A lump in your throat; why singing at funerals is difficult

“Thank you very much for your beautiful singing at L’s funeral. I was holding my daughter’s hand for the hymn and neither of us could sing as we were so choked. Suddenly we heard above all the strength and beauty of the most colourful enrichment to our grief. We found our voices and sang with you ’till the end.

You can never know just what your sweet voices did for us, as no doubt to others too, and I will always treasure the moment.”

BM, Farnborough

At Singers for Funerals, we are more than aware that a lot of people find it difficult to sing at a funeral because they are emotionally involved. This is absolutely natural, as if you are upset and literally ‘uptight’, you are constricting your vocal mechanism.

As professional singers, our soloists have years of training that enable them to sing in almost any situation. So, they are able to sing beautifully at a service even when most of the congregation may be in tears. As professional singers, they are able to detach themselves a little from proceedings, enabling them to give their best performance.

And we find it not just the family who appreciate what we do; often, guests come to us afterwards and say how the singing helped then say goodbye, which is perhaps the ultimate compliment.