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A monthly drum circle is part of the music therapy program at the Silvercrest in Chula Vista, California.
“Tap your chest—feel that rhythm in your body,” Drums Alive™ coach and board-certified music therapist Annela Flores instructed the class of seniors at The Salvation Army Chula Vista (California) Silvercrest residence.
“We each march to the beat of our own drum”—so the saying goes. At the Chula Vista Silvercrest, seniors embody that truth during a monthly Drums Alive drum circle, which aims to get them out of their apartments into community, and get them moving. The offering is one of the many ways the center supports seniors’ wellbeing.
Chula Vista is one of The Salvation Army’s 34 HUD-funded Silvercrests in the western U.S., providing affordable, service-enriched independent living communities for low-income seniors. Silvercrest aims to support seniors in living independently for as long as possible—a mission that’s increasingly important given the growing senior population and the rising cost of assisted living.
Some Silvercrests, including Chula Vista, have on-site service coordinators who assist residents with individual needs and organize activities that foster connection and wellbeing, such as music therapy sessions provided by MusicWorx, which include the drum circle. While MusicWorx serves other Silvercrest locations in the San Diego area, the drum circle is unique to Chula Vista.
At the most recent drum circle, almost a third of the building’s residents joined in, some even showing up early to help set up the room. Service Coordinator Crystal Acuna said for some residents, activities like the drum circle are their only form of exercise.
Resident Judith Berg showed up early and claimed her favorite spot.
“I come for the music, the beat,” she said. “And it stretches the shoulders.”
Using grant funds, the Silvercrest purchased its own drums, each resembling a large yoga ball that sits on a base that not only stabilizes it but also holds both the drumsticks and a colorful scarf.
Flores began the session with warmups to “Moondance” by Van Morrison, incorporating conscious breathing and upper body movement using the scarves.
“All of us have rhythm in our hearts,” Flores said. “We have rhythm in our walking, in our sleep and our waking cycles. We also have rhythm in our speech, too.”
Flores then led the group in the rhythm game, an activity where she prompts participants to say their name and make up a corresponding rhythm.
Flores went first, using the syllables of her first name, “An-ne-la,” to create a lively rhythm on her drum. Everyone then took a turn, each finding their own rhythm while also getting to know one another.
“I feel positive after enjoying a session full of movement and beat.”
Ana Garcia
“When they have the drumsticks and they hit the drumball—what that does is that the reverberation, or the sound of it, and the feeling of hitting the ball transfers through their feet,” said Silvercrest Resident Services and QA Consultant Jo Stephanie Francisco. “They feel it in their body, but it doesn’t disturb everybody else.”
Participants follow Flores’ lead as she models the movement. She curates the songs herself, covering a variety of beats designed to get the class moving, from the lyrical “Moondance” to the more upbeat “I Heard it Through the Grapevine” and “Eye of the Tiger.”
“Give your neighbor’s stick a high five,” Flores said, just after “Eye of the Tiger”—affirming their shared experience before launching a conga line to Gloria Estefen’s “Conga.”
After 50 minutes, the group cooled down with the song, “Time of My Life.”
Flores, who has worked with the Chula Vista Silvercrest for several years, said music therapy—including the drum circle—is a powerful way to build community.
“This is a way that people develop relationships with one another, and they come together to make music, to exercise, to sing, to dance and move,” she said. “And I notice the friendships and connections that they make with each other in the group.”
During COVID, when seniors didn’t want to leave their apartments, the MusicWorx team still held sessions, with instructors setting up in the Silvercrest courtyard. Residents participated from their balconies.
“Music helps to increase dopamine production and oxytocin, which we call our happy hormones,” Flores said. “So it makes us feel better. And with Drums Alive, we’re pairing music with fitness and movement, and exercise itself has the same kind of benefits. It’s an incentive for people to exercise and move…It’s a cognitive exercise as much as it is a physical one. We call this a brain and body workout.”
While music therapy can be effective in treating brain injuries and neuro-cognitive decline, Flores said it’s also great for the “everyday person.”
“There’s an emotional connection with music, and there’s a lot of neuroscience that shows how music helps activate the brain and creates new connections and new pathways,” Flores said.
For the residents, the reason for coming is simple.
“I attend because it takes me out of reality and makes me forget about my aches, pains and problems,” Ana Garcia said. “I feel positive after enjoying a session full of movement and beat.”
Francisco called the experience a “feel-good moment.”
“There are many benefits to having this drum circle,” she said. “When they get out of their apartments, they’re being social. They’re being interactive. It’s multi-generational, because younger people typically teach the class. It’s rhythmic, it’s musical, and there’s a part of your brain that does math when you’re doing a beat and following it—and so it makes the brain work. It’s not just a drum circle; it’s musical progress.”
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