MEPAP II Final Practicum Professional Development: Name That Tune

[melsue93 0]

Name That Tune

 

Music has a significant power on everyone. It is a way for people to relieve stress, collect their thoughts, and reminisce about the past. It is truly remarkable to watch how music affects people, especially the elderly population. At our community, we play a game called “Name That Tune,†which enables the residents to use their memory to name the song/artist being played and allows them to reminisce about events in their lives that they associate with each song.

 

Although I am sure that there are CDs that can be used to play this game, I made up my own rendition of this game. The supplies needed for “Name That Tune†are:

 

            -Twister Board Game Spinner

            -Spotify

            -iPad or Laptop

            -Speakers

            -Red, Green, Yellow and Blue Construction Paper

            -Marker

            -Microphone

 

This game requires a significant amount of preparation in order to play it. First, four music genres or decades must be chosen, such as 1920s, 1930s, 1940s, Hymns, etc. The Activities staff must then research at least 25 popular songs from each of these topics. Using Spotify, the staff member must create playlists corresponding to each of the four music genres/topics. Then, 25 corresponding songs must be added to each playlist. Once the playlists are created and finalized, each of the music genres must be written on either a red, green, yellow, or blue piece of construction paper.  For example, 1920s will be written on blue, 1930s will be written on yellow, etc. These four colors were chosen because those are the colors on the Twister Board Game spinner. This game is best played in a small room or at a table that residents and gather around.

 

To start the game, the residents must be sitting in a circle or around a table. The Activities employee must sit relatively in the middle because he or she will be in charge of the music, which should be positioned in the middle of the residents for all to hear. One resident will start by spinning the Twister Board Game spinner and whichever color the pointer lands on, is the music topic that a song will be chosen from. For example, if “Hymns†is written on the blue construction paper, then a song from the “Hymns†playlist will be played. The Activities employee will select a song from the chosen playlist and play the first 15-20 seconds of the song from either a laptop or iPad. Residents will listen to the music being played and call out the name of the song or artist if they know it or have a guess. Once the song has been guessed correctly, the resident will hand the spinner to the resident sitting on his or her left. The game continues to rotate, so that each resident has an opportunity to spin the spinner. After the first 15-20 seconds of a song have been played, continue to play the song, so the residents can sing along and encourage them to talk about special events that the songs remind them of.

 

This game is a great way for the residents to reminisce about better times and allows them to use their memory to recall the name of the songs and artists who performed them. It is also a wonderful way for the residents to feel open to sing along and feel the joy that music brings to people.

[NinaJacobs 1]

Thank you for sharing, it has been on my mind recently to start this activity. I will look into spotify and was thinking about pandora as a possibility!