Dear Leigha...The only audience I've tempered my death laden 17-18th c repetoire for are the folks at the convalescent home...I don't avoid them entirely (haha....would shorten my set too much!) but I do intersperse with up tunes. Not sure how much they "get," as most of these folks are pretty far gone, but my sense is they don't need nonstop dirge music as a pick-me-up. For myself, my favorite songs have always been sad ones, about death, parting and loss....other side of a cheerful nature, I guess.