How To Make Retirement Homes Rock Like Elvis: 9 Tips

So, here I am. I’ve arrived. Was stuck in the traffic for about two hours. “Now, you know what to do when you arrive,” I remind myself, “Go to the person who hired you and introduce yourself.” This is the first time I’m performing at this particular retirement home. But I’ve performed at many. Could be 50, 100, hundreds of times.

Tip 1: Introduce Yourself To The Person Who Hired You

I leave my things in the car – well, it’s a quiet suburb and it looks safe for two minutes, so – and go in. The office is right there on my left. “Hi Mariaan, pleased to meet...” I get a kind of angry look, “I’m not Mariaan. I’m Magriet. Where did you get Mariaan from?” There you go. I’m already in trouble.

Tip 2: Check Out Your Set-up Area

I need to immediately find out where I’ll need to set up and check if there’s a power point. The residents have a prayer gathering in the room where I’ll be performing. Mariaan tells me that I will need to wait, but that it won’t be long. I'm a bit distracted at the moment because there’s this new virus that’s going around in China. Also The Red Herring Restaurant is closing down. I’ve been performing there every week for five years. The carpet is being pulled out from under my feet.

Tip 3: Be Cool

After waiting about 30 minutes the room clears and I’m ready to set up. I take my things in the room and start setting up. “Great, there’s no-one bothering me,” I think to myself. Actually, that’s one of the most important things. You want to set up, put the speakers on, walk around the room, hear what the sound is like, and relax while you do it. You want to make any changes necessary, e.g., position of the speakers in a cool way.

Tip 4: Wash Your Hands

You don’t want to touch your face or blow your nose while doing any of these things. I learned that a few years ago. You set up – your hands are on the floor a lot and touching all the dirty wires - and when you’re finished you wash my hands. It’s the difference between having the common cold or flu all the time and not. When your voice is your instrument you start paying attention to this.

Tip 5: Keep Taking It Up

The place is filling up and it’s time to start. You start off doing some good stuff, but you have to improve it as you go along. You have to kind of take it up a notch throughout the performance. That keeps people engaged.

Tip 6: Make It Look Easy

Draw the audience in. Make it look like you aren’t trying at all, like it’s just happening. You have to throw in a few songs where people will join in and spread those ones out throughout the show.

Tip 7: Do The Unexpected

You do one or two Elvis songs and then you say, “Okay, this song is one of Elvis’s most famous songs. It’s called Jan Pierewiet.” Everyone sings along. Then you do a song that gets people dancing in their chairs. Then you throw in a ballad. You don’t do too many ballads.

Tip 8: What You’re Doing Is Very Important. Realize it

For some people, this may be their last fun experience.

Tip 9: Are They Happy? Then Job Well Done

It’s the end of the concert and all the people are so happy. By now Magriet isn’t angry with me anymore at all.

So I start packing up, “Oh, there’s my tea,” I think to myself. I forgot to drink it. I made a difference here today.