Much of our time before a funeral service is spent chatting to the organist, and it amazes us how often the family has not made provision for entry and exit music for the service. Most organists will play for around 10 minutes before the service starts (if possible), and most have a 'pad' of suitable classical music that they will select items from. They can also do the same during the committal during a cremation (if the coffin is to be removed or concealed), and again when the guests depart. |
Funeral hymns really do sound best played on a real organ - but what if the church or crematorium doesn't have an organ, or indeed an organist? Singers for Funerals have an extensive library of recorded hymns accompaniments for funerals for just such a situation, thanks to the excellent recordings by John Keys available from the Hymns CDs website.
We invested in the full set of accompaniments - over 1000 in all - and they have been invaluable for our soloists so far, as we can quickly learn new hymns tunes and accompaniments. So far we have been very lucky in that every funeral we have performed at has booked an organist, and to be honest, we'd always rather sing with a real live organist than recordings, given the choice. However, our funeral hymns backing tracks, for lack of a better phrase, will soon come into their own when we will be singing at a funeral in a tiny country church where there is no organ at all. Our library also includes our own recordings of songs and opera arias, so whatever the family chose from their funeral service music, we should be covered!
|
Follow a funeral singer
|