Music Hour at Memory Care
I was at a memory care facility last Sunday. I go about once a week. Sunday’s activity is music hour, right before lunch. The staff corrals everybody in the Event Room and a guy with a tiny guitar and a harmonica setup like Bob Dylan plays tunes. He’s not bad.
After some lady with a walker asked me where I got my glasses (I said at a glasses store) I sat down and settled in to watch the show with my person. Nobody left for the whole set though most of them don’t walk anymore.
The crowd favorite by a mile was “You Are My Sunshine.” It’s the guitar guy’s ace. I’ve been there for other music hours and it consistently slays. Nearly everybody in a room full of people who can’t remember much at all clap and sing along. In key. It’s beautiful to hear. “Home on The Range” is the other consistent banger. I can see how this one might connect with people locked inside. During that number the lady with the walker asked me if I thought the skies were not cloudy all day. I didn’t know how to answer. I said “maybe” like a nitwit but in my defense she kept catching me off guard. She asked me about my fingers and my person’s slippers and some other things. I think she was new.
“I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For” was I thought a bold and ironic choice given the crowd. It got polite applause but I could tell it didn’t land. Neither did “When I’m Sixty Four.” It has showstopper potential, but guitar guy kept raising the title age as a gimmick. He ended at 156. My person clapped to the beat but did it double-time like it was upbeat gospel and this was church so the new lady started raising questions about his technique.
If you’ve got to go to a memory care facility, music hour isn’t bad. The caregivers walk around and comb the residents’ hair and adjust their blankets and it’s something to see people who might not even talk anymore sing.
(Note: I originally posted drafts for this on the stellar open threads at Astral Codex Ten and Blocked and Reported.)