Singers for Funerals

_"Hauntingly beautiful, truly wonderful, we felt so blessed to have had you present at (our mother's) funeral. From the moment we accessed your comprehensive website to the last notes you sang it was absolutely amazing, so professional. We both want to  thank you from the bottom of our hearts for making the service so happily memorable."
A&J S, service held at Kingston Crematorium

We were also very fortunate to have Paul Burgoyne playing the chapel organ for us, one of the best organists we've had accompany us over the years. So, here's a 'thank you' plug for him - www.paulburgoyne.co.uk.

We wish all our clients and associates in the funeral industry a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year 2012.

Due to prior committments, our lady soloists are not available from Monday 21 Nov - Tuesday 13 Dec 2011 inclusive. If you require a male soloist during this period, please contact our Birmingham funeral singer.

We've sung at two crematorium funerals in the last week, both of which showed the very best in creating a moving celebration of a life well lived.

The first was a humanist funeral entirely conducted by friends and family of the deceased, who stood up to pay tributes that were heart-felt and often unscripted. We sang three favourite items including the traditional Molly Malone, and afterwards we felt that the cockles of our hearts had been warmed too by this moving service!

The second was a CofE service; plain, simple and all the more sincere for it. A lovely vicar, and one of our favourite crematorium organists playing, who understands that hymns need to keep moving but singers also need to breathe! Whilst many of the family members clearly didn't much feel like singing, they raised their voices with us and we all walked out into the late summer sunshine feeling a little better for a rousing version of Abide with Me.

Although we never ask our clients for a 'review', their feedback and comments are always gratefully received. In case you haven't found it yet, we've put these together on a new Client Testimonials page. These are all as sent to us, edited only to remove names and to shorten from longer and often very moivng emails and letters.

Singers for Funerals will be appearing at the National Funeral Exhibition this Saturday, performing opera and popular songs to entertain visitors, at the bar area in hall 2.

Soprano Toni Nunn, mezzo Kirsty Young and tenor Richard Owen will be singing 3 different sets between 2pm and 4pm, so if you want to know what we sound like, stop by and have a listen.

We will also be touring the exhibition in between sets, so if you spot us wandering around with leaflets, do say hello!

The National Funeral Exhibition is on at the Stoneleigh Exhibition Centre near Warwick from Friday 10 June until Sunday 12 June 2011. For full details, see http://www.nationalfuneralexhibition.co.uk.

In their recent report, the Cooperative Funeralcare reported that:

"If dress and decoration is the most visible sign of change, then choice of music is the most audible. Our study reveals that religious music is on the decline. Many people now express a preference for personal favourites or contemporary songs. Often the music chosen by the family – or specified by the person to be played at their funeral – is light-hearted."

However, the report also says that 67% of its funeral are still traditional, led by a minister. And, within the 21% classified as contemporary, hymns still often feature in the order of service. So, that's still a lot of funerals where hymns play an important part, and increasingly we're being asked to lead the hymn singing at services.

This is probably for two reasons; mainly that not everyone feels like singing at a funeral, and also, they may not know the tune. At Singers for Funerals, we make sure we learn any new hymns before the service, so when we lead the hymn singing, we can sing the tune with confidence, and others can follow. We admit, we've had to learn a few new hymns, and we've also discovered new words to old favourites.

So, we've set up www.songsforfunerals.co.uk, where anyone can hear hymns sung or played, and find hymn lyrics for service sheets as required. And every time we sing a hymn new to us, we put it on the site too!

http://www.songsforfunerals.co.uk

We were talking recently to an organist who had been playing for services at a crematorium for over 20 years, during which time he had seen major changes in funeral customs first-hand. Whereas he used to play the music for all the service, including entrance and exit, he usually now only played hymns, and not at every service either.

So, he was especially delighted to accompany our mezzosoprano at a funeral last month, and we were delighted to perform with such a good musician. We had more comments on the 'wonderful music' than we'd had for quite a time.
However, under the obvious professional pride in his work, he was concerned that with the cuts imposed on local councils, he or the other professional organist might be 'let go'.

Let us say right now, that would be a tremendous shame. A good organist is a joy and a treasure (trust us, we've met the others…), and their playing adds so much to any service. At EVERY crematorium funeral service we sing at, at least two people come up afterwards and say how much they enjoyed hearing live music, and how it made the whole service feel special. And, hand on heart, if we've had a live organist play for us, we feel it's been special too. In our view, nothing beats live music at a funeral to help celebrate a life well lived.

So, if you have the option, use your crematorium organist's skills and experience - we always do if we can. Which is why our mezzosoprano Kirsty is proud to a Fellow of the Society of Crematorium Organists, even though she can't play a note herself!

We've added a new page to the website with a selection of Singers for Funerals clients testimonials, so you can read what past customers think of our service.

The Daily Mail enters the debate over decorating graves, with pics.

"Traditionalists argue that graveyards are places of peace and contemplation and those who visit to lay flowers on Mum’s grave shouldn’t have to negotiate their way past piles of soft toys or be ­disturbed by the cacophony of competing wind-chimes.
But for their part, those who want to heap graves with cuddly toys protest their right to remember their dead in whatever way they choose."

Read more here: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1353815/Colourful-poundland-graveyard-shrines-British-councils-trying-wipe-out.html#ixzz1D7Spm1lZ