Karaoke Forums

Ok, Got booked last year at an assisted living facility with the hopes of doing karaoke, etc. A guy that comes to my regular Monday night show (bud) lives in this particular assisting living facility and thought it would be a hit. Well..... it was different. I assume these folks are in the 70's to 90's range and open up the show singing Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, Bobby Darin, etc. but quickly found out that these songs were too fast for the residents and they wanted older. Older?? Fly me to the moon, That's amore, Mack the knife are not old enough?

I am momentarily stumped on which way to go. I did have a couple singers, believe it or not, who came up an sang old Bing Crosby and Patsy Cline and kinda threw my hands in the air.

My wife came up with the idea of doing sing-a-longs with these folks in order to get them to participate and it worked like a charm. You are my sunshine, moon river, etc were the perfect remedy and we had all the audience singing and some even dancing.

Even though it was an successful event, I had mixed feelings about the gig.

Fast-forward this week and we are right back at this same facility doing karaoke again. This time was totally different! We knew what we had to do and it worked like a charm. It was such a joy to see the smiles on these old souls. They were having such a great time. It made me feel very lucky to be part of and I let Bud know that. We have another gig scheduled there in December and I am sincerely looking forward to it.

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Sound Choice and Chartbuster Certified

spotlightjr, I'm in Sarasota and do an occasional retirement/nursing home. The children's and old old standards definately work the best, such as : How much is that doggie in the window, Bill Bailley, I've been working on the rail road, etc. When you find the right songs, save the list because you can do them again next time.

I do the same think at the RV Park gig I do every other week. Most people here are my age 60 to 70 but some are in their 80's and only do the singalongs. It works!

In between singing I would play some good oldies songs. (Runaround sue, great balls of fire, hit the road jack etc) Just the smiles on everyone's faces will make your day.

I did one and had some of the same problems and realized I would need a different set up if I were to do it again. As you said, they preferred sing-a-longs so a giant TV monitor facing out would be a plus. They also wanted to fit it in between lunch and bingo in the same room so a quick set up/tear down was needed.

As far as music I went in expecting them to want Frank Sinatra and they started yelling for Hank Williams Jr. You just never know. Their preferred era seemed to be 50s through 70s at this particular place.

I do a mental health social center once a month for three months now and everyone enjoyed it. Just goes to show you don't need alcohol to get people to sing.

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The Line Array Experiment is over. Nothing to see here. Move along.

Yeah... You just need to be crazy...

.... aren't we all insane cue ball ? Or is that just all the good ones ?

We do a number of assisted living facilities here in our area and other than having to manage a quick set up and tear down they are good paying and tons of fun... and yes sing-a-longs do break the ice 50's -70's are also the largest section of material requested however the last show we did have a couple of people reaching for songs on the early 80's and even a few current songs.

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"Integrity is choosing your thoughts, words and actions based on your principles and values rather than for your personal gain."
Unknown
"if a man has integrity, nothing else matters, If a man has no integrity, nothing else matters."
Lee McGuffey

I'm glad you figured out a way to make it work. I finally had to give up doing senior complexes because most of the time, no one wanted to sing. all they would do is ask me to do a song and then sing quietly to themselves..

James

interesting...thanks for the info in this thread

Oh--my experience was not that it would be good pay. They do have a budget for entertainment but there are a few local musicians who regularly donate their time so the management has come to expect the same for any music.

I volunteered at a nursing home for a few months a couple years ago. I assumed going in that the residents would want to sing older karaoke, but I quickly found that they didn't want to sing, but they were very happy to sit back and listen to me sing oldies. Definitely don't push them to sing. Just plan on singing for them. That's my experience at least.

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C Mc
KJ, FL

I volunteered at a nursing home for a few months a couple years ago. I assumed going in that the residents would want to sing older karaoke, but I quickly found that they didn't want to sing, but they were very happy to sit back and listen to me sing oldies. Definitely don't push them to sing. Just plan on singing for them. That's my experience at least.

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C Mc
KJ, FL