Music has the Power to Change the World...One Small Step at a Time!

Heart and Soul Music is dedicated to bringing quality musical entertainment to seniors.  Our goal is to promote live music and appropriate recorded music in nursing homes/convalescent hospitals for its entertainment and therapeutic value.

Providing a quality musical experience for seniors is our purpose in creating this website. Every time that we perform shows we see miracles happen from the effect of music on residents of convalescent hospitals and nursing homes. The music makes them feel alive and happy and, if you’ve ever spent time in one of these facilities, you know that is not an easy task.

Live Music Every Day !!!

• An hour of pleasure in what seems like an eternity of pain and loneliness
• Something pleasant to look forward to
• Something pleasant to remember
• Brings back the best memories of their lives
• They sing, they dance, they hold each others' hands, they laugh, they tell stories
• They grew up listening to live music; everybody either played an instrument or sang; music is a big part of their lifetime experience

Live Show Every Day

This is one of the main areas where we’d like to change the system. A high-energy, professional quality live music show provides the residents with an hour of wonderful memories from happier days. We believe this should happen every day. The cost is not prohibitive (see Administrators page for analysis) and a live show, combined with appropriate recorded music, can dramatically improve the quality of life experience for the residents. (See Music Therapy for further information and validation of the effect of music on nursing home residents.) 

Residents typically have one professional show a month and perhaps one or two shows a week provided by amateurs (volunteers and teachers of adult education programs). This brings us to another major point.  There is a big difference between a show performed by a professional musician who does shows every day, and an amateur who is trying to do a good deed. To illustrate, we would ask you to remember the last time you went to a free music concert (at the high school or college, in the park, church) or went over to a neighbors' house to listen to a relative play the piano. Most people never go to these shows for one reason: they are usually boring because the people performing are either beginners or just folks who like to play music but aren’t especially talented. This is not fun. It is not fun for the residents either. Just because there is a listed activity that says a music program is scheduled, does not mean the residents will enjoy the show.

On the other hand, a professional musician's job is to entertain. If they don’t want to be entertaining or don’t have the talent, they don’t survive as a professional. A show performed by a qualified professional entertains the residents and gives them an hour free of pain and loneliness. That is the purpose of the show.  

A few points of clarification might be needed. First, when we say professional or professional-quality we don't necessarily mean onlyprofessional musicians. Some amateurs are far more talented than many professional musicians. It's only the quality of the performance we're referring to. Also, we don't want to give the impression that volunteers and adult education programs are not valuable. They are very valuable and we applaud anyone who is willing and able to go to these facilities and interact with the residents. Our point is that, while their (volunteers and adult education personnel) efforts do make the lives of the residents better, they don't achieve the full effect that a really good show does. Consequently, music as a therapeutic and entertainment activity is not recognized for the power that it can have. And therefore, it doesn't receive the funding and attention we believe it should have from Activity Directors and Administration, the ones with the power to change the system.

We want to show the long-term caregivers that the opportunity is here for the musicians to have a really positive effect from performing their music.  This allows the caregivers to provide a better life experience for the residents. At the present, most of the music performed is mediocre to poor in quality, so the residents don’t react. Therefore, the caregivers don’t understand the significance of providing quality music. It is their experience that the music "doesn’t do that much". They don’t see the amazing effects of a good show because they don’t employ quality musicians.

We have so many stories to share about residents who don’t talk on a regular basis, but who call out requests in the middle of a show and start to sing; people who never walk, but get out of their wheelchairs and start to dance; wanderers who never stop moving, but will sit down for an hour and listen to a show.

The results from a good show can be amazing--and we think our elder residents deserve to have one every day. It would give them something to look forward to, something to remember for the rest of the day.

We are going to pursue this concept in a few directions. First, Musicians' Corner has the information musicians need to start to perform shows in these facilities. We encourage any musician with the heart and compassion to deal with these conditions to start to perform. We feel that by getting more musicians interested and giving them the information they need to perform shows that really affect the residents, the caregivers will start to see the positive effects more often.

Second, we are starting a program of Nursing Home Performers' Workshops to teach singers and musicians how to perform entertaining shows. (See Workshop)

Third, we will be contacting state and federal representatives who are concerned with a quality life experience in nursing homes.  Our goal is to convince them of the benefits of a live professional-quality musical show every day in these facilities.