My wife's mom is in a nursing home and so I have been spending a bit of time there. She doesn't talk much anymore so having a conversation is not an option. I will sometimes sit with her in the common area and play the harp. If I hit on a song someone knows, Smile, When you wish upon a star, Over the rainbow, Tuxedo Junction, they will sing along.
I would like to tap into the collective knowledge here of songs that can be played on the harp that people in this age range are likely to know. Any suggestions?
The Entertainer or some other ragtime maybe? (Not so much for singing along since it's an instrumental, but catchy). The only other song from that era that I can think of depends on the level of the room. Some people might get a laugh at 'I don't want her you can have her she's to fat for me', others might not. :)
One weird thing I noticed about some older people is that they often have very segregated musical tastes. I know a woman in her 80s who majored in music who didn't know who BB King was, despite her name being Lucille! But people born in the 20s and 30s would have some pretty diverse people they'd have known growing up. Satchemo, Glenn Miller, Bing Crosby...
You might look up the billboard charts on wikipedia. My grandmother used to love that one show, and now I'm drawing a blank. It was a musical variety show. Not Glenn Miller,...
When growing up in NY my Folks did a lot of movie going. You might find something there. As mentioned, Bing Crosby was popular: (ie 'White Christmas' ... "Would you like to swing on a star, Carry moonbeams home in a jar,").
To each their own but I believe mine went deaf to new music when Elvis showed. The exceptions were musicals like 'The Sound of Music". There's a bit of material in that one.
Last Edited by JustFuya on Feb 06, 2016 2:58 PM
Thanks, Adam, Five foot two is a great choice. I just found the sheet music and I will have to consider a bit how to deal with the chromaticizm. G and G# D and D# in the key of C. On a cursory look it seems like 12th position will work.
Tuxedo Junction is already in my repertoire and I am working on In The Mood. It has always bothered me that you cant play the trumpet solo in Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy on a bugle!
Think that's James Stewart, who played Miller in the Glenn Miller Story, up above. But, to the point, as my mother descended into dementia, In The Mood and Glenn and music she knew were among the few things that would bring her peace. ---------- Phil Pennington
My band plays an hour long show 2 or 3 times a month at nursing homes. We do Crawdad Song upbeat featuring harp. They love it. Many of them sing along. The also sing along with Tennessee Waltz and Fly Me To The Moon, both of which can be done well on harp. We have had requests for Five Foot Two
"Daisy Bell", otherwise known as "Bicycle Built For Two" - it was first published in 1892 and remained popular throughout much of the 20th century. It was later sometimes considered a children's song, but it's actually a love song (and some say with sexual references, in a fun way). It became popular in the 60s when Nat King Cole covered it. And it is also known from the computer HAL singing it in Kubrick's "2001 Space Odessey".
I thought of it because my grandmother used to sing it all the time in the 70s.
Last Edited by A440 on Feb 07, 2016 12:56 PM
"The Entertainer" was written in 1902, it was used in "The Sting" which is set in the 1930s but it was not a hit song of that period.
Yeah, I was trying to cover a stretch from what they might have heard as a kid on up. I know my house as a kid was filled with the Beatles and the Mammas and the Pappas, even although the Beatles broke up the year before I was born and Mamma Cass died about when my brother was born.
A lot of people stop listening to 'new' types of music as much when they get to their 30s. I figure a mix of what they might have heard their parents playing (so maybe back to 1900) up to when they hit their 30s (so maybe as late as early 60s)? I don't know where my grandfather was exposed to it, but he loved the Entertainer (and ragtime in general), although he'd be around 110 if he was still alive. I guess I still, in my head, think of him as being in his 70s. He died back in 82 though, so yeah, my timeline is a bit off.
STME58, Use of familiar music as therapy for dementia patients is getting quite popular, and lots of Web sites list popular music through the decades. Good luck with it!
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Last Edited by mr_so&so on Feb 08, 2016 6:50 PM
I really appreciate all of the input here. Especially songs I can already play but just have not thought of in a while, Daisy Bell, You Are My Sunshine, Camptown Races.
I have got a bad cough right now that is keeping me from laying much, especially in a nursing home, but as soon as it clears I will be trying these out.
I did hear from another musician who plays in nursing home occasionally, he is very concerned that he no longer has to do research on songs for his audience, he just plays the songs he knows from his youth and they know them too. He tries not to reflect to hard on the significance of that.
Last Edited by STME58 on Feb 10, 2016 8:37 PM
I have this sequenced on a laptop and played it at my nursing home gig last Friday. I am not sure anyone there recognized any of the tunes--but they will the next time I play it!
Last Edited by Gnarly on Feb 10, 2016 8:44 PM
Danny Boy. When the Saints Go Marching In. Hard Times, When You & I were Young Maggie, Sweet Sixteen,Tennessee Waltz Shenandoah etc And whilst the over 80's would connect with these tunes there are thousands of others ie 50's, 60's & 70's tunes that were the soundtracks to their lives. I'm 75 and play with a bluegrass group that do shows for some retirement homes. The last show we did was at a luxury village where the restaurant/ show hall was like something from Vegas. We had a huge turnout and expected an early night but they kept us playing. We didn't play much bluegrass other than You are my Sunshine (goes over well) and some mentioned above. Lots of Hank Williams & Dylan tunes go over well. Also as I'm an Aussie a few local folk tunes go over well. Not hard work and all good tunes most that will still be popular in another 100 years. The important thing is to involve them in singing. ---------- HARPOLDIE’S YOUTUBE
