Involving Senior Citizens in Group Music Therapy

Ideal for those working with older people in assisted living or nursing care homes, the book covers initial assessment, setting measurable goals, and evaluating progress; discusses current music therapy techniques; and offers an improved plan of intervention. The author explains how to choose or create music that is accessible to this age group, designing strategies that utilize cognitive, motor, social-emotional, and music skills to the fullest.

The book provides useful original music and shows readers how to compose their own songs that relate to the experiences of the group they are working with, emphasizing shared common interests and enjoyment in the moment. The Best Books of Check out the top books of the year on our page Best Books of Looking for beautiful books? Visit our Beautiful Books page and find lovely books for kids, photography lovers and more.

Table of contents Preface. Overview of the Senior Population. Assessment, Goals and Objectives.

Involving Senior Citizens in Group Music Therapy

Current Music Therapy Interventions. An Improved Plan of Intervention. In this series, we are exploring how music therapists do live music differently than other musicians, even though it may not be easy to see. This is part ten of a ten-part series. You can find an introduction and links to all ten posts here. Are you loving this series? Jump on our email list for specialized, exclusive content, just for subscribers. Click here to subscribe. Our bodies have a natural tendency to move with music.

In fact, classical music concerts are kind of weird for the expectation that people are to sit quietly in assigned seats. The truth is music and dance have almost always gone hand in hand , in cultures around the world. It just feels natural — and really darned good — to move in time with music. You could even say that moving to music is musical all by itself. Still, dancing and moving to music are not that common in the live music situations you might encounter in an eldercare community.

Most often, I see folks listening quietly to entertainers, applauding quietly at the end of each song. When it gets a little jazzy, you might spy a few people tapping their toes, or clapping to the music if the performer tells them to. On the other hand, if the poor entertainer is performing during a party while people are being served refreshments, her audience will be too busy with conversations and snacking to get into dancing.

Do we expect our elders to be polite and sedate?

session planning – Soundscape Music Therapy

Or are our seniors embarrassed to be seen moving the way they do now, rather than how they did decades ago? This is why I deliberately encourage movement to music when I am doing live music with older adults. This is one more way that music therapists do live music differently. Sometimes music therapists are very direct in facilitating movement to music with verbal, visual, or tactile cues; and sometimes music therapists focus on reflecting and amplifying the movement that arises spontaneously for people that are doing music with us.

She demonstrates expressive arm movements to match specific lyrics e. When participants have the arm movements learned well, Janet adds a guitar accompaniment, for an even more layered musical creation. Planned movement experiences could work in a one-on-one session, too. For example, maybe Jennifer knows that her hospice patient Maude craves touch. Jennifer notices that Maude is more likely to make eye contact and smile on these occasions.

In this case, Janet is supporting movement in a different way: Again, the same thing can happen in one-on-one sessions, too. Now Jennifer and Joe are collaborating in the music on a new, deeper level. Helping music therapy clients move to music means that they can shift from passive listening to more active engagement in the music-making.

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This is part one of a ten-part series. Imagine Janet doing a music therapy session with a group of twelve residents in a memory care community.

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This is the kind of glimpse you might get into a music therapy session. What is going on beneath the surface?

The Benefits of Music

Music therapists always go into a session with some kind of a purpose or plan based on the needs of the client s. This plan is based on the assessment process with which we begin music therapy work.

This is different than how an entertainer might approach a performance. For entertainment, the focus is probably on putting together a good show, highlighting the best numbers, and ending with a bang. Seniors in a nursing home can even perform their holiday songs for their family members during the holiday season. For this game someone should play short clips of popular songs that the seniors will know and give them the chance to guess the song title or the artist.

Once someone guesses the song you can let them listen to the rest of the song or move on to the next song clip to keep the gameplay going. To mix the game up some you can try choosing different genres or music from different decades of their lives. Seniors who are interested in learning more about music can try taking a music appreciation class. Seniors can look for classes at local universities or someone can create their own music appreciation class for a group of seniors.

To create your own music appreciation class you can find out what types of music your students are interested in learning more about and research them and create a presentation with information about the musicians and some music clips for them to enjoy. This can be very beneficial for seniors because it gives them the chance to enjoy some new types of music and learn about famous musicians at the same time. Listening to relaxing music is a great way for seniors to unwind and enjoy some down time. This musical activity is something that seniors can enjoy in a group or alone.

Seniors should find a quiet area away from noise and distractions that has a comfortable spot for them to sit and relax.