Public events at care centers
Found in: Recitals & Events
Cheri S., Utah
I’d like to hear from people who have students play at a nursing home, senior center, or other care center. What types of places work best? Does your whole studio participate? How long is the program? Do you focus on accompaniment and invite the audience to sing along, or is it mainly a performance? Do you “count” it as a recital? How many other recitals/performances do you hold?
Susan M., Canada
I did one recital this year in June and it was one hour long. I broke it into two parts: Foundation music, then popular music, and the last song invited everyone to sing to an accompaniment. All students participated. I created a certificate for each student that has empty spots designated for performance “medallions” (stickers that have date and songs performed), and I’ve invited them to ask for stickers when they perform for school, or for a special event outside of studio events. Other than that, a local church had their kids’ choir sing for a seniors home. I asked if one of my students could perform a piano song along with that group and that worked well.
Ruth P., North Carolina
I have students do a combo of accompaniment sing-alongs (have lyric sheets to hand out) and solos. Also invite family members to play other instruments for variety (violin, etc).
Kym N., California
The two retirement homes we have want the program to be 1.5 hours or less. I took all students before. But this year, we are having two events – one event per retirement home and half of the studio for each event.
It is only accompaniment (singers, violin, bass, keyboard, may be some small non-pitch percussion instruments) and some duets. No Foundation pieces.
Laurie Richards, Nebraska
I take small groups of students to various senior centers. I usually keep it to 10-12 students. I like my events to last no more than one hour, and preferably 45 minutes in length. After that, I think the audience starts losing interest. I let students choose whatever they want to play. If they choose accompaniment songs, we either do a sing-along, or someone plays the melody. Last year we did a Christmas sing-along at a retirement center and had a great time.
I used to plan two ‘events’ per year and throw in some smaller ones in between (like senior centers). That usually meant 2-4 separate events over a few days to keep the length manageable, or the “Five Minutes of Fame” format. For that, I would have a signup sheet with 5-minute time slots for students over a two- to three-hour period to accommodate them all. They would come 10 or 15 minutes before their time and stay a bit afterward. So the audience is always changing but staying manageable, and people don’t have to commit quite as much time to the event. It works great, and I like the informal nature. Except for the senior centers, I always do light refreshments at the events and usually ask families to bring something simple.
I am moving more toward offering the smaller opportunities more often. In a few weeks I have two back-to-back events at a venue my students and I really like – a coffee shop with a separate room well-equipped to handle a 10-12 student event.