Classical Music as a Structure for Older Adult Groups
Written by MT-BC Amaya Stamm
Looking for a new way to structure groups for older adults? Since some of my group members have expressed interest in classical music, I have drawn inspiration from poetry and the plots behind classical music to provide an outline for my sessions!
I have recently used the Nutcracker Suite by Tchaikovsky and “Winter” from Vivaldi’s Four Seasons to inspire my group sessions. Playing the classical selections on my flute allows for a live music element, but in the absence of a melodic instrument or when facilitating a movement intervention, this structure also works well with recorded music.
The Nutcracker Suite
Start the session by introducing the general plotline of the Nutcracker story and ask the group if they have seen it performed or heard the music before. This may be an opportunity for reminiscence about seeing the ballet performed live, watching an orchestral performance, or dancing themselves.
Segue into a general song about the holidays, such as “It’s the Most Wonderful Time of the Year”, and follow that with a segment of the “Overture”, describing it as the musical version of a book summary to provide context.
Since the Nutcracker begins at a holiday party, bring out some shakers for “Rocking Around the Christmas Tree” and encourage group members to shake in different directions during each section of the song. If desired, match each directive with a festive action:
- low to the ground - placing presents under the tree,
- side to side - hanging ornaments or tinsel,
- in a circle - hanging lights,
- up in the air - putting a star on top of the tree!
Next in the plot, gifts are exchanged, which brings to mind “I Want a Hippopotamus for Christmas” and “Here Comes Santa Claus”. Discuss Clara receiving the Nutcracker from her magical uncle as a cherished gift. This leaves the door open for reminiscing about favorite past gifts given or received. For a sillier option, play various animal sounds in between lines of “I Want a Hippopotamus for Christmas,” ask group members to guess the animal sound, and rewrite the first line of the chorus with said animal.
→ To the right is an app I used, called Animal Sounds, with the silly songwriting activity listed above!
Taking a break from the plot to discuss ballet, guide the group members through warming up their bodies by practicing different foot (or hand) positions depending on the motor capabilities of a group to recorded music (I used “Jingle Bell Rock”). First position is placing both feet together, second position moves the feet apart, and fourth position criss-crosses the feet. After warming up the feet, emulate various ballet movements using the arms (egg shakers optional), including a “pirouette” - twisting feet side to side, “plie” - bending and straightening knees, “saute” - holding both feet up in the air then placing back down to the beat, “relevé” - go up on toes, then back down.
Clara falls asleep soon after the party, and a good song to help one fall asleep is “Counting Your Blessings Instead of Sheep” from White Christmas.
At midnight, Clara’s Christmas tree grows twice its size, which my group members found astounding! Play “Rock Around the Clock” to tie in midnight while group members shake along or fill in the blank with lyrics. Afterwards, play “O Christmas Tree” and discuss the group’s favorite holiday decorations for the tree and add them to the line “How lovely are your ____.” This discussion can include decorations relevant to other holidays that group members celebrate (one of my residents mentioned a Hanukkah bush).
During Clara’s battle against the mice, she defeats the mouse king by throwing her shoe at him! Having the residents guess what piece of clothing she threw at him is a fun way to discuss semantic memories by naming clothing items. While playing “Blue Suede Shoes”, either sing it live as a group while shaking egg shakers or use a recorded version and facilitate an egg shaker “toss” to mimic throwing a shoe at the mouse king.
The dance of the snowflakes provides a chance to incorporate scarf movement to a song like “Let It Snow”. As the snowflakes usher Clara and her prince to the Land of Sweets, introduce the “Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy” and follow it up with lollipop drum play to “Lollipop” by the Chordettes.
When in the Land of Sweets, Clara sees dances by sweets from various countries around the world! Ask about the group members’ travel experience while playing “What a Wonderful World” or “500 Miles”. I have also asked if group members like the following sweets (coffee - Arabic, tea - China, marzipan - France, or chocolate - Spain) and potentially follow up with “Java Jive” to keep with the coffee theme. While talking about this section of the ballet, I played the “Russian Troika” and “Dance of the Reed Flutes” on my flute while group members listened.
The last dance Clara watches in the Land of Sweets is a grand “Waltz of the Flowers”, which can be shared alongside another song about flowers, such as “My Wild Irish Rose”.
Clara’s final dance with the prince can be brought to mind with the song “Cheek to Cheek”, before she awakes back in her home, wondering if it was all a dream. This session plan can be wrapped up with a song expressing holiday well-wishes, such as “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas”, if desired, before concluding with a familiar ending song.
Winter by Vivaldi
After orienting your group with a familiar song, introduce the Four Seasons, describing how it musically depicts the four seasons of the year: spring, summer, fall, and winter. Group members can reflect on whether or not they have heard of this piece before or name the four seasons as a group.
Give some background information on Antonio Vivaldi while showing a picture of him and of his home country, Italy. Engage in conversation about travel to Italy or favorite Italian foods before singing “That’s Amore”.
For an out-of-the-box movement activity, I introduced some of the instruments used in this piece–violin, viola, cello, and harpsichord–and asked group members to imitate the movement of playing each instrument:
- violin - pretending to “bow” by bending their arm near their shoulder,
- cello - pretending to “bow” by bending their arm across their legs, and
- harpsichord - moving hands side-to-side while wiggling the fingers.
Model these movements without music at first then add the recorded version of the first movement in the background.
After this activity, perform a portion of the first movement live or play a recorded version while group members listen. Accompany this performance with a reading of the poem that corresponds to that movement, which speaks of stomping one’s feet to keep warm while snow and wind blows.
To complement the cold weather theme of this first movement, implement songs with themes of winter, snow, wind, and marching. After playing “Looks Like a Cold Cold Winter”, poll the group by asking what temperature is too cold to be outside. Living in Florida, this question produced some laughs as our winters are quite mild! “Snow” from White Christmas can provide a backdrop for additional movement to recorded music using scarves or shakers, and the repetitive chorus of “Blowing in the Wind” is an ideal opportunity for fill-in-the-blank singing as a group if members recall only some of the lyrical content. Lastly, “When Johnny Comes Marching Home” with varied accompaniment promotes lower extremity movements like tapping toes or stepping in time to music to mimic the “stamping one’s feet” in the poem.
Next, present the second movement while group members listen and read the corresponding poem, which describes spending quiet times by the fire indoors while watching rain outside.
Ask group members to identify the kind of weather out their window or name their favorite kinds of weather while singing “Look Out the Window - The Winter Song” by Gene Autry and Rosemary Clooney. Bring in a themed Name that Tune using songs about fire, including “Ring of Fire”, “Great Balls of Fire”, “Heatwave”, “Burning Love”, and more. I couldn’t talk about rainy days without a little “Singing in the Rain”, which I used as an opportunity for group call and response singing.
Share the third movement and matching poem, which depicts walking gently on ice and the joy that winter brings!
To represent this movement, use “Walking After Midnight” and mimic walking gingerly on ice by having the group members tap gently on their lap and/or tap their toes gently on the group to the beat. Finally, to emphasize the theme of joy, rock out to “Joy to the World” by Three Dog Night and ask the group members what brings them joy!
Future Ideas
Moving forward, I hope to continue creating session plans inspired by operas, musicals, or programmatic symphonies! Another idea I plan to explore is pairing specific themes with classical selections on those topics, including love, animals, travel or places around the world, and nature.
I hope you are inspired to try these plans with your groups or design your own classical music themed groups in the months to come. Happy session planning!
