My partner's mother lives in a residential care home (this is the UK) and we've been very frequent visitors over the past five years, so know many of the residents and staff quite well.

They bought a karaoke machine and I was called upon to lead the singing, with one of the care staff. Neither of us is a great singer, but then hardly anyone else is either, so nobody really noticed. We just had a lot of fun, getting the words wrong, tune off pitch, mixed up tempo, but we tried to encourage people to take part and have a go.

I don't like the idea of just doing the songs you think people will like because they're from their "era". I find the idea of waving your hands roughly in time to lead people in a chorus of "Daisy Daisy give us your answer do...." quite embarrassing, and patronising. Songs from the 40s and 50s, for sure, and most people know The Beatles, or at least some of them. But it's certainly best to ask first, and I thought Wilco48's points above were very pertinent.

if you're going to do a performance of music and songs you know for people to be entertained by, then that's great, but be aware that attention spans might not be too good for long songs. If you're wanting to do something more participatory then check first what would be good and work on involving them however is appropriate.

Many older people do still sing when given the chance and encouragement. Even with dementia the music memory is surprisingly long lasting, and singing is a good communicator.

I'm sure you'll enjoy it, Tom. Maybe tell us later how it went?

Norman