Do you play at assisted living and memory care communities?

Yes. A solo musician or a duo plays the common area, the dining hall or the activity space of an assisted living, memory care or independent living community, and senior centers too, usually on a weekday afternoon and often as a standing monthly date. The duo is upright bass and guitar playing the standards; the solo is one guitarist, one pianist, or one singer with a guitar.

What music do you play for seniors?

The standards and the Great American Songbook, and the songs of the sixties and seventies: the Beatles, Motown, the folk songs and the country songs. Instrumentally on upright bass and guitar, or sung with a guitar when the program wants the words. Requests are taken as they come, and the first learned song a community asks for is included in every booking.

Is this music therapy?

No. It's a live performance for the residents, and a board-certified music therapist is a different booking with a clinical purpose. What we bring is musicians playing the songs the residents know, at a volume that's easy to hear and easy to talk across, in the common area with no stage.

Can we book a standing monthly date?

Yes. A standing date, the same weekday afternoon each month or every other week, runs on one contract with one personal contact for the whole run, and the set changes from visit to visit. Tell us the afternoon and how often, and we'll come back with a recommendation and a price for that run of dates.

Do you provide a certificate of insurance and a W-9?

Yes. A certificate of insurance naming the community as additional insured, a W-9 and one itemised invoice come in the same email as the contract, so the business office has what it needs to set up the vendor before the first visit.

How much does live music cost for a senior living community?

We publish no prices of our own. What live music costs in this market, with the source for each figure, is on the pricing page, and a weekday afternoon is priced as its own date. Send the afternoon you have in mind and how often, and we'll price it.

Senior living and memory care

Live music for senior living communities, on a weekday afternoon.

The afternoon program at an assisted living community, a memory care neighborhood or a senior center wants music the residents already know: the standards and the Great American Songbook, and the songs of the sixties and seventies, played live in the common area by musicians who take requests. We book that as a solo musician or a duo, for one date or as a standing weekday afternoon, and the duo we recommend first is upright bass and guitar.

This is the senior living page of our daytime bookings, written for the activity director or life enrichment coordinator who fills a calendar every month and has a budget line to fill it from. The booking comes with sound support that’s the right size for a common area, a certificate of insurance naming the community, a W-9 and one itemised invoice with the quote, and one personal contact for every visit.

Check a Date See Pricing

Trusted and booked by

Hear it

Upright bass and guitar, and the guitar alone.

Autumn Leaves twice: on upright bass and guitar, which is the duo we recommend for a common area, and on one guitar, which is the solo booking for a smaller group or a memory care neighborhood.

The afternoon

What a visit looks like.

Forty-five minutes to an hour of music in the common area, built from the decades the residents know, with requests taken as they come.

The set: One set of 45 to 60 minutes, or two shorter sets with a break, drawn from the standards and the Great American Songbook: Autumn Leaves, All of Me, Someday My Prince Will Come, The Girl from Ipanema, and the rest of a songbook nobody has to be told about. The duo plays it without a singer, so the melodies carry the songs and anyone who wants to sing along can. A singer with a guitar is the version for a community that wants the words: the Beatles, Motown, the folk songs and the country songs from the years the residents were young.
The space: The common area, the dining hall after lunch, the activity space, the lobby, a courtyard in summer. A duo sets up in 8 by 6 feet and a solo in 6 by 4, on the floor, and needs one outlet. Load-in is 45 minutes to an hour before the program starts, packing up takes half an hour, and the musicians come and go through whichever door the community prefers.
The volume: 65 to 72 dBA at the nearest seat, the level of a conversation, so a resident at the back of the space can hear the melody and a resident at the front can talk to the person next to them. In a small lounge the guitar plays without amplification at all.
Memory care: For a memory care neighborhood the same musicians play a shorter set to a smaller group, closer to the residents and at the low end of that volume, and the set leans on the songs most likely to be recognised: the standards, a hymn or two, and the songs of the fifties and sixties. The musician follows the residents’ lead on requests and on when a set should end.
A standing date: The same weekday afternoon each month, or every other week, on one contract with one personal contact for the whole run. The set changes from visit to visit, so the residents hear new songs alongside the ones they ask for again, and in December the same musicians play the season’s songs, which the Christmas jazz trio page covers.

Who plays it

The duo, the singer, the solo, and the piano.

Upright bass and guitar

The jazz duo is the booking we recommend first for a common area: two instruments playing the standards, a volume two musicians can’t push past by accident, and a sound you can tell is live from across the space. It’s the size for a dining hall of sixty and for a lounge of fifteen.

One singer, one guitar

The singer and guitarist is the version for a community that wants the words sung: the Beatles, Motown, the folk songs and the country songs, with the standards mixed in. One musician, one outlet, 6 by 4 feet, and the songs residents can sing along to.

Solo guitar, or solo piano

A solo guitarist plays the standards and Spanish-tinged sets instrumentally for a smaller group or a memory care neighborhood. Where the community has a piano in the common area, a pianist plays the standards and the covers on it, with a voice when the program wants singing.

The published song list is searchable on the repertoire page, and the first learned song a community asks for is included in every booking.

Booking it

The paperwork, the budget line and the calendar.

A community’s business office usually needs three things before a musician is paid: a certificate of insurance naming the community as additional insured, a W-9, and an invoice it can match to a purchase order. All three come in the same email as the contract, so the vendor setup is done before the first visit.

Tell us the afternoon you have in mind, how often you’d like a visit and the budget line you have for live music, and we’ll come back with a recommendation and a price for that run of dates. A single visit for a resident’s milestone birthday, a Mother’s Day tea, a summer barbecue in the courtyard or a holiday open house for families is the same booking for one date, and a family evening that grows into a party is what the private parties page covers.

What live music costs in this market, with the source for each figure, is on the pricing page. Footprints and power for every size are on the technical page, written so a facilities manager can check it line by line.

Questions

Asked by activity directors.

Do you play at assisted living and memory care communities?: Yes. A solo musician or a duo plays the common area, the dining hall or the activity space of an assisted living, memory care or independent living community, and senior centers too, usually on a weekday afternoon and often as a standing monthly date. The duo is upright bass and guitar playing the standards; the solo is one guitarist, one pianist, or one singer with a guitar.
What music do you play for seniors?: The standards and the Great American Songbook, and the songs of the sixties and seventies: the Beatles, Motown, the folk songs and the country songs. Instrumentally on upright bass and guitar, or sung with a guitar when the program wants the words. Requests are taken as they come, and the first learned song a community asks for is included in every booking.
Is this music therapy?: No. It's a live performance for the residents, and a board-certified music therapist is a different booking with a clinical purpose. What we bring is musicians playing the songs the residents know, at a volume that's easy to hear and easy to talk across, in the common area with no stage.
Can we book a standing monthly date?: Yes. A standing date, the same weekday afternoon each month or every other week, runs on one contract with one personal contact for the whole run, and the set changes from visit to visit. Tell us the afternoon and how often, and we'll come back with a recommendation and a price for that run of dates.
Do you provide a certificate of insurance and a W-9?: Yes. A certificate of insurance naming the community as additional insured, a W-9 and one itemised invoice come in the same email as the contract, so the business office has what it needs to set up the vendor before the first visit.
How much does live music cost for a senior living community?: We publish no prices of our own. What live music costs in this market, with the source for each figure, is on the pricing page, and a weekday afternoon is priced as its own date. Send the afternoon you have in mind and how often, and we'll price it.

Tell us the afternoon, the space and how often, and we'll recommend the act for your residents.

Live music for your event, from a solo musician to a full band, with sound support that’s the right size for the venue and a personal contact for the day.

Check a Date

Send us the date and the venue, and we’ll come back with a recommendation and a price for your day. What live music costs in this market is on the pricing page.