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Music is about more than entertainment for drum circle facilitator Moshe Adler.

The Germantown resident started Drum-N-Fun about two years ago to help others benefit from music's ability to teach and heal. Adler leads drum circles and workshops for a diverse group of people that includes disabled adults, children with terminal illnesses, law students, music fans, corporate employees and nursing-home residents.

"It's a lot of fun," said Adler, 43. "It gets people out of their heads and into their bodies, into their hearts. It's a great way to connect people to each other."

Adler teaches groups to create rhythms and to listen to each other to make a cohesive sound, but the methods vary by the audience. For instance, having a group of employees at a diversity training seminar play African, Middle Eastern and South American drums can illustrate the concept of unity through diversity. And at Potomac Community Resources Inc. in Potomac, where Adler leads a weekly drum workshop, playing drums and other percussive instruments such as wood blocks and cowbells allows developmentally disabled teens and adults to express themselves and build cognitive and social skills.

"Sometimes during a percussion exercise, someone will just get up and start dancing," said Abby Lubran, volunteer and program coordinator at PCR. "Everyone needs an outlet to express themselves through, and sometimes this population doesn't always have the opportunity to do that."

Adler, who began drumming in second grade, grew up in Bethesda and was influenced by his mother, a music therapist who worked with disabled youths. He began doing drum circles at a camp for children with cancer about six years ago, and developed a drum workshop for Boy Scouts trying to earn drumming merit badges. He became a certified drum circle facilitator in 2007.

"The goal of the drum circle facilitator is to make yourself unnecessary," said Adler, who plays drums in a band called DragonSong. "A conductor is kind of leading the group, but you're trying to get the group to listen to each other."

Most drum circles last anywhere from an hour to 90 minutes, though planning lessons and transporting, loading and unloading some of his 200 drums and percussion instruments to events can take hours.

Business can range from two sessions in a week to as few as two or three a month, though he has several regular clients to supplement one-time events, like birthday parties or organized all-night fire circles. He works part time buying and selling rare books with his father, but said he has been considering doing Drum-N-Fun full time as word of mouth has grown.

"I tell people, ‘If you have a heartbeat, you can play the drums,'" Adler said.