The audience is out there, a huge potential audience, gathered behind the walls of institutions, an audience of listeners that would be well served by good singers with good hearts.
Singing for these types of audiences is far different than performing at an opera house or a recital hall. The repertoire may or may not be the same as your standard classical repertoire, depending on the circumstances, but you are dealing with people who usually have disabilities or illnesses and thus are out of the mainstream of society. When you sing for an institutional audience, you really have to want to be there. It is a choice that comes from the satisfaction of knowing that your gift of
song can touch or even heal someone who
is hurting.
Considerations
Before you consider performing or working in an institution, you will need to ask yourself some questions. Can I handle the not-so-pleasant smells and sights I might find in a hospital room or the floor of a nursing home? Will I be able to handle interruptions in my performance by a mentally ill or senile person, who may call something out or perhaps start crying?
I ask these questions as caveats, because once you decide you would like to sing in institutions, you will find yourself in a very different scenario. If you don’t have the heart or stomach for imperfection, this might not be the line of work for you.
If, however, your heart is as big and beautiful as your voice, I think you will find institutional audiences some of the most endearing and appreciative that you can find on this earth!
Performance options
Over the course of 15 years, I sang in hundreds of institutions. I learned to play guitar, Autoharp, and mountain dulcimer, and was able to use these instruments when performing. Having the ability to accompany yourself on piano is a great asset, although many institutions don’t have pianos, or might have one that is not suitable for performance. This will limit options for some classical singers. (The tony, upscale senior living centers usually have very nice halls, occasionally with a grand piano.) If you cannot accompany yourself, you will need to form a duo (or trio, or more) in order to have an “act” to sell.
Audiences range from a single person to a full hall. When singing one-on-one to individual hospital patients or nursing home residents, I usually had about an hour. I would be assigned a floor or a list of patients to see, and I usually sang one or two songs per room, at five-to-six minutes per person. This type of singing is more therapeutic than performance-oriented. Large recital-style performances usually are the major activity of the day for institutional residents.
Also, you can offer smaller programs to audiences such as those on the floor of an Alzheimer’s unit.
Types of institutional audiences
A variety of institutions with patients of all ages are possibilities. These include:
Retirement centers: Usually seniors are still independent, can drive, and function on their own. They often have their own homes or apartments, within a larger campus. Their intellectual level is usually not impaired by Alzheimer’s or dementia.
Senior living centers (assisted living centers): The residents of these centers may need reminding to take their medication, may use a wheelchair, or have early stages of dementia or Alzheimer’s. They will need help with some activities of daily living. On the whole, their intellectual level is still high enough to enjoy a program similar to that of a retirement home.
Nursing homes (skilled nursing facilities): Here you will find seniors who are no longer capable of independent living, who need to be washed, fed, monitored, and supervised. Wheelchairs, bedridden patients (often comatose), and dementia/Alzheimer’s patients are common.
• Hospitals: You may run the gamut in a hospital, from very elderly patients to young children. I served several hospitals where I sang to patients in ALC-alternate level of care-meaning patients in the hospital a long time and who need extra stimulation.
• Hospices: These are hospitals or centers for people who are dying, usually of cancer.
• Psychiatric centers: Usually, these patients are segregated by age. If you ever sing in one, you will experience just about anything you have ever imagined would be in a psychiatric hospital.
• Drug rehabilitation centers: Many residents of these centers are there as an alternative to jail; hence you might have a pretty street-wise, tough crowd. I would recommend a more pop-oriented, less highbrow program when singing here.
• Homes for the mentally challenged: These institutions also segregate by age. You may find the response level ranges from nothing to highly enthusiastic.
Repertoire
If you are considering singing for the elderly, invest in a few songbooks to develop your repertoire. A collection of “golden oldies” (sometimes called sing-a-long songs) is very helpful for getting basic, familiar songs that are used in large groups, especially with skilled nursing residents. Such oldies would include “I Wonder What’s Become of Sally,” “When the Red, Red Robin Goes Bob, Bob Bobbin’ Along,” “Shine On, Harvest Moon,” “Que Sera, Sera,” “Bye, Bye Blackbird,” “Bicycle Built For Two,” “Paper Moon,” and so on.
A fake book with songs from the ‘20s to the ‘50s would be very useful and could be adapted for both guitar and piano accompaniment. Look to include higher quality jazz standards such as those by Duke Ellington (“I Got It Bad And That Ain’t Good”), Gershwin (“Embraceable You”), Cole Porter (“It’s Delightful”), Harold Arlen (“Stormy Weather,” “Over the Rainbow”), and Rogers and Hammerstein (songs from musicals such as Sound of Music and Showboat are always popular). Also, find a collection of sacred solos and hymns.
I have found singing pop music from any time after 1960 to be ineffective. Remember that the older pop songs are mostly jazzy, and shouldn’t be sung stiffly (see “Decoding the Lead Sheet” by Gloria Cooper in the July 2002 CS issue). Your standard classical song repertoire is also appropriate for the higher functioning groups, but if it is too esoteric, it may get lost on them. Foreign languages are fine, if you preface each song with a short interpretation.
For the psychiatric populations, I would suggest uplifting popular and folk songs such as “You’ve Got a Friend,” “We Shall Overcome,” “Bridge Over Troubled Water,” “Day By Day,” “He’s Got The Whole World in His Hands,” and “Kumbaya.” A standard classical program may be appropriate, but I would bear in mind that obscure music may get lost on them as well.
Singing in hospices requires solemnity, respect, and an attitude of inner strength. Many hospices and cancer hospitals are religious in nature and a program of hymns and/or sacred songs might be just the thing for a Sunday afternoon program.
The mentally impaired are a tough but gratifying population to sing for. I would keep the repertoire as simple as possible with songs that have a lot of repetition. Folk-like, rhythmic music works best.
In larger areas, you may find a nursing home with an ethnic focus—for instance, in Brooklyn there is a home for Sephardic Jews. When I sang there, I performed several Ladino songs I had recently studied, and many residents sang along with me.
Special events
I was frequently hired to do special events, such as the Fourth of July, Thanksgiving, Valentine’s Day, Christmas, birthday parties and other occasions. Naturally, you will flesh out your repertoire with songs appropriate to that particular day.
Performance style
It is perfectly appropriate to speak between songs. In fact, this helps draw the audience into your singing. An atmosphere of warmth rather than rigid “concert-style” formality will make for a much better performance. Let your personality shine thorough and don’t be afraid of humor. Expect the audience to clap when a piece is rhythmic.
Length of program
A 45-minute program, whether in a hall or floor group, is a good length. An hour tends to get too long, and the residents get fidgety. If you are working a floor doing room visits, I would do an entire hour, because you are walking from room to room. Sometimes a home will want an hour program; do two 25-minute sets with a 5-minute break. You may have to adjust your program on the spot, if you notice restlessness or a shortening of the attention span.
Arrive 15 minutes earlier than your scheduled performance time to give yourself time to find the performance location, check acoustics and room set-up, etc.
Logistics
Some institutions have some sort of amplification equipment. In my experience, they are very poor quality, and with a classical voice, the upper partials are greatly amplified, distorting the voice, especially as one gets higher in pitch. I would not use amplification, unless the room is especially dead (and it may be).
Warm up before you get there (though you could arrive even earlier and warm up in a bathroom or other private room). Usually, residents are being brought into the performance space as much as a half hour before you are supposed to sing, so warming up in the performance room isn’t a great idea. When you are warmed up, you can sing a little to test the acoustics of the space, but realize you will have everyone staring at you while you are doing it.
Getting started: your market
Depending on where you live, you may have a large paying market for music in institutions, or you may have very little. Many hospitals and nursing homes, for example, expect all their “entertainment” to be free and done by volunteers. It is my experience that they are getting what they pay for. When an institution pays me to sing, they are getting a professional singer who is going to bring a quality musical experience to their specialized audience.
If you live in an urban area, or even a suburban area, you should not have trouble finding institutions that pay performers. If you live between metropolitan areas, you may need to consider pursuing jobs in the nearest big city.
Developing leads
Start with a phone book (or Internet search within a comfortable radius) and make a contact file for each nursing home, hospital or other institution that you are interested in. With alphabetized index cards or an e-mail address book, you can create contact lists under each category of institution you are searching, and create subfolders as needed (contacted, not contacted yet, etc.). Note especially what materials you send, and to whom.
After you have compiled a list, start by calling the institution. Ask the operator the name of the person who runs the activities or recreation department—but don’t get on the phone with this person, yet! This will be the individual to whom you address your materials. Eventually you will have a set of contacts that you hope will translate into jobs for you. Your contact files will eventually include records of every performance, what and when you were paid, the type of audience, and so on.
Publicity materials
The key to doing this kind of work is developing a reputation as a singer who can work effectively with institutionalized people. You need to be both artist and minister, in a sense. If you are effective, the people who hire you will want to recommend you to others.
Create a brochure, letter or flyer that you will mail to the places where you think you want to sing. The trick is getting references you can use to create publicity materials. Now is the time to start gathering information you can use in your publicity material.
After a performance, send a letter asking for a review of your singing. If you sing at church, get your pastor or music minister to write a short reference. Do you have a grandparent or relative in an institution? Could you offer to sing there and then ask the contact to write a letter of recommendation? Perhaps you have already given such a performance and have only to ask for a written review.
Take segments of the quote or quotes to make something that will sell you to the institutions’ activities or recreation departments. They want to hire someone who will make their activity schedule look good, as well as give their residents or patients something nice to say about the department and the institution.
If your pastor writes a letter, and you live in Missouri, you can take the best part of the quote and use it in the brochure this way:
“When Amy sang, it was as if the angels of heaven were singing through her voice.” —Missouri
If the nursing home sends you a nice thank-you letter, you should rewrite in third person and use the name of the home:
“Amy’s voice and personality really touched our residents. We will enjoy hearing her beautiful singing again.”—Middletown Nursing Home, Kansas City
If you get a newspaper review, you can use it:
“Amy Singer is sure to become a major talent, with her lush mezzo and deep emotional expression.” — Smithville Daily News
If you have only one good quote, it might be best just to include it in a basic letter of introduction rather than make up a flyer or brochure. This letter should express your desire to sing at the institution and describe the types of programs you might provide. Eventually you will have several good quotes, and with an inexpensive layout program, you can create a nice flyer or brochure pretty easily.
Be sure to indicate whether you accompany yourself or work with an accompanist. Thank the people you write for their consideration. Do not discuss fees in your written materials. Save that for your follow-up phone call.
Follow-up
Wait about a week and then call the contact directly. (I rarely had the contact call me first. I did the calling after sending the publicity materials, and I almost always got a job). Say something like: “Hello, Mrs. X? This is Amy Singer. Did you get the information about my singing I sent you about a week ago? I was wondering when you might have an opening to schedule me to come and sing for your residents.” (This is a big, strong intro, but gets you to the point and makes them think about your place in the schedule right away. “The schedule” is almost biblical in its importance to activities directors.)
At that point you can discuss the kind of program and repertoire you might sing and the length of your program, etc. They may have to find your materials in order to discuss things with you. If they seem hesitant, you might say, “When is your next available special program or birthday party?”
Get your foot in there somehow. They may offer you a date at that point. Then you can negotiate fees, and so on. If they really don’t want to schedule right away, stay cheery and positive, and then say, “Well, please do keep me in mind, especially if you have a cancellation. I am happy to help in any way I can.”
I would call again in about a month. If you have any new materials, send them first before calling again. Keep a record of the date of your call—and of what was said—in the notes of your contact file. That way, when you are ready to call again you will remember how the conversation went.
Monetary issues
I have sung in institutions in three states: New York, New Jersey and Pennsylvania. The places that pay usually have a range of fees that the department head is willing to pay for entertainment or special music, and a limit he or she will not or cannot exceed.
I believe a singer should be paid what he or she is worth. When booking a job, I give them my set fee (which is the highest standard rate in the area). If they balk, I ask them politely, “Well, what you do normally pay your entertainment?” If the figure they quote you is enough, you can say, “I will come and sing for that amount.” Generally, I charge the highest fee that each institution will pay. This can vary between institutions in your area.
Fees for a 45-minute to 1-hour program can range from 40 dollars to 150 dollars, depending on where you live and what kind of institution it is. I had several jobs where I was hired to come every week by a specific institution and sing to an Alzheimer’s unit, or biweekly to an ALC group of hospital patients, or once a month for a special music program. Those jobs are nice because it’s regular money. Eventually it will be nice to get one or more of those.
Remember that if you use an accompanist, you will have to pay him or her out of your fee. You may be able to charge a higher fee for two performers, but you need to negotiate this with the contact person before booking the date.
After you and the contact agree on the fee, send a letter of confirmation, including location, date, time, duration of performance, and fee. This will remind them that the “fee is requested on the day of the performance.” Occasionally, an institution cannot pay the day you sing because their payroll is a different week. I never had trouble getting paid within reasonable time.
Keep accurate records of every job: the date, and how much you got paid. These records will be invaluable when you calculate self-employment income at tax time. Some institutions will give you a 1099 at the end of the year. Keep records of any business-related expenses, such as gas, stationary, printing, guitar strings, songbooks, and so on. Include these under business expenses on your Schedule C (Profit or Loss from Business).
Want more work? More follow-up
You will probably want to get more work—and follow-up is an integral part of keeping and building work. Send a follow-up form letter (or bring it with you when you sing) that thanks the director for the opportunity to sing for their residents. The letter should include the following: “I would like your feedback on my performance. Would you kindly reply with a few comments about the quality of my performance and the resident/patient response?” Include a self-addressed, stamped envelope, or a stamped postcard for their response.
Use these quotes to build your publicity materials.
For those in the NYC Area: HAI
When I lived in New York, I also worked through Manhattan-based HAI (Hospital Audiences, Inc.). They will audition you, and if they accept you, you get work directly through them. HAI does all the booking and billing for you—and even pays you; all you need to do is show up and sing. Their website, with audition information, is www.hospitalaudiences.org.
Final thoughts
The years I sang for the aged, sick and dying were very special years for me as a musician and a person. I got back so much more from those special souls than I ever gave out. There are ears and hearts waiting to hear your beautiful voice, too, somewhere near you. I hope you find a way to enter those walls and sing!
