Perhaps this is of use to someone. I print this list and pass it out to the audience-usually two per table works. They can select any of the songs from the list they want to hear. Of course, I take other requests if it is not on this list.

This works well for the senior folks and they seem to enjoy the process. I have all the songs on the list setup on my keyboard in the order listed so it is easy and quick to find them. Through the years I have made up about a dozen of these lists.

I don't always work this way - but it is always a success when I do.

Deane

Deane,

Most of the songs you're using are much older than what I use up here in the frozen north of Maryland. I don't have a list handy, but I'll try to print one out for you in the next few days.

Gary

Good idea Deane and a nice selection too... Which ones do they request most?
Its always interesting to hear what people request. I once had a little lady come up to me at a nursing home and ask for Lady Gaga! I told her, " sorry I don't do any Lady Gaga, but I do have "The Lady is a Tramp" ( perhaps a fitting song for LG, and she happens to have recorded a duet of it with Tony Benitt)

Paul,
there really is no group of songs on the "most requested" list. The reason is most of the folks can sing the songs but don't remember the titles.

Gary,
This is just a few songs of nearly 3000 I have setup and ready to go on my keyboards. The average age of the residents I serve ranges from 72-86 pending on the venue. I hardly ever play anything past the early 1960's period. I know there are other entertainers playing more modern music because the most often made comment I hear now is "thanks for playing our kind of music".

That said, there are some activity directors way to young to know about "Their Kind Of Music" and that causes a problem sometimes. I have yet to find a polite way to tell them I'am there to entertain the residents - not the staff.

Deane

Hey Gary, I'd love see your list too. I really need to make list... For nursing homes I do a mix of Great American Song Book Standards, Big Band, classic country, 50's / early 60's Rock, some Mowtown, and just a few popular songs from the later 60's and early 70's. I'll probably be adding classic rock, disco and maybe some 80's in the next couple of years if I'm still doing the senior venues...

One thing I do get requests for from time to time is religious/hymns/gospell. I really haven't explored that area, as I figure there are church groups that come that do that sort of stuff.

For me it's always been easy to select music for seniors. I just play stuff that my parents like. I always liked their music anyways. Once after playing a set of most standards and Big Band, a young staff member told me that she never had heard any of the songs that I played. I told her politely as I could that I was there for the residents... But I started thinking that often times the residents families come and visit too... I started throwing some more older( baby boomer?) R&B, R&R, C&W, and I saw the staff and visitors having more fun which makes the residents happy too.

Good one, Deane. I've often times felt the same way!

Wally

It's important to please the AD and staff also, because if they enjoy the music, they will be more enthusiastic and the residents will benefit. And you are more likely to be asked back.
I do mostly 50's and 60's and even 70's. Always open to requests.
I advertise the nursing home show as "Old Time Rock n' Roll and Classic Country Music".
I always end with an upbeat Gospel song such as I Saw The Light, or I'll Fly Away.
DonM

Deane, keep in mind that I'm at the lower end of age category for those NH residents. And, there are some a fair number of years younger than me. Consequently, the stuff I liked when I was 15 to 30 years of age is the same things they like as well. Also, I agree wholeheartedly with Don - you have to please the staff as well as the residents. Granted, I will play some 40s stuff, Glenn Miller, Nat King Cole, etc..., and that all goes into the mix.

I'll try to convert my MFD (music finder directory) to a PC readable format and post it. They are my go-to songs for most events, but like you, I have about 3000 or more songs programmed so I can instantly access them at the touch of a button, most of which rarely get played at all.

Cheers,

Gary

I’m quoting Gary quoting Don here. This can't be emphasized enough these days. It's a constant struggle and a constant balancing act. Forgot playing music. To deal with staff, you need the charm of a Cary Grant, the charisma of a Clark Gable, the legs of Betty Grable, the physique of Arnold Schwarzenegger, and the power and finances of Donald Trump (so you can tell half of them where to go).

I'm hoping it's less difficult for the rest of you, but where I live it's really an uphill battle with this new breed of AD's. Each one is unique and ripe for character study.

I'm trying to figure out how to play for the Seniors (for the daytime gravy money) without having to go through the AD's. It's a delight working with them if I can figure out how to bypass the AD.

But......I really meant to say that......Don made me realize why I'm not enjoying playing a lot these days....AD's

A suggestion though getting back to the subject of the post.

Years ago when I first started playing and I realized I would be doing this for a living, I kept a "song diary." In it I wrote the title of any and every song or song title I ever encountered. What I heard on the radio, television, what was mentioned in conversation, what I read in newspapers and magazine articles, what I thought up myself, etc. I classified each song......ballad, fox trot, Latin, Strauss waltz, ethnic, Classical, slow, fast, etc. Also I rated each song 1-10 as to what I thought audiences responded to the most. I also marked songs that I sing. And songs that are specific to certain instruments.....piano, accordion, and arranger.

Finally when computers came along I took the time to make an enormous database of songs. Now, say I'm doing a piano solo, I simply call up all "piano" songs. If I'm doing an Oktoberfest job, I call up all German songs, Senior's...I call up all sing-a-longs and songs from the 30-40's. And so on.

I just checked the number of entries in my database. 2,278 song titles. All the hard work is over.......what a time to be considering giving up music!!!

Mark

Thanks Mark,
One of the things I have done right is this:
From the first song I ever learned in a band, and this goes back to the 60's, I wrote down the lyrics with chords above the changes.
I kept them in a note book. It grew to a dozen notebooks over the next 25 years, plus fake books. When home computers came around, I redid the entire stack into a word processor.
Now there are thousands of songs on my master list (also on laptop, tablet, keyboards and several USB devices for backup).
In MS Word, or Open Office, I can sort them by name, artist, genre, etc., and within seconds have the list in front of me.
Of course most nights, I don't even look at any screen and do everything from memory except off-the-wall requests.
I use the Songbook feature on Korg, Registrations on Yamaha or Ketron and Performances on Roland to scroll through or search, select the next song and have everything ready to go with one button push.
Ain't technology wonderful???
DonM

Here's the PSR-3000 MFD I have in my backup keyboard. The file can be viewed in another PSR-3000, or you can download a copy of Michel Bedesem's MF View program, which will allow you to convert it to any Yamaha arranger keyboard.

You can download the MFD file from Here.

You'll find Michael Bedesem's MF View program Here.

There are just under 600 songs in the MFD program and I have at least that many or more in registrations.

Like Don, I rarely look at the lyrics anymore, unless someone comes up with an off the wall request. And, also like Don, at one time I had a dozen fake books, and at least a half-dozen 3-inch loose-leaf binders filled to capacity with lyrics and chord sheets printed from the PC. All that and much, much more now fit into that tiny Netbook PC - Lord how I love music technology and the changes it has brought to my life.

Cheers,

Gary