(Photo credit: sparkle glowplug)

I don’t know about you, but I love incorporating some sit-er-cise after the hello song in music therapy groups when I work with older adults. Without fail, it doesn’t take long for my residents to stop complaining about the chilly Minnesota weather and start taking off cardigans as their bodies warm up. The group works on physical wellness by sit-er-cising, but there is also the secondary gain of social support as residents engage in friendly encouragement.

Cevasco and Grant (2003) explored the relationship between type of music and participation in exercise. They found that older adults with Alzheimer’s disease participated most readily to instrumental music followed closely by exercise to instrumental music using instruments. Songs with vocal tracks elicited less participation than the instrumental conditions. The authors speculated that the competing stimuli of the music therapist directing through verbal prompts and the vocal line were confusing to the participants.

With Cevasco and Grant’s research in mind, here are our Top 5 Big Band instrumental tracks that will get you clients or loved ones movin’ and groovin’!

Sing, Sing, Sing – Benny Goodman

In the Mood – Glenn Miller 

Stompin’ at the Savoy- Chick Webb

Hot Toddy – Ralph Flanagan & His Orchestra

Take the “A” Train – Duke Ellington

References

Cevasco, A. M. & Grant, R. E. (2003). Comparison of different methods for eliciting exercise-to-music for clients with Alzheimer’s disease. Journal of Music Therapy, 40, 41-56.