert Band, directed by Assistant Director of Bands Dave Schreier, was themed \u201cA Day at the Parks,\u201d or theme parks, playing scores from films like \u201cHarry Potter,\u201d \u201cHow to Train your Dragon,\u201d some Broadway selections from \u201cThe Lion King\u201d and other fantasy-like films.<\/p>\n
The event was held in the Steinmetz Hall and was open to children and families to be free, to move and talk as necessary, and to accommodate their needs. A sign language interpreter was also present on the left side of the stage for Deaf or hard-of-hearing attendees.<\/p>\n
Ellis Hall, senior music composition major, got to experience playing and composing for his first neurodivergent-friendly concert.<\/p>\n
Hall said it took about two days to compose his piece \u201cDreamland,\u201d drawing inspiration from Disney\u2019s Epcot theme park and \u201cLa La Land\u201d to evoke the feeling of an imaginary theme park that invites audience participation.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was low pressure and it was very fun,\u201d Hall said. \u201cI didn\u2019t realize how many people would actually participate.\u201d<\/p>\n
The audience was invited to pat their legs and put their arms up to simulate going on a roller coaster. Other songs prompted waving their hands on certain beats, watching colored flags and ribbon dances.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Batista said her children particularly enjoyed being handed glowsticks by the performers to mimic the conductor by waving their sticks in the air. Batista said she wondered how certain students would react given their different personalities.\u00a0<\/p>\n
![\"From](\"data:image\/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAAQAAAADCAQAAAAe\/WZNAAAAEElEQVR42mM8U88ABowYDABAxQPltt5zqAAAAABJRU5ErkJggg==\")
<\/p>\n
Performers and families converse in the lobby of the Dr. Phillips Center after the Exceptional Knights’ “A Day at the Parks” performance on Tuesday. Band players and performers interacted with children, took pictures with them and allowed attendees to view and touch their instruments.<\/p>\n
Cassandra Joseph <\/p>\n
\u201cThey were enjoying it,\u201d Batista said. \u201cThey were engaged and were participating and just put on their headphones if it was too loud.\u201d<\/p>\n
Peterson, who also performed in last year’s event, said she experienced this event in a deeper way as someone studying elementary education.<\/p>\n
\u201cA huge thing for me is the inclusivity of it all and getting to do that concert,\u201d Peterson said. \u201cIt\u2019s really special for me personally.\u201d<\/p>\n
Families went up to Peterson, and she said she loved interacting with the children and sharing her passions with them, such as letting them touch the golden buttons on her instrument.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI think a huge part of this is it allows everybody to come to a performing arts center where otherwise they might not be welcome because of their inability to have to sit still or be quiet,\u201d Peterson said.<\/p>\n
While children got to interact and listen to the band play, they also got to learn and listen to isolated versions of the different instrument groups, such as woodwinds, brass and percussion.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe put a lot of time and effort into this and so for it to pay off is really, really exciting,\u201d Peterson said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Exceptional Knights’ “A Day at the Parks,” one of the events in the\u00a0UCF Celebrates the Arts\u00a0lineup, offered a…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":226613,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[1210,1407,139,141,140,1211],"class_list":{"0":"post-226612","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-orlando","8":"tag-life","9":"tag-music","10":"tag-orlando","11":"tag-orlando-headlines","12":"tag-orlando-news","13":"tag-student_organizations"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/226612","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=226612"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/226612\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/226613"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=226612"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=226612"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=226612"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}