Song and poem ideas please

[carpe diem]

Hi, I've just started a volunteer music session in a care home and would be very grateful if you could let me know any songs which you have found get good responses from Alz sufferers. I'm also reading some easy short poems and would be grateful for ideas.
I've been to sing for the brain in the past but I can't remember any songs. I will have to print off large print lyrics so easy, shortish, upbeat songs would be ideal. Also big band songs would be appreciated as we do games and conducting.
I would really appreciate specific titles as I'm still lost if you suggest Bing Crosby.
I know you're all an incredible mine of info.
Thank you very much. Best wishes carpe diem.

 

[onlyme1]

Hi carpe diem. I too lead a 'singalong' at the CH my parents are in. Sometimes i start by joining in with whatever a resident sings. Mostly we sing stuff like How much is that doggie in the window, Long way to Tipperary, What shall we do with a drunken sailor, Early one morning, Show me the way to go home, I do like to be beside the seaside, Eidelweiss etc. Me and my dad have songsheets, the others just join in, clap or tap feet. I find it seems to flow better without the 'distraction' of songsheets. My dad has one because he's used to it at singing for the brain. Alas, we have no music, I've tried and failed to learn guitar!

 

[care2share]

Hi, I've just started a volunteer music session in a care home and would be very grateful if you could let me know any songs which you have found get good responses from Alz sufferers. I'm also reading some easy short poems and would be grateful for ideas.
I've been to sing for the brain in the past but I can't remember any songs. I will have to print off large print lyrics so easy, shortish, upbeat songs would be ideal. Also big band songs would be appreciated as we do games and conducting.
I would really appreciate specific titles as I'm still lost if you suggest Bing Crosby.
I know you're all an incredible mine of info.
Thank you very much. Best wishes carpe diem.

Hi carpe diem, Don,t forget Leaning On A Lamppost, Sally (Gracie), Bicycle Made For Two, White Cliffs Of Dover, The Lambeth Walk and of course We'll Meet Again.
Best Wishes.

 

[Marcelle123]

Hi, I've just started a volunteer music session in a care home and would be very grateful if you could let me know any songs which you have found get good responses from Alz sufferers. I'm also reading some easy short poems and would be grateful for ideas.
I've been to sing for the brain in the past but I can't remember any songs. I will have to print off large print lyrics so easy, shortish, upbeat songs would be ideal. Also big band songs would be appreciated as we do games and conducting.
I would really appreciate specific titles as I'm still lost if you suggest Bing Crosby.
I know you're all an incredible mine of info.
Thank you very much. Best wishes carpe diem.

As regards poetry, I think it's a good idea to use anthology pieces that the care home residents would have studied at school. Palgrave's Golden Treasury & The Poet's Way were widely used in the earlier twentieth century.

The sort of poems I am thinking of are Wordsworth, Daffodils - Walter de la Mare, The Listeners & Silver - John Masefield, Sea Fever - Tennyson, The Brook & When cats run home - Thomas Campbell, Lord Ullin's Daughter (lends itself to dramatisation, this one) - Sir Henry Newbolt, Drake's Drum - and Wilfrid Wilson Gibson, Flannan Isle.

My mother also enjoys a lot of children's poems, such as George MacDonald, The Wind & the Moon - Mr Nobody - Who has seen the wind - January Brings the Snow - sorry I can't remember the authors of these, but again, I'd recommend looking up an anthology widely used in primary school classrooms.

I don't know whether Mum was unusual, but in addition to popular or music hall songs such as you mention above, she likes traditional songs such as The Lincolnshire Poacher - Oh no John - Billy Boy - Bobby Shaftoe - Ilkla Moor Baht'at - Clementine - and There is a tavern in the town. All these were in the National Chronicle Songbook that was in my grandmother's piano stool & I believe has been re-issued. Certainly I myself learned some of these songs in school in the early 1960s.

Do let us know how you get on. As a retired English teacher with an interest in songs, I'd love to know!

 

[Izzy]

This is not a suggestion for songs but I thought you might find the link interesting -

https://www.playlistforlife.org.uk/aboutus/the-idea/#3080

I used the idea with my husband and it was extremely successful.

There's also an article here about poetry and dementia. I hope the link works! If not it's from the March 2012 Living With Dementia Magazine on Page 14.

https://www.alzheimers.org.uk/download/downloads/id/1346/living_with_dementia_magazine_high_res.pdf

 

[Saffie]

Both links work perfectly for me.

Why only songs from so long ago? Of course they will be known and have their place but there will be residents in care and nursing homes who grew up with later music and rock' roll so please include some of those too.

I visited my husband every afternoon and so attended the regular sessions of visiting singers. The songs mentioned above were always brought out and those residents awake would join in but when he asked for requests, I eventually suggested some Elvis, Jim Reeves and other suchlike which I knew my husband would enjoy far more than the previous ones. The singer was delighted and seemed relieved to be singing something less boring as were some of the residents, even those who had been dozing before and a few even got up to dance.

If ever I have to go into a home, please singers, include some rock music alongside the war stuff!

 

[Agzy]

Hi, I've just started a volunteer music session in a care home and would be very grateful if you could let me know any songs which you have found get good responses from Alz sufferers. I'm also reading some easy short poems and would be grateful for ideas.
I've been to sing for the brain in the past but I can't remember any songs. I will have to print off large print lyrics so easy, shortish, upbeat songs would be ideal. Also big band songs would be appreciated as we do games and conducting.
I would really appreciate specific titles as I'm still lost if you suggest Bing Crosby.
I know you're all an incredible mine of info.
Thank you very much. Best wishes carpe diem.

Flanders and Swan - I'm a Gnu etc and Ian Wallace who also sang many funny and popular Sind-a-long song. Big screen karaoke can also help sometimes.

 

[Agzy]

Hi, I've just started a volunteer music session in a care home and would be very grateful if you could let me know any songs which you have found get good responses from Alz sufferers. I'm also reading some easy short poems and would be grateful for ideas.
I've been to sing for the brain in the past but I can't remember any songs. I will have to print off large print lyrics so easy, shortish, upbeat songs would be ideal. Also big band songs would be appreciated as we do games and conducting.
I would really appreciate specific titles as I'm still lost if you suggest Bing Crosby.
I know you're all an incredible mine of info.
Thank you very much. Best wishes carpe diem.

Also old westerns, Home on the range up to Johnny Cash and popular country music.

 

[Saffie]

Also old westerns, Home on the range up to Johnny Cash and popular country music.

Definitely!

 

[Izzy]

I think the important thing is that the music/song is significant to the person with dementia. Apart from the enjoyment of the music it's that significance which has the potential to spark memories. That's what Playlist for Life is all about.


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[Saffie]

I think the important thing is that the music/song is significant to the person with dementia. Apart from the enjoyment of the music it's that significance which has the potential to spark memories. That's what Playlist for Life is all about.


Sent from my iPad using Talking Point

Yes but the problem with presenting music in a home is that there are going to be people of different ages and different tastes in a communal setting. So what will be significant to one person will be meaningless to another. Hence the need for a diverse selection of songs across the years.
A personal selection for individual listening is another matter and I think that is where the Playlist for Life comes into its own.

 

[marionq]

One of the carers in my husband's daycentre is a really good pub type singer. I notice she favours Patsy Cline and other country and western songs and the group warble along with gusto.

 

[Izzy]

Yes but the problem with presenting music in a home is that there are going to be people of different ages and different tastes in a communal setting. So what will be significant to one person will be meaningless to another. Hence the need for a diverse selection of songs across the years.
A personal selection for individual listening is another matter and I think that is where the Playlist for Life comes into its own.

Exactly. In general I don't think enough is made of this approach. Probably because staffing doesn't allow it. I just know what it did fit Bill was amazing.

Personally I would rather have war songs than Elvis! Just goes to show how hard that is to get something that suits all.


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[Saffie]

Exactly. In general I don't think enough is made of this approach. Probably because staffing doesn't allow it. I just know what it did fit Bill was amazing.

Personally I would rather have war songs than Elvis! Just goes to show how hard that is to get something that suits all.


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Sorry, perhaps I have misunderstood the purpose for which the OP asked for suggestions. I'd assumed, probably in error, that it was for a communal gathering of the home residents for a singalong and poetry readings rather than visiting individuals. Hence the suggestion to widen the choice to include a little bit of everything.

I think a playlist on an iPod or something similar is great for individuals and indeed, a nurse in Dave's home did look into it for him but you are right, a member of staff would need to be on hand for a number of reasons and they have greater priorities. I compromised with a CD/radio player - not a personal one as headphones were deemed a risk and the alternative too burdensome. There is no reason why a playlist can't be recorded on to a CD though. That would rely on a carer pressing a button and, to be honest, that was mainly as far as it went for Dave's carers. It was usually though not always up to me to actually change the disc! Of course, not every resident is as immobile as Dave was and not everyone will appreciate music playing as much as he did!

No Elvis- oh Izzy! There you are you see, a decade too late!

 

[Izzy]

No I think you're right Saffie. I think I went off tack with playlists! Sorry.


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[Saffie]

No I think you're right Saffie. I think I went off tack with playlists! Sorry.


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I think I might start one for myself in readiness. That should make sure I have what a I want!

 

[Roseleigh]

Why only songs from so long ago? Of course they will be known and have their place but there will be residents in care and nursing homes who grew up with later music and rock' roll so please include some of those too.

Absolutely. Baby boomers are not going to enjoy being treated like ninety years olds!

How about some Beatles songs? When I'm sixty four, yellow submarine, Penny Lane, Eleanor Rigby, Here comes the sun, Yesterday and many more

 

[Izzy]

I think I might start one for myself in readiness. That should make sure I have what a I want!

I actually have my list of songs. I haven't made the playlist yet but I will soon!

 

[carpe diem]

Hi, thank you for all your replies. It's actually quite an old post now and I don't do it anymore. Mainly because the care home didn't show me any support, maybe I was naïve but they couldn't even get me a spare chair for a resident when I asked and would interrupt for no reason etc etc. I felt like an idiot.
But I will look into the songs you suggest for my mum. Thanks.

 

[creativesarah]

I am finding it very difficult with Justin at 44 and in quite an advanced stage of early onset Alz I am really struggling to find anything to do with him.
He get very stroppy when I mentioned an early Onset group which he had attended once and said 'you can only drink so much tea' I think probably the others were in their early 60's.
Music wise its been a disaster cant find anything suitable even the beatles are too early!
Abba might be the nearest