Dawna Hammers is an experienced and versatile songwriter, performer and music teacher. She has been teaching music to preschool and elementary age kids as well as private voice, piano, recorder and hand drumming lessons to people of all ages and abilities across New England for the past 35 years.
As a professional caregiver and entertainer for elders with dementia and Alzheimer’s disease, Dawna has developed music therapy techniques which help them to move, express themselves, and stimulate their memories. She has created and led children's and intergenerational singing groups that bring smiles and unity to their communities.
Dawna also is a recording artist, with seven CDs of mostly original songs available on her website and a variety of videos on her YouTube channel. Her song "Universal Love" won honorable mention in the 2005 John Lennon Songwriting Competition, and "Deep Inside" won first place in the songwriting competition for the League of American Pen Women in 2020.
Dawna has studied with various world famous musical and spiritual teachers, including Cherokee/Buddhist spiritual leader The Venerable Dhyani Ywahoo, Grammy Award winning saxophonist/composer Paul Winter, and the late, great Nigerian Master Drummer Babatunde Olatunji, with whom she recorded a song he inspired entitled One Spirit. Dawna's teaching philosophy is that music is medicine, music is natural, music is fun and good for the brain and the planet! Through music, she strives to bring healing, peace, joy and unity to all.
