Music in old people’s homes or TV depiction therein.

Excellent post, Artdecogran

My mother was in a nursing home and her and a couple of chums were always lamenting the choice of music

My mother had been a child during the war.

She did love certain tunes from that era

However one day, when they were being subjected to Vera Lynn ... again ... Mum asked if they had any songs from Saturday Night Fever or Grease

I'm 1961 and I fully intended marrying David Cassidy

Loved him

David Essex as well

I was born in 1952 and listened to the Beatles in 1964, I seem to know most of the words to their music even now.
My MIL is in a home wher most of the residents have Dementia, she is in her 90s and they play Alma Cogan plus many, many war tunes on a loop, the other people in the home seem to enjoy listening and The staff say that it helps them as we all remember the songs we grew up with. Not so sure about having their TV on ‘Homes under the Hammer’ with no sound though. Although they all seemed to be watching it.

I was always complaining about this when I visited Care Homes as a DN. Later when I managed homes I made sure staff actually asked the residents what they wanted to hear and ensured we had the means to play it and only have performances from visitors that reflected that. I have likewise feelings about BINGO. I will personally defenestrate the care assistant that wheels me into a bingo session.

I was sat in the waiting room at our local cottage hospital a few days ago and could hear distant music. I found myself enjoying David Bowie the Beatles and then a loud rendition of you’ll never walk alone. I then realised it was all coming from the dementia day care ward. Perhaps they are adapting to our age group. I am 66 but hope I don’t need to go to start attending just so I can hear my type of music

A good care home should be aware of and cater for peoples choices.

The last one I worked in had a variety of music, Indian dancing for fun once a week, gentle, relaxing, background music during meal times, and regular 50's, 60's and 70's musical entertainers.

I also took some of the residents to watch bohemian rhapsody at the cinema.

There is no excuse for people being bombarded with music that does nothing for them, in this day and age.

Artdecogra born the same year as you and of course Barbie

So yes the same style of pop music.?

Even my parents were not of the Vera Lynn era.
?More Rock around the Clock?

That would have been my grandparents time.

Hope I never end up in a Care home, but if I do,
I here by decree that my room and all accessories will be Purple?

I was born in early 1940. My music was Mozart and Tchaikovsky, so not constrained by date. The music that was being composed in my childhood and teens was by Benjamin Britten and Michael Tippett, so that figured a lot too. I never thought of this as being ‘classical music’. It was just music.

I never took much notice of pop/rock music because I just didn’t find it interesting, so to me it doesn’t typify my youth. I remember finding Elvis Presley unintentionally very funny.

I would have thought that the majority of people in nursing homes would be in their 80s so born in the 1930s, with a few from 1920s and early 1940s. Us 1950s born are mostly still fit and active, even working.
Maybe rock'n'roll so Elvis and Buddy Holly would be the songs nursing home residents listened to as teens.

I was born in 1952 as well. It's Pink Floyd, Rolling Stones, Hendrix, Who and Kinks for me please!

A friend runs 'Singing for the brain's sessions for people living with dementia and her groups mostly want rock and roll and jive. The also like traditional songs that I can remember singing at school when an enormous radio was wheeled into the hall.

Songs like Molly Malone and lots of others that I can actually remember!

I worked in a nursing home before I retired. We looked after a gentleman who was born in 1928. The younger carers were always wanting to involve him in wartime activities, and take him to remembrance services etc. I kept telling them that he wasn't involved in the war as he was too young for service him being 18 after the war was over.
He liked 40's and 50's music, particularly from the cinema musical films. Bob Hope and Bing Crosby, Debbie Reynolds etc.
I was born on 1951. My choice of music would be anything classical except for Ludovico Einoudi (sp). Or pop music from 1963 to 1985 or thereabouts.

This is my greatest fear about having to go into a care home! Endless Vera Lynn and 'Roll out the Barrel', rooms decorated with wallpaper and curtains from the 1980s. I shall be ordering in pots of white paint and playing modern jazz from the 1950s and classical music from the 1600s, thus ensuring I suppose that I won't get visitors .

DH takes bus trips of grannies from the local community centre and always plays music. At first we made the mistake of playing 40s music then we realised our mistake and now mainly (but not exclusively) play 50s, 60s and 70s. Old people's musical tastes don't stagnate at a certain stage of life. They're still open to listening to something they've never heard before and just like younger people they may or may not like it. We've now got a fair few Bobcats and Ral Donner fans in our number too.

The thought of hearing Vera Lynn and playing bingo fills me with dread especially as I probably will not be in a state to run away from it all.

Background music of any kind drives me absolutely nuts . It’ll be noise cancelling headphones for me ...or why not provide everyone with their own private selection of favourites ( downloaded onto an iPod or equivalent) and a set of headphones ? I’m sure many of us oldies already do just that !

Yes I have commented on this several times. Why is it assumed that in a residential home
a) everyone wants to listen to wartime songs
b) everyone wants incessant music
c) technology is not understood as curvygran said. I can see some problems with this.

Bill Haley was my favourite.

Dad is nearly 89 and still living independently.
As a child I was subjected to Val Doonican, Carol's from Kings, A Christmas Sing with Bing, Nana Mouskouri (though Mum hated her!).
Later years see him enjoying Les Miserables, Phantom of the Opera, Cliff Richard.
He was just a child during the war years.

Born in 1945, I could quite happily live with a diet of Sixties music. Definitely no bingo but wouldn't mind pub-style quizzes.

BlueS ooo yes a quiz might make me pop out of my room occasionally!

Surely not our '60s generation music yet? I would agree with another poster on Elvis and Buddy Holly but not the Beatles, Stones and David Bowie? Far too early!

Our village recently started a monthly 'cafe' in the village hall for lonely (mostly elderly) people. I'm 73 and not lonely but I went along to a session to show support. To my horror they had children from the local primary school singing war time songs. I left in a hurry. I hear they also play bingo. Is it just me? This is stereotyping, surely?

The assisted living unit where my MIL lives has a CD player in the lounge where residents can play their music. They have quite a range of CD's. My MIL favours 50's music so we have purchased some of her favourites.

They don't have overhead background music playing (thank goodness!)

If there was any constant background music it would drive me nuts, and I would spend my days trying to get away from it. I'm fed up hearing all the old hits as I've heard them a million times, so if I had to listen to anything it would be new artists singing something different. Enya would be okay although everyone might fall asleep! There are lots of hour long relaxing music compilations on You Tube and they are quite pleasant to listen to.