vocal music for seniors
hi friends!
for context, I'm an activity director for an independent senior living community. I have a handful of residents that LOVE to sing.
back around the holidays, we did a Christmas choir, with myself leading and playing the piano and the residents singing. it was so much fun, and it's something I love to do every year with them.
they've now begged and pleaded for me to keep the choir going. I have two problems:
I have a couple residents who HATE singing vocal warmups. I trick them into warming up with silly tounge twisters and body stretches. as someone with their bachelor's degree in music therapy, I try to explain to them that warm ups are so important and we don't want to damage our voices, but they look at me like I'm an idiot whenever I try to explain.
half of the current choir wants to sing 4-part harmonies, and I have no idea where to source music that ISNT religious. as the director for activities I have to stay pretty non-religious in my programming (and truly, doing anything religious makes me uncomfortable). the other half of the choir just wants it to turn into a general sing-along with me at the helm (playing the piano and singing).
long story short, I want to try some music with harmonies to humor them. if it's a mess, then it will turn into a sing along and the "choir" will return for the holidays.
currently, I'm pulling familiar favorites from The Real Fake Book, which only has the melody line to sing. I tried to get them to learn Something Stupid by Frank and Nancy Sinatra (which has some fun and interesting harmonies) and they didn't like it. /:
does anyone have ANY resources where I can find some easy, familiar, NON RELIGIOUS, and (preferably) free sheet music for two to four part harmony???? I'm begging and pleading. 🫶🏻
(I'm about ready to give up, as they are turning my talent and love for music into a complete chore for me (I get practice anxiety, not performance anxiety) and expecting me to play the piano for them at the drop of the dime, which I will not do, because that's not why I was hired for this job, but that's for a different post)
I've been classically trained since the age of 7 (28f now) and need sheet music to play - I'm not one of the chosen ones that can play by ear. /:
okay I'm done, thank you in advance!