Rachel’s Blog

I love singing and this project is so much fun for me, let alone the participants! Watching older people engage in a creative experience is very rewarding. Seeing them smile and laugh, and ask to take the song-sheets home at the end is such a joy, for me, and for them. But what else? The Silver Song Club model, run across the South-East region by the charity Sing For Your Life has pioneered singing for older people and have developed, from extensive evaluation of its clubs, a set of criteria:

1. Initiate one-to-one welcoming

2. Invoke memories

3. Stimulate fine motor skills

4. Stimulate grand motor skills

5. Encourage social interaction

6. Encourage client leadership

7. Provide progressive learning outcomes

8. Provide platforms for reminiscence dialogue

9. Give free choice

10. Cover multicultural material

11. Encourage shared performance


(from the Sing for Your Life website)

These criteria help shape workshops which engage with individuals through physical and mental stimulation, no matter what their circumstances/abilities, as well as helping facilitate interaction between the participants, and develop community. Having been involved for a little while with a Silver Song Club, the intentionality of some of these criteria can be fantastic to shape what could simply be a sing-along into something with more structure and purpose. However, it can run the risk of being formulaic, lacking in spontaneity as well as being a little bit patronising. Despite this, it is an extremely good checklist for workshops, particularly those  for older older people.

The group I work with in Witney is a younger group, and on the whole everyone is still physically fit, living independently and not really needing a lot of the above criteria. Most of the participants stay on for a gentle exercise class afterwards, so I try and focus on singing new songs, on engaging their creativity by asking them to come up with new verses or actions, and on harmony singing which many find takes a lot of concentration.

It is my hope to develop my own tools and frameworks to help me when planning workshops for groups that have different needs.

I had a milestone day today as I conducted my first independent singing session with a small group of over-60s at an activity day organised by Age Concern Oxfordshire. The event took place in a Methodist church centre in Witney, which was hosting a range of different activities including a creche, a coffee bar, as well as the hall being used by Age Concern.

The purpose of the activity day was to provide information for older people about services they are entitled to or may need to access, as well as giving them taster sessions of different activities: seated exercise, singing, movement to music etc.

My session lasted about 30-40 minutes and covered a range of music, starting with a gentle warm-up, and moving onto some favourites from shows and musicals. The actions for Edelweiss caused a fair amount of confusion and hilarity, and engaged the participants with the song and with each other. It is so important to give the participants something to ‘do’ with the song, be it actions, singing the song in an exaggerated style or accents, or simply encouraging the participants to make a sound in a particular way, e.g soft and quiet, or precise, staccato etc.

I finished the session with a pared-down medley of African-American Spirituals: Oh When the Saints and Swing Low Sweet Chariot. This received a round of applause from other people in the room who were not participating.

A few learning points for me:

- remember to sing more quietly and listen to the sound the group is making

- think about the pitch – is it too high or too low for participants?

- how do I cater for people with particular needs? for example, there was a man there who was blind and so could not read the words, although I deliberately chose short songs, and could not see the actions