Nursing home entertainment pay

[cafeguy]

In answer to some of your questions: I have a full time job and play at the nursing homes in my spare time. I play once per month at a home and most places want a time right around 2:00 after they have eaten. The job I have allows me to take time now and then during the week to play but I try to play on Saturday or Sunday. I make just enough to feel I can buy a new guitar at the end of the year.

One of my set list is:
Dark Town Strutters Ball, Five Foot Two Eyes of Blue, I’m Gonna Sit Right Down and Write Myself A Letter, Any Time, Aint She Sweet,
If I’da Known You were coming I’da baked a cake, Four Leaf Clover / Suzie,
Let Me Call You Sweetheart, In the Good Old Summertime / Daisy ,
She’ll Be Coming Around the Mountain, Sentimental Journey, Sioux City Sue,
You Are My Sunshine, Amazing Grace, Country Roads, Grandmas Feather Bed,
I’ve Got a Lovely Bunch of Coconuts, Falling In Love With You, Precious Lord,
King of the Road, Jambalaya

I try to keep it lively and when I ask them if they want a slow or a fast song next they usually want a fast song.

The last time I played I ended up off the set list and played Margaritaville and Brown Eyed Girl by request. That 1 hour flew by.

If you have any other ?s let me know.

[John99]

....I don't really know a lot of those old tunes, but I could learn them.
I want to do older folk stuff like Woody Guthrie, and Pete Seeger.
I could do some Denver, and James Taylor. Some older country, and some new, artists like Guy Clark, Jerry Jeff Walker, and Shaver.
I'm just not sure what may go over and what might not.
I guess it will be a trial and error thing.

[solarbean]

Here's what I'm shooting for for a basic set list. I have a bit o' work to do

What A Wonderful World
You Are My Sunshine
The Tennessee Waltz
Summertime
Stardust
It Had To Be You
Always
Amazing Grace
As Time Goes By
Autumn Leaves
Bye Bye Blackbird
Danny Boy
Edelweiss
Goodnight Irene
Over The Rainbow

[cafeguy]

Nice list Solarbean They will all sing to You Are My Sunshine and Amazing Grace among others. I hear that Always is a favorite although its one I still have to learn. Keep us posted on the progress.

Something else I do is talk to the folks regarding the songs, such as the year the song was written and anything I might know about it. On one song I tell them that a fellow named Roger Miller wrote a lot of silly songs like You can't take a shower in a parakeet cage and My Uncle use to love me but she died but one his most famous songs was King of the Road

[Giannini12]

You folks that have the great set lists -- do you work from sheet music or books, fake or real (if so, which ones), create your own fake books, play by ear, or all of the above?

[fenderjg]

well if it was me i would do it for free...

but that is me...

later

kevin

(im back after 6 weeks of no internet!!!)

[cafeguy]

Originally Posted by Giannini12

You folks that have the great set lists -- do you work from sheet music or books, fake or real (if so, which ones), create your own fake books, play by ear, or all of the above?

The site http://www.heart-soul-music.com/ that Solarbean posted is a great nursing home information site.

If anyone has something similar I'd like to know about it.

[solarbean]

My favorite source of lyrics/chords is the book "Rise Up Singing". It has lyrics and chords to more than 1200 great songs that people know and love. It is my favorite song-book. You can buy a wonderful small spiral-bound version from Amazon or Barnes and Noble for about $20.

I also google a song name for lyrics and chords.

If all else fails, I post a request here in old faithful AGF and always get help.

[Giannini12]

Originally Posted by solarbean

My favorite source of lyrics/chords is the book "Rise Up Singing". It has lyrics and chords to more than 1200 great songs that people know and love. It is my favorite song-book. You can buy a wonderful small spiral-bound version from Amazon or Barnes and Noble for about $20.

I also google a song name for lyrics and chords.

If all else fails, I post a request here in old faithful AGF and always get help.

Thanks -- I do have "Rise Up Singing." Trouble is, there are a lot of great lyrics in that book that I don't know the tunes for, and I wish I did (starting with "A Chat with Your Mom," which is the story of my life).

[cafeguy]

Originally Posted by Giannini12

Thanks -- I do have "Rise Up Singing." Trouble is, there are a lot of great lyrics in that book that I don't know the tunes for, and I wish I did (starting with "A Chat with Your Mom," which is the story of my life).

You can buy teaching cds for "Rise Up Singing" here http://www.singout.org/rus.html the folks who wrote the book play enough of each song so you can get the hang of how it's suppose to sound. You can buy for the whole book or for individual sections.

[Giannini12]

Originally Posted by cafeguy

You can buy teaching cds for "Rise Up Singing" here http://www.singout.org/rus.html the folks who wrote the book play enough of each song so you can get the hang of how it's suppose to sound. You can buy for the whole book or for individual sections.

Ah-ha. Thanks so much!

[beachbum205]

Thanks for a great thread! This is something I have wanted to do for a long time- this information is very helpful.

I was going to focus mostly on some old hymns, but the set-lists and the book suggestion really have given me some good ideas for other songs.

Would love to hear more about people's experiences at doing this- I have so many questions- for example- are there any songs that just seem to work well every time? Do you play plugged in- if so, what gear are you using? Are there some things to avoid? etc. If anyone is doing this, would really appreciate hearing about your experiences.

Thanks!

[John99]

I'll be able to give you more info. tonight, Beachbum. I passed my background check and I'm scheduled to do an hour set this afternoon before their dinner.
The woman in charge of the volunteer program was trying to get me to play DURING their dinner. I swayed her away from the idea for a couple of reasons:
1. I already play at a sandwich place and I'm really tired of playing for people while they eat.
2. I don't want anyone subjected to the music if they don't want to hear it. They may have to go in there and eat, so it wouldn't be fair to make them listen to me if they're not interested in music.
If I only get a handful of listeners, or none at all, that's fine. This will be my first way to test the whole thing and see how it goes.
I'm a little nervous, so I'm not going to try and force anything I haven't learned yet. I've got enough tunes to get me by, but I'm going to ask them for requests and learn them for next time.
Wish me luck!

[beachbum205]

Yes- good luck and God bless. Hope it goes really well!

[solarbean]

Please post about the experience!