Whew! We made it through our first performance yesterday of our new "Mercy Ministries outreach -- a combination of big band music, brief introductions to the songs, and an accompanying Power Point presentation featuring photos from the 1930s, 40s and 50s.And judging from the response of the residents of the nursing home where we presented it (and from the fact that the activities director asked us to please come back again next month!), we feel pretty secure in declaring the party a success.
We saw a couple of things that we can improve on as we prepare more presentations (more consistent volume levels, captions on some of the photos, etc.), but we were generally very pleased with how things worked out. And as we become more comfortable with our new equipment (the Power Point projector, stand-alone screen, speakers and the computer program itself), we know we will have a much easier time in preparation.
But watching these residents smile and sway to the music, hearing them laugh or comment on certain photos that came on screen, and taking requests for the next time we come ("Coach" was especially desirous of our including Stan Kenton in subsequent appearances) -- that was priceless and made our investments well worth it.
The musical program itself included bands led by Glenn Miller, Benny Goodman, Duke Ellington, Les Brown, Hal McIntyre, Harry James, Tommy Dorsey, Jimmy Dorsey and more. Providing the singing were such greats as Helen O'Connell, Bob Eberly, Dinah Shore, Frank Sinatra, Jo Stafford, and the Pied Pipers. And meanwhile on the screen were photos of the musicians, cars, films, ads, landmarks, celebrities, household furnishings, and scenes of both military life and the home-front during WWII.
It was a nice stroll down memory lane for these dear folks, one made even more special because these scenes and sounds are rarely available to them anymore.
So, it looks like Vital Signs Ministries will have now a regular gig over at this particular nursing home. Plus we're pleased to announce we've already secured a showing at a second nursing home later this month. Will we find other takers? We hope so -- calls are being made these next few days -- and we think so because it's a good program which provides a genre of musical entertainment not usually provided for the people who love it so.
Indeed, to the people who danced the jitterbug, the big apple and the lindy hop back in the day, swing is still king. And Claire and I are excited about being able to help them hear that music yet again through this new outreach.
