Another question, Genie (I'm going to send you a present when our band gets on our feet):

Occasionally when I call in to volunteer, I'm told that the home isn't taking outside visitors because of an outbreak. How do you deal with this financially when it happens on short notice? Do you expect to be paid anyway, or paid a lesser cancellation fee?

Actually, one more thing; you said above that people need to realize that music is a service (paid, or donated) to the institution, not the residents. I don't think that's entirely true. While the institution is probably going to get live music for the Christmas party, and pay for it if they have to, they're probably not going to be booking music for next Wednesday afternoon. So whether or not I take the time to show up Wednesday afternoon makes a difference to the residents, not to the institution. So I think of my volunteering as a gift to the residents, who would in fact be left "sitting there in the quiet" at that particular time if I don't show up.

Marion