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Music for the Folks at Eastwood: Why and How to Play Nursing Home Gigs
What a joy to make music for the folks at Eastwood Care Center! Making music with the folks at this nursing home is a regular gig for us. On this page, we share why we love playing nursing home gigs, and how other musicians can get started.
The Joys of Playing at Nursing Homes
We have been playing nursing home gigs since the beginning of our career as musicians, starting with gigs at assisted living and dementia care facilities in Carson City, Nevada. At that time, we were just getting started playing in coffee shops, bars, community events and Renaissance festivals. So, when our penny whistle player in our Gairin Celtic Band suggested, "Let's call a few nursing homes and see if we might play there," we were all in for the experience.
Every Wednesday afternoon, Tom would get off work a little early, and meet up with Penny and I to schlep our instruments over to an old folks home for a show. By doing these shows, we learned a lot about performing together and what songs and tunes resonated with our audiences. Since then we have never stopped, always finding someplace to present our act for the old folks.
Why Play at Nursing Homes?
Playing for old folks is just plain fun. They are the most enthusiastic of audiences, even though they may be disabled by their advanced age. These folks have had a lifetime of experience being good audiences, so they sing along, applaud, and even dance to the music. Therefore, we get as much love back from the folks as we give them in our shows, and that give and take is a performer's dream.
After all, we perform the kind of music that doesn't fit the typical bar scene, except the occasional Irish pub, and we always enjoy performing the music we love, rather than trying to fit into some genre that "we are not all that into."
Nursing home gigs are during the daytime, not into the wee hours of the night, and they are safe facilities in nice locations of town. There's no worrying about having to stay up after midnight or getting our equipment stolen, which was a concern when we played a few bars, so we easily lost interest in that.
They pay. Now, some musicians would rather volunteer and will not accept any form of payment, but we are of the mind that a small monetary thank you is much appreciated. In fact, we always make a point of sharing our wealth, albeit small wealth, with the community by using our compensation to go out for coffee and treats in a local bakery or restaurant after our gigs.
How to Get Started Playing for Nursing Homes
Getting started is really quite simple. Just give a call to the nursing home of your choice and ask for the activities director, who will guide you. You might need to fill out a W-4 form for their expense accounting to the Internal Revenue Service, but you don't need a business license or anything else aside from your talent and enthusiasm to show up and make music for the folks.
If you are shy at first, or if you don't have enough of an act to fill out a half-hour or an hour of a show, perhaps you know a friend who is already playing at a nursing home. You can ask them to tag along and sit in with them.
An especially good time of the year to get started is just prior to any holiday, such as Christmas or St. Patrick's Day. Then, you can focus on music of the upcoming holiday.
What Music Do Old Folks Like?
Nursing home residents are a diverse group, with musical backgrounds that range from professional to not-at-all. So, your choice of music can be very diverse, as well. To develop your set list for old folks, you can draw on music you have learned and like, plus what you find out is popular in the particular nursing home you are playing for.
It's a good idea to create a varied program, by mixing old and new music, songs and tunes, standards and not-so-standards, and some of your own compositions, too. Vary the pace, mixing fast tempo and slow tempo songs, including a sing along every third song or so, and including "legit" music as well as popular selections, and you will have a program that appeals to everybody as some point in your show.
Make sure to mix in some of your own compositions, if you write music or songs. Let the folks know you are playing something you wrote, and they will encourage you.
Here's a sample program that we have found works nicely.
- Roll Out The Barrel lively sing along to get things going
- When Irish Eyes are Smiling especially around St. Patrick's Day
- Rakes of Mallow a lively Irish tune
- Beautiful Dreamer is a lovely favorite
- Sentimental Journey theatrical jazzy standard
- Sloop John B always a rollicking song
- Juanita familiar from their school choir years
- Sweet Caroline a popular request everywhere!
- Again by Mary Kay Aufrance jazzy swingy original
- Garry Owen Irish Jig
- Santa Lucia in English and Italian and really ham it up!
- Seven Bridges Road by the Eagles
- Country Roads by John Denver
- Home on the Range OMG do they love this one!
- Dream Dream Dream by the Everly Brothers
- Mind Trip Boogie by Mary Kay Aufrance another original
- Golden Slippers old time dance tune
- Happy Trails by Dale Evans from the Roy Rogers Show everybody remembers
- You Are My Sunshine always at the end of the show for a sing along
