If I ruled the World

With the election looming, I had wondered how to incorporate the topic into group appropriately without stating my political point of view, but allowing the residents at the facility to state theirs if they wanted. I had read some ideas on a list I'm on, but then I had a flash of genius: If I Ruled the World...This is a song that Joe Pinson used to sing to the residents at Denton State School and I loved this song. So, I can sing this song to the residents as it is...and then have them tell me what they would do if they ruled the world which could equal being president...anyway, it sounds like it might be fun. I'll see what happens.

Stump the Therapist

I just bought a book called The Ultimate Fake Book. It has 1200 songs in it. Theoretically it should have every song I want to sing with the residents. I already know that it doesn't because I looked through it when I got it, but I thought it would be fun to play a game of Stump the Therapist. I figured I would get them to give me songs and we'd look it up in the book to see if it's there. IF it's not, I'll make a list of those songs to look for them in other books. If it is there we'll sing it. I'm bringing my keyboard so I can play songs I don't know. I don't know if it's going to work or not, but it seemed like a fun thing to do.

Songs about Food

here is a list I found about food songs

http://www.mixedup.com/foodsongs.htm

Social Wellness group for Healthy Aging Month

Today I had the residents list 5 things that they do to keep themselves Socially Well. I asked them things that they do to be social.

They gave me these five things:
1) Playing bingo/Cards
2) Going out to Eat
3) Going to Daily Devotional
4) Going Shopping
5) Going on a Date

I tried to come up with songs to fit each category.

So far this is what I have:
1) the song Bingo for Bingo (weak, but I need to think on this a bit
2) The Song Jambalaya for the going out to eat...will find more songs for tomorrow's group
3) All number of reglious songs for the Daily Devotional (their favorite category)
4) the songs Five Foot Two and Sweet Little Alice Blue Gown for clothes shopping and fashion. Other song ideas for this one include Easter parade, Itsy Bitsy Teenie Weenie Yellow Polka Dot Bikini; All God's Children Got Shoes; Second Hand Rose
5) Hey good Lookin'; Daisy Daisy

Pictionary with song

Watching the residents play Pictionary today I thought of a great music therapy group for an Intellectual wellness week. I will draw pictures and have residents draw pictures to illustrate a song. I don't know if it's an original idea. but I like it!

Olympic week songs

I have been thinking about my olympic songs and here is a vague idea of what I'm coming up with...

I'm thinking of finding sports and then songs related to the sports. The may not be Olympic sports, just any song that could be in competitions.

For example: Bicycle Built for Two (bicycle racing)

I need to figure out the rest of the sports though...I always think about them whenever I'm not where I can write down my ideas.

I need equestrian songs, basketball, swimming, gymnastics (maybe the man on the flying trapeze?) Honestly I still need to research the sports to figure out what goes with it.

The other idea I have had is to mimic the motion of the songs by playing instruments or moving to music to simulate the olympics. I also thought about playing some sort of active moving game using instruments or music.

New Song Suggestions

So that I will later remember to come back and find these songs:

Georgia on My Mind
Sweet Georgia Brown
Somebody to Love me (not the queen song)

This afternoon we threw the ball around with song suggestions. This was a good activity for physical and intellectual wellness as we had to think of songs and kick and toss the ball. I think it well. Everyone seemed to have fun. Time went quickly.

I just found one of them. It's not Somebody to Love me but I wish I had someone to love me.

I WISH I HAD SOMEONE TO LOVE ME

First verse & Chorus:

I wish I had someone to love me,
Someone to call me his own,Someone to sleep with me nightly,
I weary of sleeping alone.

Meet me tonight in the moonlight,
Meet me tonight all alone,
I have a sad story to tell you
I'm telling it under the moon.

Tonight is our last night together,
Nearest and dearest must part,
The love that has bound us together
Is shredded and torn apart.

I wish I had ships on the ocean
Lined with silver and gold
Follow the ship that he sails in
A lad of 19 years-old.

I wish I had wings of a swallow,
Fly out over the sea
Fly to the arms of my true love
And bring him home safely to me.

Commentary copied from lyricstime.com

Apparently before this song went through the folk process, it was one of Vernon Dahlhart's country hits of the late 30's. It went under the title of "The Prisoner's Song" and a snatch of itis used at the end of the Bogart movie, Deadend. Sally Rogers learned this version from Lisa Null, who heard Irish singer Joe Heaney perform it..

Tomorrow I will be doing a country music day in the morning with old country favorites.

Nobody Knows me At all

I had a great activity planned for today which didn't really fly. I only had 16 in group today and most of them were the less cognitively alert residents, so we sang songs from the spiritual song book instead and I will save this group for the week I get back.

I have the song by the Weepies called

Nobody Knows Me At All"

When I was a child everybody smiled, nobody knows me at all
Very late at night and in the morning light, nobody knows me at all
Now I got lots of friends, yes, but then again, nobody knows me at all
Kids and a wife, it's a beautiful life, nobody knows me at all
And oh when the lights are low Oh with someone
I don't knowI don't give a damn, I'm happy as a clam, nobody knows me at all
Ah, what can you do? There's nobody like you. Nobody knows me at all
I know how you feel, no secrets to reveal, nobody knows me at all
Very late at night and in the morning light, nobody knows me at all
Nobody knows me, nobody knows me, nobody knows me at allody knows me at all"

I planned to alter the line with Damn in it to be sure I didn't offend anyone. My plan was for Social Wellness to get to know folks better and right a song about how we can all know each other. I don't know if I will use the same tune or a different tune, but it seems like a great group...only I will be doing it another day.

Spiritual Song Book

I have spent the last two days putting together a Spiritual Song Book with my residents at both facilities. It went very well, except that at one facility I have a Jewish resident that I have been unable to find music for. I have since come up wtih a few suggestions that I need to explore, but I have found a few more songs to add just for her.

Physical Wellness this week

Here's what I'm planning to do today:
Intro about physcial wellness with focus on sports, specifically baseball. I have some baseball songs and the abbot and costello who's on first routine. I will segue into how different types of music make us feel like the suggestion you made.

Tomorrow, I will expand on the different ways music makes us feel and I have music on my ipod for the relaxation and deep breathing aspects of music (I have tons of massage therapy music) I can hardly wait until I have a bag of tricks to pull from.

Working songs...Not so hot

I don't know if it's b/c of the where of the activity or if it was poorly planned, but my working songs didn't go over as well as I had hoped. At the first facility, the residents were very active, but to make my stereo loud of enough to hear the echo from the dining room floor interfered. At the second facility I had carpet, but no echo, but they acted like they had never seen or heard a stereo before. I couldn't learn all the songs I unearthed, but it appears I bought a lot of recorded music for nothing.

File that away for next time.

This week is Physical Wellness and I haven't come up with any ideas yet...but I haven't given it a lot of thought either.

Songs for Working

I have recently begun to work for a company called Lifetime Wellness. I now provide music therapy to two different nursing homes each week and I may be adding a third in the fall if all goes well. I used to work in the Nursing Home field when Maggie was a baby, but it's been a very long time. I had forgotten how much I liked working with these people!

For me the hardest part is coming up with the initial idea. Once I get the idea, I'm good to go when doing a group. Fortunately, I have a great boss named Janice Harris, who has great ideas. She emails the therapists and tells us what she will be doing. I then find that I am able to come up ideas from there. I have decided to organize my ideas into notebooks. For now, I just have one notebook, but I look to grow into six separate notebooks for the six wellness areas.

This week is vocational wellness and Janice sent a survey to give along with some ideas to get the ball rolling. We were to discuss CNA week, which was last week, and to also discuss how the CNA's cared them and how they might show care for others. We were then to pick songs that would show how we cared for others, how others might care for us, and songs we might sing to feel good about ourselves.

My morning group went really well. They had song books and did a great job of picking songs that fit into the caring for others or themselves theme we were discussing. The afternoon group, who is supposed to be a group of higher functioning residents in general, just sat there and looked at me. Fortunately, I can talk, and I can sing, so we muddled through, but it felt like pulling teeth to get responses.

During the group, I came up with ideas for tomorrow's groups. I decided to pick out songs about work and center my groups around those songs. With the help of other fellow therapists, I have a list of about 30 songs, plus those songs listed in Down Memory Lane. Some of the songs I know, and I printed music, so I could sing them. Some of them, aren't as singable, so I just downloaded the recordings onto my ipod. I thought I could do some trivia with the songs, or play 20 questions, or even resort to Hangman for the titles. There is a ton more to do with this set of songs than I can do in one session, so I will just save it for later, and get new music to add to the old music.

Then, while I was researching the songs to sing for tomorrow, I found that information about old fashioned "work" songs and military chants...not yet sure what I'm going to do with that in the future, but I know that there is a group in there somewhere. Perhaps writing a song or chant of their own...not sure yet, I'm going to let that one simmer.

Here is the List I have come up with so far. More will be added as I feel the juices flowing. There were several really good lists on the internet that I can't include here and now, but will make some for some interesting singing/listening. My husband wanted me to add I'm a Lumberjack and I'm OK, just to be funny...I told him it would never work. They don't know who Monty Python is!

The Thirty Greatest Songs About Work

1. “Working Class Hero,” John Lennon
2. “Working for the Weekend,” Loverboy
3. “A Hard Day’s Night,” The Beatles
4. “Welcome to the Working Week,” Elvis Costello
5. “9 to 5,” Dolly Parton
6. “Workingman’s Blues #2,” Bob Dylan
7. “Working in the Highway,” Bruce Springsteen
8. “Oney,” Johnny Cash
9. “Bright Future In Sales,” Fountains of Wayne
10. “She Works Hard for the Money,” Donna Summer
11. “Luxury,” The Rolling Stones
12. “Takin’ Care of Business,” BTO
13. “Workin for a Livin,” Huey Lewis and the News
14. “Sixteen Tons,” Merle Travis
15. “Work, Work, Work (Pub Club Sleep),” The Rakes
16. “I’ve Been Working,” Van Morrison
17. “Maggie’s Farm,” Bob Dylan
18. “Just Got Paid,” ZZ Top
19. “Finest Worksong,” R.E.M.
20. “Career Opportunities,” The Clash
21. “Working Man,” Rush
22. “Blue Collar Man,” Styx
23. “Jacqueline,” Franz Ferdinand
24. “Work Is A Four-Letter Word,” by Cilla Black, performed by the Smiths
25. “To the Workers of the Rock Ridge Valley, I Have An Idea Concerning Your Predicament,” Sufjan Stevens
26. Day-O (Banana Boat)
27.These are the People in your Neighborhood (included if you are really struggling for something to do with seniors or all of a sudden you have a kid pop in. Chances are the seniors won't know this is from sesame street and it really does a nice job of discussing vocation)
28. King of the Road (about not working)
29. Clementine (Miner)
30. If I had a Hammer

Granted, there are many songs in here I don't know and I have a list of about 25 more that I still need to explore. Final list to be compiled later!