The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #102487 Message #2078300
Posted By: Joybell
15-Jun-07 - 08:08 PM
Thread Name: Getting paid to sing in Retirement Cent.
Subject: RE: Getting paid to sing in Retirement Cent.
We've been singing in nursing homes - here in Australia for 30 years. While we do the old standards from the 30s on and 60s rock we also sing less well-known parlor songs from the 19th century. Also some traditional material and songs from the school books of the early 1900s. People really like them. Often these songs were sung by grandparents and great-grandparents of the people who are elderly now. The most common remark we get is, "We have sing-a-longs all the time but we never get to hear those old songs". I now write a simple play around the songs so that we use props and movements - but that's really because we got bored and I could.
Mark - I believe you might be able to sing the songs you know and love. People, regardless of their age and mental state, respond to a singer who does that. I started out doing just that and I was popular. Not rich but I made a modest sum.
ALSO -- many of us folkies are getting to be - well here goes-- Old Folks- so there are bound to be folkies entering the nursing homes soon.
Go for it. Ask a modest fee. Good luck.
Cheers, Joy