While 11-year-old Matreiya Viafora’s voice may have been quiet, her beats were loud.
“My name is Matreiya and this is my sound,” she said before hitting the rim of her Festival Tubano drum three times for a tone and one time in the center for a base sound.
A crowd of half-a-dozen other kids and adults repeated the beat in unison, getting louder and faster until drum instructor Harta Dunia stretched her hands out coolly to signal the group to stop.
The Tuesday, March 10, Sedona Youth Drum Circle was the second that Dunia has led at the Recreation Room at Posse Grounds Park.
A few adult volunteers [and a parent] from other drum circles taught by Dunia also sat in the circle Tuesday. Technically speaking, they were more experienced than the rest of the class, but in the drum circle, there is no hierarchy.
“The whole idea of being in a circle is that we’re equals; we accept each other as equals,” Dunia told the class as part of her ground rules before she led games like call and response with a cowbell, playing different parts in a round and switching up number patterns.
“We have a lot of games which helps to improve listening skills. It helps the kids to kind of listen to each other as well,” Dunia said. “It helps to instill a sense of respect because they have to listen to the other person. There is no wrong and right, so it encourages them to develop a sense of acceptance for each other and that’s the whole point of this drum circle — to allow the kids to have a safe outlet to express themselves in a creative manner.”
Along with self expression and listening skills, drum circle “reduces stress, improves concentration, develops confidence and improves communication skills,” according to the class description.
Dunia was raised in Malaysia, where she first fell in love with the piano and began teaching lessons. She then spent 25 years as a nurse in the UK, which can be confirmed by her English accent. She has been in the Village of Oak Creek for five years and has also worked as a spiritual healer. Her affinity for healing and love of music came together when she discovered drum circles. At first, Dunia used the hand drums to assist with her spiritual healing work.
“We would connect with the seven directions and each direction has its own rhythm,” she said about working with her clients. “So I used to use the hand drum for ceremonies. And that’s how I got started teaching and facilitating with the hand drum, and when I started going to drum circles it just opened up my world, so to speak.”
Now a certified drumming facilitator and part of the Drum Circle Facilitator’s Guild, Dunia teaches a women’s drum circle in the VOC and helps lead the Sedona Drum Circle. Through her company, Sedona Wellness Drumming, Dunia also leads corporate events, goes to preschools and works with home-schooled children.
“The drum circle really speaks to people of all ages,” she said. “It’s great for businesses when they’re trying to develop team building skills, connection with each other, networking.”
Eventually, Dunia hopes to bring her circles to area hospitals and nursing homes. But for now, youth drumming is Dunia’s focus.
“I think throughout history, throughout culture, drums have played an important role, and children particularly, they have a natural affinity to drums,” she said. “They have this natural attraction — they see a drum, they want to play. And that’s the beauty of the drum.”
With cutbacks on the arts and music in many area schools, the Sedona Youth Drum Circle also allows kids the opportunity to play drums that may not have it in school. “We did have a drum class at my old school,” Matreiya said of Big Park Community School, which was closed by the school district in 2018.
Now, Matreiya and her twin brother, fellow youth drummer Chaveyo, go to the Desert Star Community School in Cornville. While the Waldorf-based school does offer violin to fourth- and fifth-graders and recorder to sixth- and seventh-graders, Matreiya said she missed playing the drums. For now, at least, she doesn’t have to.
Alexandra Wittenberg can be reached at 282-7795 ext 126 or at awittenberg@larsonnewspapers.com.
