Rock the Nursing Home
About 10 years ago a family friend was moved into a "no-frills" memory care unit in a nursing home. What Russ had loved most -- other than his 3 far-away daughters -- was music. Unfortunately for where he was living, there was no music for him to look forward to.
Something similar happened to our mother 4 years later. In her case, there was music, but it wasn't fun or engaging. A musician would set up, play, collect a check, and leave.
Compared to some of these amazing professional players, I'm mediocre. Still, my daughter and I decided to create a musical duo ("Classic Generations" - saxophone and vocalist) to provide free, upbeat entertainment to memory care units and retirement homes as a way to honor our late mother.
After four years of doing this, we realized two things:
1. We improved a lot, both as musicians and especially as entertainers.
2. We created a connection was more important than musical perfection. Many residents would rather have a B+ musician who connected with them than to have an A+ musician who "played a gig" and left. As one Activity Director recently told us, "Connection beats perfection."
Something similar happened to our mother 4 years later. In her case, there was music, but it wasn't fun or engaging. A musician would set up, play, collect a check, and leave.
Compared to some of these amazing professional players, I'm mediocre. Still, my daughter and I decided to create a musical duo ("Classic Generations" - saxophone and vocalist) to provide free, upbeat entertainment to memory care units and retirement homes as a way to honor our late mother.
After four years of doing this, we realized two things:
1. We improved a lot, both as musicians and especially as entertainers.
2. We created a connection was more important than musical perfection. Many residents would rather have a B+ musician who connected with them than to have an A+ musician who "played a gig" and left. As one Activity Director recently told us, "Connection beats perfection."
"Connection beats Perfection"
We recently started encouraging and coaching other amateur musicians to also volunteer to play shows for memory care units. Unfortunately, many very good musicians don't think they're good enough to play out. But they are!
Do you rock out in the basement with your guitar, sing to your cat, play piano at family reunions, or improvise solos to jazz tracks?
If you have a heart that wants to connect with a nursing home audience, let us help you.
"A Rewarding Win-Win Experience"
Later this year we will be giving a free online workshop on some of the unique "how-tos" of performing as a solo entertainer a nursing homes. This would include how to contact the nursing home and secure the show, create a set list, perform, engage, what to say between songs, and how to interact with the residents before and after your show. We can also help you decide whether to start out solo or to start out as a duo or trio.
We're doing this only because we think everyone benefits with music in their life. We do this for free -- there are no extra charges, master classes, or "but wait" bonuses. It's all to help brighten -- even if just for an hour -- the lives of all the legions of people out there like Russ and like my mom in their last years.
Our hope is that you find it a rewarding win-win experience. We hope it helps you continue to improve your playing and entertainment chops while you also play for people like Russ who wouldn't otherwise have you to look forward to.
Let us know if we can help you, help them. If you're interested in being in the first workshop (being held the last Sunday afternoon in May), let me know. I'm at [email protected].
We're doing this only because we think everyone benefits with music in their life. We do this for free -- there are no extra charges, master classes, or "but wait" bonuses. It's all to help brighten -- even if just for an hour -- the lives of all the legions of people out there like Russ and like my mom in their last years.
Our hope is that you find it a rewarding win-win experience. We hope it helps you continue to improve your playing and entertainment chops while you also play for people like Russ who wouldn't otherwise have you to look forward to.
Let us know if we can help you, help them. If you're interested in being in the first workshop (being held the last Sunday afternoon in May), let me know. I'm at [email protected].
Nursing home residents often ask my daughter lots of questions.
She used My Favorite Things to introduce herself at a recent show.
Again, this isn't exactly how it looks,
but it is how you can make both them and yourself feel
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