Tag: #Music

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Music for our Clients

(By Wendy Catto)

Some time ago, I wrote about our experiment with MP3 players and one client who was asked which music playlist she would like on her ‘modern gadget’. Her conclusive response was ‘any jazz is good jazz’. This time we have been allowed to provide a photo (consent has been received). If a person connects well with music, it brings them joy to listen to their favourite songs. Concentration and lack of stimulation is often a problem with our clients so we may only play music for 10 mins at a time.

We are often met with challenges where a person might not enjoy regular music of any description, or they have lost their sense of rhythm. More recently, we have been introduced to ‘432 Hz music’ (Google this) and this provides a powerful calming effect. There are different types e.g. to sleep, meditate, relax etc. Obviously, it will not help everyone but it is certainly worth a try. The concept is to calm our brain and assist you to focus on the present moment. To give you an example, Amazon Music offers a ‘432 Hz play list’ that you can shuffle. Providing a cuppa, playing 10 mins of this music having a comforting chat can help our wonderful elderly clients.

If you would like to know more about Catto Homecare the contact details are:

Catto Homecare, Mytchett T 01276 500 522. We provide live in and domiciliary care.

Wendy Catto, Registered Manager, Catto Homecare, Email: wendy@catto.net  

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90+ year olds with MP3s

By Wendy Catto

At Catto Homecare we are giving five lucky clients suffering with memory challenges MP3 players with headphones. It is an exciting process just to start with ‘phase one’ – choosing the music. With the help of our fantastic team of carers, our clients were tasked to select 15 different artists with the relevant song. We anticipated requests that would match their era eg Elvis, The Rat Pack (they consisted of six members for anyone who is scratching their head at the moment: Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, Sammy Davis, Joey Bishop, Peter Lawford and Angie Dickinson), Jazz, Vera Lynn ‘We’ll Meet Again’ or similar. How wrong could we be. One person who we never really expected to even be interested in music has requested ‘any music’ from the Italian composer Gioachino Rossini. One of our team members has been shown how to dance the Foxtrot and she has also been known in the past to enjoy listening to ‘techno rave music’ on the TV at full volume. This same lady also requested ‘jazz’ and when asked which specific songs, the response was ‘any jazz is good jazz’.

We will provide an update in a couple of weeks with ‘phase two’ when we find out what happens once we help them with their MP3s. We are also excited to find out the results.

The moral of the story is that a day in domiciliary care is never the same and it is a joy to work with older people. They will always surprise you.

Best regards

Wendy

Wendy Catto (Registered Manager)


Catto Homecare: Registered Address: 5 Hamesmoor Way, Mytchett GU16 6JG, UK          
https://www.homecare.co.uk/homecare/agency.cfm/id/65432195397

#CattoHomeCare #MP3Players #Music #LocalNews #Community #Parishioner

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Friday Night Isonation

The parishioner interviewed Stephen Worsfold, a local DJ who has been busy this year making Friday Nights a lot more fun for us all!

Q.          What is  Isonation?

It’s a bi-weekly live DJ set on a Friday evening from 7pm until 9pm

I love music, and started Isonation as a way of doing my bit while we were in lockdown, so people had something to look forward to on a Friday night.

Q.          Why the name Isonation?

I choose the name as it’s the two words “isolated nation”  – there are also other people using this name so I shorted it into ISONATION – something snappy !

Q.          How do I listen in?

You can either listen in live on a Friday night or you can visit this page to listen to the library of previous sets that are available online. You can also download the mixcloud app and create a free account then follow “isolation-live”.

Q.          What’s been your best experience in the last year running  Isonation?

I did a four and half hour set on New Years Eve 2020 that was my favourite evening.

Q.          How many users do you have listening in?

We have now gone international! We also get an average of 100 people listening in per week.

Q. What are your plans this Summer?

I have a big family, so we are taking a break for the Summer to enjoy time with the children, and will be back with our live sets in the Autumn term, 14th September. If you would like to listen to a sample of what we do, here is a link:

 www.mixcloud.com/isonation-live Enjoy!