Post by seagullplayer on Feb 23, 2018 10:13:29 GMT -5
I hope this would be the right spot for this post, if not feel free to move it.
I write this to encourage people who have considered it to take action.
First off I want to say that I am not a very good guitar player. I have been doing it far too long to be this bad! So don’t let your level of play stop you. It’s like having kids, if we all waited till we thought we were ready mankind would have died out long ago. Let me also say we volunteer, so take what you read here accordingly.
We do an hour set. That’s plenty for this type venue. Now I play and we sing, more on the “we” in a moment. If you only play, an hour might be too long. I also tell jokes between almost every song. That means we will do between 14 and 16 songs a set. I always have at least 20 ready to go. I almost never take anything out of our “book” so we have dozens now. But 20 will get you up and running for months. If you just want to get your feet wet, you might ask about just coming in for two for three songs.
We play once a month, some of our songs I have done every month. We have been doing this at one nursing home for about 13 years, repeats are not an issue. I know we have done "Country roads" and "don’t be cruel" every month. First, many folks forget, there are always new people and then people like to sing along to songs they know. I try to add at least one new song a month, but sometimes I fail.
IMO; people worry too much about song selection. Remember most of these folks grew up with three stations on TV (if they had one) and AM radio. Many radio stations at the time played every kind of music there was. They still listen to the radio so even new stuff works if you play country or soft pop. I have never heard metal blasting from a room, but you get the idea.
We play at a smaller nursing home, (the PC term changes from time to time). It is in a very small town and is local for us. It is not very fancy and most of the residents are low income. As far as I know they really have no entertainment budget. I’m not sure how many beds there are, but I feel pretty safe in saying not more than 150. A few rooms have one and several have three. These are the places that really need volunteers.
You will want to call the front desk and ask for the activities director. In some of the larger places this is a dedicated position, in small places this may be one of the staff that helps organize it as part of their other duties. At the one we help out at this position has changed pretty often, sometimes a few times a year. If for some reason you can’t make contact with them, ask for the administrator. If you leave a message make sure they understand you are looking to volunteer. I have noticed that some homes with a web site will have a section just for volunteers, you might check for one before you call. It might give special instruction on how to contact them.
Depending on the situation they may give you a set of guild lines for volunteers. This is just a set of “rules” as to what you can and can’t do for your safety and the residents. They may ask you to sign it. We had been coming for several years when a new activities director asked all the volunteers to come in for cake and to meet one another. While there she gave such a sheet and asked if we would sign it. I would think that depending on the interaction a volunteer may have with residents some may have to do a background check. We have never been asked about that, but our interaction is rather minimal.
Tell them what you would like to do as a volunteer. And work out a time. Also ask where they want you to set-up. If you have never been to the place you might meet them and look things over. If you need to plug something in let them know. You will want to be close to an outlet, extension cords and walkers do not mix. I play an acoustic guitar and don’t use a mic. But I can make myself heard. I play with a pic and strum, I choose my guitars accordingly. A couple of the ladies will sometimes sing over a CD, they have one they let us use already set-up.
Along with my acoustic guitar I bring a stool and music stand. I started with one of the little really portable music stands. The kind you can fold up and put in a pouch about the size of an umbrella. But it won’t hold my music folder anymore, so I now have a sturdy, less portable stand.
I would try and keep it as simple as you can. You are not looking for recording quality here. Think more of a living room jam session with close family. The easier it is for you the easier it will be on everyone.
I have never had to go alone. Just me and my wife have gone, she sings. There is another lady that has been going with us from the start, she also sings. I have had several different people help out over the years, some are one time guests and some stay for a few years. I find lots of people would like to do something like this, but lack the nerve to go it alone. Those people are more than happy to come and do a song or two with us. I recommend that you take someone with you, even if they are not helping with the music. They can help in other ways.
When you arrive you will want to go to the front desk or nurse’s station and let them know you’re there. They will tell you where to go and bring the people to you. They may have everyone ready and waiting on you. It is a big job for the staff to get residents ready, so try and not be late and please try and give advanced warning if you’re not going to make it.
More than likely there will be much less fanfare than you might have expected. No host or anything like that. The first time you may wonder when you should start, if they are still bringing people in you might ask the staff, otherwise you’re kind of on your own. Sometimes people clap sometimes people sleep, don’t take it personal. Unless there is a resident that needs 24 hour supervision you may very well be left in the room without staff. This is why I say take someone with you. Just in case staff is needed they can go alert them. Don’t let this freak you out, we have went after staff dozens of times over the years, it’s never been life or death. Someone may need help to the bathroom, or want to go back to their room or a drink of water anyone of a 1000 things.
When finished let staff know, if you know how long you expect to be let them know when you get there. We have a system worked out, the staff know our last song will always be I saw the light. Don’t leave the room without staff knowing it. If this is your first gig playing in public, congratulations! You did what every musician dreams of but 99% will never do. Hopefully you’re already planning your next performance!
We all work so our timing is not the best. We knew we wanted to go monthly. And we also knew we couldn’t afford to give up weekend time every month. So we opt to go every third Tuesday of the month at 6:30 pm. This is not the best time, they serve supper at five and many of the residents go to bed for the night after supper. That means our crowd is smaller and perhaps less enthusiastic. It also means there is much less staff present. But there is much less noise and hustle and bustle. On occasion we have had opportunity to go during “normal business hours”. It is a different place all together, much more awake. If we could do it during a weekday, we would. But we do what we can when we can. Keep this in mind when you make arrangements.
I write this to encourage people who have considered it to take action.
First off I want to say that I am not a very good guitar player. I have been doing it far too long to be this bad! So don’t let your level of play stop you. It’s like having kids, if we all waited till we thought we were ready mankind would have died out long ago. Let me also say we volunteer, so take what you read here accordingly.
We do an hour set. That’s plenty for this type venue. Now I play and we sing, more on the “we” in a moment. If you only play, an hour might be too long. I also tell jokes between almost every song. That means we will do between 14 and 16 songs a set. I always have at least 20 ready to go. I almost never take anything out of our “book” so we have dozens now. But 20 will get you up and running for months. If you just want to get your feet wet, you might ask about just coming in for two for three songs.
We play once a month, some of our songs I have done every month. We have been doing this at one nursing home for about 13 years, repeats are not an issue. I know we have done "Country roads" and "don’t be cruel" every month. First, many folks forget, there are always new people and then people like to sing along to songs they know. I try to add at least one new song a month, but sometimes I fail.
IMO; people worry too much about song selection. Remember most of these folks grew up with three stations on TV (if they had one) and AM radio. Many radio stations at the time played every kind of music there was. They still listen to the radio so even new stuff works if you play country or soft pop. I have never heard metal blasting from a room, but you get the idea.
We play at a smaller nursing home, (the PC term changes from time to time). It is in a very small town and is local for us. It is not very fancy and most of the residents are low income. As far as I know they really have no entertainment budget. I’m not sure how many beds there are, but I feel pretty safe in saying not more than 150. A few rooms have one and several have three. These are the places that really need volunteers.
You will want to call the front desk and ask for the activities director. In some of the larger places this is a dedicated position, in small places this may be one of the staff that helps organize it as part of their other duties. At the one we help out at this position has changed pretty often, sometimes a few times a year. If for some reason you can’t make contact with them, ask for the administrator. If you leave a message make sure they understand you are looking to volunteer. I have noticed that some homes with a web site will have a section just for volunteers, you might check for one before you call. It might give special instruction on how to contact them.
Depending on the situation they may give you a set of guild lines for volunteers. This is just a set of “rules” as to what you can and can’t do for your safety and the residents. They may ask you to sign it. We had been coming for several years when a new activities director asked all the volunteers to come in for cake and to meet one another. While there she gave such a sheet and asked if we would sign it. I would think that depending on the interaction a volunteer may have with residents some may have to do a background check. We have never been asked about that, but our interaction is rather minimal.
Tell them what you would like to do as a volunteer. And work out a time. Also ask where they want you to set-up. If you have never been to the place you might meet them and look things over. If you need to plug something in let them know. You will want to be close to an outlet, extension cords and walkers do not mix. I play an acoustic guitar and don’t use a mic. But I can make myself heard. I play with a pic and strum, I choose my guitars accordingly. A couple of the ladies will sometimes sing over a CD, they have one they let us use already set-up.
Along with my acoustic guitar I bring a stool and music stand. I started with one of the little really portable music stands. The kind you can fold up and put in a pouch about the size of an umbrella. But it won’t hold my music folder anymore, so I now have a sturdy, less portable stand.
I would try and keep it as simple as you can. You are not looking for recording quality here. Think more of a living room jam session with close family. The easier it is for you the easier it will be on everyone.
I have never had to go alone. Just me and my wife have gone, she sings. There is another lady that has been going with us from the start, she also sings. I have had several different people help out over the years, some are one time guests and some stay for a few years. I find lots of people would like to do something like this, but lack the nerve to go it alone. Those people are more than happy to come and do a song or two with us. I recommend that you take someone with you, even if they are not helping with the music. They can help in other ways.
When you arrive you will want to go to the front desk or nurse’s station and let them know you’re there. They will tell you where to go and bring the people to you. They may have everyone ready and waiting on you. It is a big job for the staff to get residents ready, so try and not be late and please try and give advanced warning if you’re not going to make it.
More than likely there will be much less fanfare than you might have expected. No host or anything like that. The first time you may wonder when you should start, if they are still bringing people in you might ask the staff, otherwise you’re kind of on your own. Sometimes people clap sometimes people sleep, don’t take it personal. Unless there is a resident that needs 24 hour supervision you may very well be left in the room without staff. This is why I say take someone with you. Just in case staff is needed they can go alert them. Don’t let this freak you out, we have went after staff dozens of times over the years, it’s never been life or death. Someone may need help to the bathroom, or want to go back to their room or a drink of water anyone of a 1000 things.
When finished let staff know, if you know how long you expect to be let them know when you get there. We have a system worked out, the staff know our last song will always be I saw the light. Don’t leave the room without staff knowing it. If this is your first gig playing in public, congratulations! You did what every musician dreams of but 99% will never do. Hopefully you’re already planning your next performance!
We all work so our timing is not the best. We knew we wanted to go monthly. And we also knew we couldn’t afford to give up weekend time every month. So we opt to go every third Tuesday of the month at 6:30 pm. This is not the best time, they serve supper at five and many of the residents go to bed for the night after supper. That means our crowd is smaller and perhaps less enthusiastic. It also means there is much less staff present. But there is much less noise and hustle and bustle. On occasion we have had opportunity to go during “normal business hours”. It is a different place all together, much more awake. If we could do it during a weekday, we would. But we do what we can when we can. Keep this in mind when you make arrangements.
