telel6s
Tele-Afflicted
True. But there are still a decent number of the big band/Frank Sinatra generation out there (like my mom mentioned above). And I was just referencing, and disagreeing with, what others had said earlier in the thread.
The pitfalls of playing for seniors
- Thread starter LGOberean
- Start date
RCinMempho
Friend of Leo's
We did the senior condos where no one was assisted living yet. That is a great audience. If you are willing to pick songs from their era they can be a phenomenal audience. A couple of places had associated assisted-living facilities, and we did a few of those.
Here's the tip. We always played at night after their dinner hour. Most of the people really not able to be in the audience won't be there. Those having a good day or ones that really want to hear you play will be 90% of your audience.
Every day gig we did had a more challenged audience. Still, sometimes those are the most rewarding. Some of the most beautiful singing along I ever heard - once almost angelic - and another simply awful sounding, straight from the soul sound that would melt you.
Here's the tip. We always played at night after their dinner hour. Most of the people really not able to be in the audience won't be there. Those having a good day or ones that really want to hear you play will be 90% of your audience.
Every day gig we did had a more challenged audience. Still, sometimes those are the most rewarding. Some of the most beautiful singing along I ever heard - once almost angelic - and another simply awful sounding, straight from the soul sound that would melt you.
I play for "Encore", which is 55+ and older at my church. But a lot of them are 80+, and are hard of hearing. Just me and my vocal / acoustic guitar. I have them use their phones to look up the lyrics> all of the songs are country gospel, Ala Alan Jackson and Willie Nelson.
night before last, when i went in to work at the senior living facility, there was a guy set up in the lobby, singing las vegas lounge songs with prerecorded tracks. there were 15-20 folks listening to him. they seemed to enjoy it. the guy was an excellent singer.
then later we had some excitement. at 9:30, a woman's husband went missing. she woke up from a nap and he wasn't there. i went through the whole building then ran around the whole property with a flashlight. the next step was going to be to go to every room inthe building and see if he was visting somebody. but before i did that, i called their daughter. turns out, he was in the hospital and no one had told us. so that crisis ended.
then i'm called on to fix someone's tv. remote won't work. i am not good at electronics, but it's almost always that they're trying to work the wrong remote - so many people have two tv's. last night, i picked up a remote and boom it just started working. she said, "it's because you're a man."
then later we had some excitement. at 9:30, a woman's husband went missing. she woke up from a nap and he wasn't there. i went through the whole building then ran around the whole property with a flashlight. the next step was going to be to go to every room inthe building and see if he was visting somebody. but before i did that, i called their daughter. turns out, he was in the hospital and no one had told us. so that crisis ended.
then i'm called on to fix someone's tv. remote won't work. i am not good at electronics, but it's almost always that they're trying to work the wrong remote - so many people have two tv's. last night, i picked up a remote and boom it just started working. she said, "it's because you're a man."
i was really worried about how new year's eve was going to go. bear in mind, folks are autonomous in senior living, if they want a cocktail, nobody denies them. so i show up (i was still on midnight shift then) and there were 6-7 little old ladies in the activity room with party hats and hooters and so forth. i actually asked them if they were drunk but they just laughed at me. i didn't see any booze.
so the ball dropped, they all blew their hooters, then by the time 7 more minutes had passed, they were all tucked in for the night. but it could have gone so differently...
so the ball dropped, they all blew their hooters, then by the time 7 more minutes had passed, they were all tucked in for the night. but it could have gone so differently...
Want to see some cry? Play Sloop John B. The "I wanna go home" gets them going.
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