00:00The Voices in Praise Steel & Song concert is the brainchild of Savion Nichols and Tony Woodruff.
00:06Savion is a 29-year-old composer, arranger, conductor and panist who is on the spectrum himself.
00:13His father Shelton tells us about how the concert came about.
00:16Anthony Woodruff and actually John Jacob were a bit of the inspiration for Savion.
00:22And it was Anthony Woodruff actually, senior, who encouraged me to encourage Savion to actually do music.
00:31So we started discussing this show with Tony Woodruff and it has now materialized into a show called Voices in
00:42Praise, Steel & Song.
00:44The intent is, of course, to showcase the artistry of the steel pan in the context of religious, gospel and
00:53sacred music,
00:54but also showcase the possibilities that are available with neurodivergent and autistic children.
01:01Proceeds from the show will be donated to the Autistic Society of Trinidad and Tobago
01:06because it's a cause near and dear to Savion and his family's hearts.
01:09They want to help others like Savion find their own strengths as Savion did.
01:14The significant part of the proceeds from this concert will actually go towards the work of the Autistic Society of
01:20Trinidad and Tobago
01:21and to give other kids exposure, whether it's music, whether it's computer programming,
01:29we think this is important for national development overall.
01:32So this is a major, major part.
01:35Parents and children from the Autistic Society of Trinidad and Tobago will be specially invited to the concert
01:41to witness the capabilities of children on the spectrum.
01:45Once they are exposed to the right training and to the right opportunity,
01:50I think the sky could be the limit.
01:51They are normally very, very gifted, but you have to teach them how to open the gifts and how to
01:58persevere.
01:58And we have had a long journey with Savion, so it's one of the real gifts that we have actually
02:04seen handed to us.
02:07The concert will include 21 pieces, 15 of which were scored by Savion himself.
02:12But how does the steel pan fit in? Savion's father explains.
02:16One of the things Savion wanted to demonstrate is the versatility of the pan across all genres of music.
02:22So he was adamant in our discussions with him that the pan can play anything.
02:27So he can play classical music with the pan, he can also play sacred music with the pan.
02:32He's also at some point in time going to compose music for the sitar and pan.
02:38He likes to mix world music with the pan.
02:42So we thought this would be an opportunity to actually showcase some of the work of the pan in different
02:49genres of music.
02:50Savion's mother, Janice, also had advice for parents of children on the autism spectrum.
02:56One of the key things is patience.
03:00One of the key things is exposure.
03:04You tend, because the child is neurodivergent, he may not have speech, he may not have language,
03:09to hover and overprotect them, but you have to expose them.
03:15And in exposing them, you realize what their gifts are.
03:19The Voices in Praise Steel and Song concert takes place at the Central Bank Auditorium on Saturday 17th October at
03:267pm
03:27and Sunday 18th October at 6.30pm.
03:31Apart from Savion, you can look forward to hearing from the Bravura Arts Choir,
03:36Lydian Steele, Ron Christopher, Jadel Baird and many more artists.
03:41Dominic Ramroop, TV6 News.
03:43Judicialic Ramroop, TV6 News.
03:43Let's go.
