Banging On Drums Helps Seneca Residents Express Themselves With Music

ROCKVILLE, MD — Vistors to The Seneca assisted living and memory care facility in Rockville last Friday may have encountered some unexpected sounds.

Katie Gaughan, a certified Village Music Circles Global trainer, retreat leader, event organizer and percussionist, led a group of Seneca residents in a community drum circle.

"Drumming is accessible to everybody," Gaughan said, in a video interview. We can all do it. You can drum if you're 1-year-old. You can drum if you're 99. I love that everyone can play and it's something that we can do together. It builds community."

Seneca residents gathered together in a circle and created music together by singing and pounding on the drums Gaughan provided.

"Music is just something that's positive and joyful, and it's fun because we can express ourselves in new ways," she said.

Gaughan described drumming as an "ancient technology." Music therapists and neurologists say regular drumming boosts a person's T-cells, which help to fight disease.

" Drumming helps reduce stress, because we're banging on things and we all need to do that," she said. "It's an outlet to release any tension that's in our body. ... We use the drum as the instrument that can connect us to our bodies and to one another."

A video of the community drum circle at The Seneca can be viewed on YouTube.