Feros Care has a Virtual Social Centre where older Australians can catch up virtually for a huge variety of sessions – everything from coffee catch ups and music lessons to tai chi and meditation.
One of our most popular weekly sessions is the fun-loving ‘Sing To Feel Good’, hosted by music teacher Julie.
And during the recent floods and COVID anxiety, Julie came up with a way to really engage the participants of her session and make them laugh.
“We were singing ‘My Favourite Things in one of our Sing to Feel Good sessions, and I was thinking about how useful it is to bring the things you love to mind when your life is challenging or you’re not feeling well,” says Julie, a music teacher.
“Some of our participants were facing more stress and uncertainty than ever before. We ended up discussing how we didn’t really relate to any of the favourite things mentioned in the song, and decided to write our own.”
The group collaborated via email to make the song more current and relatable, and give them all a lift in spirits; they then met in the following week’s session to sing their parody, which really cheered everyone up!
‘My Favourite Things’ by Sing to Feel Good
1. Walks in the forest, and also on beaches
Apples and pears with ice cream on peaches.
Getting together with a friend who sings
These are a few of my favourite things.
2. Koalas dozing in favourite trees
Sailing boat racing ahead of the breeze
Women respected and violence no more
These are a few of my favourite things…
3. Cockatoos calling and eagles that soar
Warm ocean water and dolphins galore
Wide open sky with sunlight all day
these are few of my favourite things…
4.When the flood strikes
When the fire sweeps
Pollies heads in the sand
I simply remember my favourite things and then I don’t feel so bad