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

Ditto Grannybags. ....with a good helping of Led Zeppelin please ☺?

In DH's care home most of the music played is 50s 60s and 70s pop but Music from the shows and anything featuring Andre Rieu is also popular. Especially enjoyed is any Scottish Country Dance music which provokes much toe tapping and even dancing. DH formerly a dance band drummer, loves to play along to either CD's or to accompany any singers/musicians who are regular visitors to the home.

There is always a 'quiet lounge' or the conservatory with neither TV nor music, available for those who would rather have peace and quiet. As most of the residents have quite advanced dementia they are unable to play bingo, but the home organises regular Bingo Teas (as a fundraiser to cover the cost of outings) and some of the residents come along to these.

There is always a quiet lounge
Oh, thank goodness

I was beginning to feel depressed
And thinking about Switzerland

I can understand your feelings NotTooOld that would horrify me as well, children and war time songs oh no.

I am writing my own care plan, in case I ever have to go into care. Apart from food likes and dislikes I am requesting R4 and the Today programme, then R3 for the rest of the day and Beethoven, various pieces, on a loop when I am too gone to cope with the human voice.

I do not want to play bingo or any other games, I have never enjoyed board games, and no singalongs.

I've come across this situation in care homes.
A woman who absolutely insisted that her husband never took part in sing-a-longs or other activities, because they both had an absolute horror of ending up wearing a silly hat and warbling along to 'show me the way to go home'.

That meant her husband had no stimulation at all, really, because his mental state meant that he did now enjoy more basic activities.
When she fetched in The Independent for him to read, he ate some of the pages.

My mother liked opera and classical music. She rarely watched TV and was independent, liking her own company - certainly not sociable.

Her last year, spent in luxury nursing homes (three, all inadequate) due to disability, was torture for her. Vera Lynn films, singalongs, bingo, quizzes, shared dining, communal lounges, set mealtimes, enforced jollity and companionship, early nights, few choices - all endured with stoicism and muttered grumbling!

All the above was totally unsuitable for her character, alien to her lifestyle and preferences, too much to handle. She shut down, hunched in her chair, became depressed and went downhill - inevitably.

A good care home will embrace person centred planning. (They ALL should!)
A life which fulfils an individual and respects their choices; and they should have choice on every single aspect of their life.

Luxury doesn't necessarily mean their values are suitable.

Yes, MissAdventure, they all say that in their brochures - but in reality they're all too short staffed to offer individual service.

Their night time staff levels are ridiculous. For night owls, there's no choice but sitting in bed with a book or radio for eight hours!

I know what you mean Hetty. My uncle was in an almost entirely satisfactory, but not luxury care home. He was an extreme lark. Awake and ready for the day at 4.30 and asleep by 8.00.

When he woke he was acustomed to starting the day with a cup of tea and when he was first in the home, it was accepted that he went into the kitchen and made one, they would leave a tray and the makings out for him. He did not suffer from any mental and few physical problems.

The home changed hands and the new owners banned him from ever entering the kitchen. He had to wait four hours until 8.30 to get his first hot drink of the day, or any drink other than water.

MOnica, my mother was wheelchair-bound but continent. She spent hours on end waiting to be taken for a pee!

That Hetty is far worse than any problem my uncle had.

It's such a shame that staffing is so paltry for homes.
It's all those little things that make such a difference to someone's quality of life.

The only thing I can say is to challenge, request, and generally make a nuisance of yourself if your loved one is in a home and it isn't meeting its own advertised standards.

Err can we get back to the thread please, which is the music we would listen to.

There should be a legal minimum staff to resident ratio of night staff. Elderly people don't necessarily sleep at night - we just pretend they do!

Artdecogran, I found it difficult to answer as the question has assumptions that I believe are incorrect. I'd say most residents are into their 80s, so born in the 1930s. They'd have listened to 1940-50s music in their youth. They might not enjoy the same in their later years, though!

Bunk Johnson

And Tom Lehrer

Well, my taste has broadened as I've got older, so... sometimes punk, sometimes trance or dubstep, sometimes The Carpenters, sometimes 60s or 70s music.
Sometimes just blissful silence.

trance or dubstep
I'm out of the loop with those.
Please don't request them if you're in the next chair to me.

I'll just play Bunk Johnson a bit louder.

I'll request my own personal lounge.

MY mum who was born in the 30's, and now passed, loved Tom Jones, Jim reeves, The searchers, Bobby Darin.., Everly Brothers, et al...

She would be horrified to find herself in a home having to listen to endless renditions of white cliffs of Dover,, and it's a long way to Tipperary.

I'm in my early 60's and
I hope if I ever end up in a home they play Slade, Sweet, David Essex, James Taylor, Carly simon, David Cassidy, Mud, 10cc, Status Quo T. rex, , and lots of 60's music, because that was my era...

I’m in a lovely hotel at the moment, having breakfast. DH has just said you can tell the age group of most of the clientele by the fact that they’re playing Lucky Lips in the background.

I’d prefer a bit of Lewis Capaldi, personally.

I wouldn't worry as (even assuming the crumbling, failing, reducing care home market is propped up) most of us won't inhabit one.

If we were to find ourselves in that awful situation, we'd be allowed our own music, headphones and laptop!