When you’re organising a funeral, there isn’t always a lot of time to investigate lots of options for the service. So, many families may not even realise you can have live music at a funerals service. And that applies to the songs you and your loved one enjoyed, not just the hymns. 

Especially during the coronavirus pandemic, where communal singing is not possible, many find having a solo singer even more important as it ‘keeps the music alive’ when so many things are not possible and many restrictions upon us in this time of pandemic.


So, why would you choose to have live music? 
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One of our favourite funeral hymns is 'And did those feet in ancient times', otherwise known as 'Jerusalem'.

The text is from a short poem by William Blake, written in 1804 and published in 1808. The poem featured in the preface to his epic 'Milton-a Poem', one of a collection of writings known as the 'Prophetic Books'. The most common interpretation of the poem is that a visit by Jesus would briefly create heaven in England, in contrast to the 'dark Satanic Mills' of the Industrial Revolution.

Composed by Sir Hubert Parry, written in 1916. In 1918 the National Union of Women's Suffrage Societies (NUWSS) adopted 'Jerusalem' as the Women Voters' Hymn. After women had gained the right to vote the copyright to the hymn was signed over to The Women's Institute, where it remained until it entered the public domain in 1968.

It's also a popular hymn for film soundtracks including:

• Chariots of Fire
• Four Weddings and a Funeral
• The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner
• Calendar Girls
• Start Trek: Deep Space Nine
• And many more

'Jerusalem's' popularity is largely due to the wonderful tune by Parry. Known as a 'good sing', it's a rousing, uplifting hymn that carries the singers along. As the hymn has been very popular since 1917 it is embedded in the psyche of many. Even if you have not sung it before, it's surprising how much you know once you begin to sing it!

In a funeral service, 'Jerusalem' is most suitable as an exit hymn, so everyone leaves the funeral on a positive uplifting note. It's also only 2 verses long making it ideal for short funeral services and crematorium services. 

We enjoy singing this and have a version recorded just to remind you what a wonderful tune it is; have a listen.

​What are the best funeral songs and hymns for a funeral for your mum? We’ve sung at 100s of funerals for much-loved mothers, so here’s our list of the top funeral music for mums.

It’s hardly surprising that the top funeral songs we sing as solos are also the most popular at other funerals too. Top of the list is the Ave Maria, an appeal for comfort from the Virgin Mary, Mother of God.  

Many families find consolation and comfort by singing favourite hymns, including:

• The Lord’s my Shepherd (the traditional Crimond setting)
• All things bright and beautiful (many of this sang it at school, and so holds many memories of mothers)
• Abide with me
• Make me a channel of your peace
• Jerusalem (the WI anthem) 

The most popular Catholic funeral hymns for mum all have lovely tunes. “On eagle’s wings” is also very popular as a solo at Communion during a requiem mass. 

• Make me a channel of your peace
• I the Lord of sea and sky (Here I am Lord)
• On eagle’s wings 
• I watch the sunrise, lighting the sky
• This is my body

One family’s mother was called Mary and so they wanted all the music during the requiem mass to be around Mary. I sang the following

Almost all of these items have the words Ave Maria in them (some more than others)

• O purest of creatures (hymn)
• Ave Maria (Schubert)
• As I kneel before you (hymn)
• O Sanctissima
• Hail queen of heaven
• Ave Maria (Caccini)

If they had really wanted, I had another version of Ave Maria (by Bach/Gounod)

As ever, each funeral is so different and individual, that the choices songs and hymns are very personal to the family. Here are a few ideas that families chose for their mother’s funeral service.

Sometimes family ask for songs for mother that are new to us, or are songs that we know but haven’t sung at a funeral before. Here are a few for inspiration.

If your family is looking for something special for mother’s funeral, a live singer can add that special touch to a service, and help celebrate a life with the music you and they loved most.

Call us with your requirements -  you’d be surprised what songs we know!

As you know it's still mandatory to wear a mask in a place of worship, along with cinemas, galleries and museums. (2)

At Singers for Funerals, we decided to do our own tests to determine if wearing a cloth face covering / face mask would in any way affect:

• our ability to sing
• the clarity and volume of our voices

(We use the term ‘face mask’ to cover all kinds of face coverings that are neither a tied scarf nor medical grade PPE.)

Our funeral singer Toni chose three different items to sing a short section from:

1. Schubert’s Ave Maria - sung at nearly every Catholic funeral we attend
2. Abide with Me - a favourite CofE funeral hymn
3. Time to Say Goodbye - a popular choice for exit music, at crematoriums, and at graveside.
   

Toni sang a short section of each song not wearing a mask, and then exactly the same section wearing a cloth face mask. The recording continued when she put her mask on, so you can see nothing else changed.

We set up an iPad at a fixed point to record and video. No settings were changed after initial setup on this iPad nor was it moved in between items. Toni also used a pre-recorded backing track played behind her, again at a fixed volume and location. Nothing was tweaked in post-production of the video either.

We were delighted that our ‘boxy’ design cloth face mask did not appear to muffle the sound or impact on the clarity of the words. Toni said that wearing her mask to sing did not restrict her breathing, nor did it restrict the movement of her jaw and mouth. Her glasses also didn’t steam up - always an advantage!

Our iPad did decide to vary the recording levels dropping down the high notes, but it did it at precisely the same point in both takes of each item. This indicates that the sound recording algorithm considered both versions to be at the same volume each time.
You can see the video/s and listen for yourself here and at YouTube.

The guidance for the performing arts in relation to singing states that venues should be:
“Limiting singing in groups or in front of audiences to professionals only (i.e. for work purposes only)” and also “Limiting singing in groups to group sizes which are as small as possible in one discrete space.” (6)

Our professional solo singers will wear masks at any inside funeral, cremation, memorial service or life cycle event, in accordance with the new requirements coming into force on 8 August.  They can also sing at the graveside masked or unmasked (and have done several times over the last few months), thanks to our wireless backing track system, which enables considerable social distancing if required.

This is in addition to our normal COVID precautions, which includes sanitising our own wireless speaker and iPad, and using our own digital music, not church hymn books. We also maintain a minimum 3 metres social distancing where space allows, or even further if we can!

Prior to the Prime Minister’s announcement on mandatory masks in church, we had already done our own trials of various mask types. Our main discovery was that no one size fits all faces, and that the width of your face could radically affect the snugness of the face mask fit when singing.

Our aim was to find a mask design that allowed us to sing without restriction but that also moved as little as possible whilst we sang. This would ensure the closeness of fit required to keep sideways escape of air from the mask to an absolute minimum.

We tried four different styles:

1. Paper surgical type mask (folded)
This was not a success when singing, being prone to riding down from the nose. It also felt highly inappropriate and insensitive to wear at a funeral, especially if the deceased had died in hospital.

2. Folded cloth face mask
Basically a folded cloth version of the paper mask, the biggest challenge with these were the very large gaps that appeared at the side where the fabric gathered as the elastic was stretched back over the ears. It also went saggy after washing, losing the pleats.

3. The Olsen face mask
This is a close-fitting cloth mask which has a central seam and a centre piece that rises up to cover the nose. We found these were close fitting when talking but virtually useless for singing, as they either rode up the nose or more usually descended down over the chin revealing the nose.

4. The ‘boxy’ face mask
We finally found the ‘boxy’ mask, designed by an engineer to give more room inside the mask for facial movements. Thanks to a very clever arrangements of folds, the central panel stays in place over the mouth whilst the mask fits snugly at the side of the face. In addition, the central aluminium strip nose piece holds the mask in position over the nose, even for those of us who wear glasses. The design also allows for slight variations for a personalised fit.

Our videos show Toni wearing one of these ‘boxy’ mask designs. Made with layers of fine weave 100% cotton that is washable at 60 degrees, the mask is reusable and eco-friendly. Even the flexible nose piece is made from food-grade aluminium cut from (well-cleaned) takeaway containers!

​NO!

The government guidance says, for acts of worship:
“One individual only should be permitted to sing or chant… This is because there is a possible additional risk of transmission in environments where individuals are singing or chanting as a group.” (1)

​Professional singers can sing as groups or soloists outside, such as by the graveside. Crucially, any singers should be professional:
“Non-professionals (meaning those participating in performing arts other than for work purposes) should not engage in group singing at all.” (1)

A quick word about Must and Should in government documents;
• Must indicated a legal requirement under the Health Protection (Coronavirus, Restrictions) (England) Regulations 2020
• Should is not a legal requirement but a strong recommendation

Various studies have examined the travel of droplets from singing, as we outlined in our recent blog. A new study at the University of Bristol led by Declan Costello, an ear, nose and throat surgeon with an interest in voice disorders will look at the aerosol transmission during singling and playing wind instruments. Funded by the Department of Digital, Culture, Media and Sport and sponsored by Public Health England, the study results should be published in the early autumn. (3) (4)

Call us to discuss your requirements for a singer for a loved one’s funeral.

For us, the highlight of any funeral are the eulogies, the tributes paid to celebrate the life and achievements of some truly remarkable people. Whether spoken by the priest or by family members, we very much enjoy hearing of lives lived to the full, of family achievements and holidays, tricks played by kids long grown up and favourite pets.

Especially inspiring are the tributes to the senior generation who died in their 90s, having lived through WWII and the many changes to British society since. We've heard about butchers by Royal appointment, engineerings, publicans, military men, council workers and dedicated mothers and housewives from a generation who respected this as a full-time and demanding job in it own right.

Much as we enjoy the favourite poems too, its those personal, family-written eulogies that get to us every time.

Sometimes family members find it difficult and say they couldn’t think of the right words, so a eulogy is omitted or very short and sweet. This is fine, it feels as if something is missing. one of the best solutions to this came at a funeral recently.

The family members said: “I find it difficult to write and don’t know what to say, so we came up with this idea.  We’re going to read a list of the things mum liked and didn’t like.”
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Boy was this effective, i went a way feeling I knew this woman who loved sunshine, flowers, cooking and family life, but woe betide those who didn’t have clean shoes or ate food whilst walking down the street.
Without fail, we go away from these funerals thinking "I hope I achieve as much as them by their age!"

​At a recent funeral I came across this wonderful, evocative poem especially appropriate for a Catholic funeral Mass. This was the first time I'd heard this and it struck me as a wonderful celebration of how ordinary things brings us closer together.

Sonnet 3 from Clearances. by Seamus Heaney

When all the others were away at Mass
I was all hers as we peeled potatoes.
They broke the silence, let fall one by one
Like solder weeping off the soldering iron:
Cold comforts set between us, things to share
Gleaming in a bucket of clean water.
and again let fall. Little pleasant splashes
From each others' work would bring us to our senses.

So while the parish priest at her bedside
Went hammer and tongs at the prayers for the dying
And some were responding and some crying
I remembered her head bent towards my head,
Her breath in mine, our fluent dipping knives-
Never closer the whole rest of our lives.

​Irish born Seamus Heaney (3 April 1939 – 30 August 2013)  was the recipient of the 1995 Nobel Prize in Literature.
​
He has been described as "the most important Irish poet since Yeats" and on his death in 2013, The Independent described him as "probably the best-known poet in the world."

So far this year we've sung over 100 individual songs and hymns for funerals, burials and memorials services. As you would expect, this total includes some of the most popular items, including:

• Schubert’s Ave Maria (still the most popular request by far) 
• Pie Jesu (the Lloyd Webber version)
• Over the Rainbow 
• Danny Boy 

We have also learnt several special requests for families, which we always enjoy doing. Some are new new favourites, including:

• In the arms of the Angel - Sarah McLaughlin
• Bring him home - from the musical Les Miserables
• Evergreen - Barbra Streisand
• The fields of Athenry - Pete St John
• Suo Gan - Welsh lullaby

Some required a fair amount of work beforehand including:

• Dulce domum - The Winchester school song. 
We were sent the link to the new version, but the deceased would have sung the original version. In the end, we learnt this from an old recording on YouTube before finally tracking down the music two days before the service!

• How beautiful upon the mountains - Stainer
With just a few days’ notice, we had to to not only learn this but make a solo arrangement as this was originally written for 4 singers

• The Hymn of the Hampshire countryside
Yes,there is one!

So, if a family is looking for something special and unusual, we can probably help!

Music at a funeral service is often one of the first things to be discussed, as music has a great effect on people’s emotions.

Choosing music for a funeral can seem a daunting task, as you can have almost any type of music you wish at a funeral. Don’t feel pressured by this thought. Take time to consider if the deceased had favourite songs, hymns or instrumental music they loved. These pieces of music would add a greater meaning to the service, rather than just the first thing that come to mind.

At Surrey & London Funeral Singers, we want you to feel free to choose the music that means most to you and your family:

• You could combine recorded music and live singing
• You might choose to have an organist play some traditional hymns
• We could sing other items to backing tracks
• You could simply play a track from CD

It's entirely up to you. 

This is the most asked question, as very few of us have experience in planning funerals. The answer is usually 3 pieces of music, for a 30min funeral service.

• One item when at the beginning, either when the coffin enters or just after
• One funeral song during a period of quiet reflection around the committal
• One item at the end of the service, usually an uplifting item to help mourners leave with a happy memory

If you are having a church funeral service, the timings are usually longer as the service can last from 30mins to almost 90mins. 

Church services would usually have music at the following points:

• Entrance Song or Hymn
• Psalm
• A hymn during the service
• Song of farewell at the committal
• Recessional Song or hymn

If the funeral service is a Roman Catholic Requiem Mass, then there may be more:

• Entrance Song or Hymn
• Psalm
• Offertory hymn
• 2 Communion hymns
• Song of farewell at the committal
• Recessional Song or hymn

With secular celebrations, the sky’s the limit so to speak. There are no standard formats to follow, so you, your celebrant and singer/musician can create something really unique. 

So there is much opportunity at a funerals to include music for a personalised farewell. We’re always happy to discuss ideas and our website has many suggestions of songs and hymns that would be suitable. Call us to discuss