Side by Side brings 20th-century songs back to Bay Area nursing homes

In Hearts for the Arts, columnist Charlotte “Charlie” Burks ’27 highlights various Stanford student groups that are at the intersection of the arts and service.

Many Tik Tok video decades later they played with the idea of ​​Generation Z, dancing and singing along to Ariana Grande, Taylor Swift and One Direction while in nursing homes. However, for many hospital residents and visitors whose favorite songs were popular in the mid-1900s, this hypothesis has become a reality. It is this audience that Stanford’s Side by Side Project hopes to reach.

Side by sidea Stanford-based music group that sings at nursing homes and hospitals throughout the Bay Area, singing music from the 1940s to the 70s. Often residents jump to their feet or take out their instruments to join in.

“(Several residents) end up dancing with us,” said Isabel Peña, 27, one of Side by Side’s co-hosts. While Side by Side sings to large groups of people, they also provide more personalized attention to nursing home and hospital residents. “We go directly to the residents and sing them very popular songs – for example, “Edelweiss”, “Somewhere Over the Rainbow”, “Moon River”.

Unlike other campus groups that sing exclusively a cappella or choral music, Side by Side are more flexible in their repertoire.

“Some of our music is a cappella and some we sing with piano,” said Austin Nguyen ’27, musical director at Side by Side. The only requirement for selecting a band’s song is that it must be written and popularized between the 1940s and 1970s, a time period during which many older people were young adults.

For the band’s more than a dozen members, part of Side by Side’s appeal is the music itself. However, current members are often motivated by helping to advocate for an overlooked community: seniors.

“They have very few supporters because they can’t defend themselves,” Nguyen said.

There has been a long history of research linking music and memory. According to National Institute of HealthListening to music associated with specific episodes or events in our lives creates a strong “sense of knowing.” Side by Side has confirmed these statistics first hand.

After hearing that a resident wanted to hear a specific Bee Gees song but couldn’t remember what it was called, Nguyen began singing as many Bee Gees songs as she could remember until they finally found the one.

“It was called How Deep Is Your Love,” Nguyen said. “I sang it to her and she had tears in her eyes as she told me how her son sang it to her and how I reminded her of her son.”

Even though the group spends a lot of time off campus, not all of its fondest memories are exclusively associated with its residents. Spending six to seven hours a week together in rehearsals and traveling, the members of Side by Side experience a lot together.

“The people (at Side by Side) are so nice and sweet, and it’s probably the best community I’ve found here at Stanford,” said co-host Jenny Yum ’27.

Side by Side reaches a wide range in the Bay, extending north from San Francisco to San Jose. “

We will perform 20 to 25 times per school year,” Peña said.

With dozens of spectators at each nursing home where they perform, Side by Side is fondly remembered and communities are often called upon to perform for them year after year.