About Me 

 

Music is a never ending world of questions, culture, expression, and emotion. It heals and defines the way I perceive the world. 

 

I grew up in Washington State, all of my youth years spent deep in the forest growing up in a small town that was just close enough to the city to experience and work there, but far enough to be away from civilization if I wanted to. My years and curiosity in music and nature inform my perception of the world. I find so much intrigue in contrast, extremes, and different ways of being and thinking. 

 

Playing music, singing, reading, cooking, studying languages, creating clothing, and running ground me in this world--and all of those things ground me in my communities too. I strive to see connection in all things, and there has been nothing that I’ve experienced yet that connects more than the vibrations of music and culture. 

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​Biography 

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Percussionist Cahaya Drucilla [cha-hai-uh dru-sil-uh], a Balinese-American artist, specializes in musical storytelling in Western Classical and Balinese Gamelan tradition. Born in Graham, Washington, she began her artistic journey transcribing rock and jazz songs on piano and drums in her youth, then quickly falling in love and starting her journey in music study with Dr. Miho Takekawa in Western Washington State, studying orchestral percussion, jazz, and classical piano. Prior to her undergrad, she performed in many extracurricular ensembles and competitions, notably winning the South Sound Symphonic Band Concerto competition, performing in the WMEA and NAfME Symphony and Wind Ensemble, and the WMEA Solo and Ensemble competitions, medaling on multiple occasions. Cahaya holds a degree from Central Washington University studying with Mark Goodenberger, and has performed at venues worldwide in Japan, Spain, and across the United States. In her undergrad studies, she was a generalist performing in a wide array of genres such as marching battery, front ensemble, jazz drums and vibes, chamber percussion, and orchestral music. She performed with many groups outside of her university as well, such as Broken City Percussion, Blue Knights, Odle Duo, and more. 

 

Cahaya spent the last four years in Los Angeles specializing in marching percussion education, show design, Balinese Gamelan, and chamber percussion. As an educator, she has worked with multiple high schools and middle schools in the Greater Los Angeles area, Opus Music School, POW Percussion, Pacific Crest DBC, and more. As a performer, she has toured to Spain with the ROMP! Quartet, recorded projects as the PC Duo, performed with South Bay Wind Ensemble and Santa Monica Symphony Orchestra, and consistently performed with Gamelan Merdu Kumala and Gamelan Burat Wangi. Cahaya is currently working towards a M.M. in Percussion Performance with a graduate assistantship at Bowling Green State University. Cahaya’s artistry is characterized by passionate dualistic energy and thought-provoking emotional exploration, with hopes to inspire authenticity and intention in listeners.

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