A Taichung-based band of musicians with Down syndrome on Tuesday and Wednesday held a free summer camp for students with disabilities using the money it raised from performances.
The band members — Chou Yi-chia (周以嘉), Chen Shu-wen (陳舒妏), Chou Tse-han (周則翰), Yeh Kuan-ting (葉冠霆), Chen Shang-che (陳尚哲), Chi Peng-feng (紀芃逢), Chan Chih-yu (詹芷瑜) and Sun Yu-yin (孫郁茵) — learned to play the ocarina with their families’ encouragement.
It took them six months to learn how to correctly cover the holes on the wind instrument to play scales, they said.
Screen grab from the band’s Facebook page
The members, whose average age is 20, learned tunes with a lot of rehearsing and passed a street performers’ license exam, they said.
They often perform outside Taichung and are invited to perform at corporate events, they said.
Since the band was formed three years ago, it has performed at centers for the care of elderly people, nursing homes and schools, band manager Lin Chi-tung (林啓通) said on Tuesday.
Through word of mouth, it has received requests to perform at private events, said Lin, who works voluntarily to teach the band.
There is a misconception among people that children with Down syndrome need extraordinary levels of care or should be “given up on,” he said.
However, the band helps spread the message that people with Down syndrome can “step outside” and learn skills to help them support themselves, he said.
Chen Shu-wen’s mother, Su Ying-ying (蘇瑩瑩), said that her daughter and bandmates decided to host the camp after noticing disabled students are “invisible” at summer vacation events.
Few summer camps are designed for students with disabilities, so they have no choice but to spend their summer at home with nothing to do, Su said.
The band has been saving the money it earned performing at corporate events, she said.
It has organized two days of activities — including ceramics, and ocarina and djembe lessons — using the NT$50,000 it has saved in the past year, she said.
The camp was open to students with disabilities from grade 7 or above and attracted 26 attendees, Su said.
Apart from helping others, the camp allowed the band members to gain more experience in social interactions,said Chou Tse-han’s mother, Wang Shu-hua (王淑華).
The band would continue to perform and do charity work to allow kindness to carry on, she said.
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