Why music matters – interview with Briony from The London Funeral Singers

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How did The London Funeral Singers get started?

Penny was very close to her nan. She sang at her funeral and that was a really, special experience for her, so she knew firsthand how important music is to a funeral service, and what it can do for people.

Penny and I started off singing at funerals ourselves; but people started asking for specific pieces of music that we felt we couldn’t really do justice. However, because we’re in the performing arts, we knew friends of ours that could. So, we started to audition our friends, who are incredible singers, and we kept doing that until we made ourselves obsolete as singers, really!

We stay in the background now and we do the organising. We found there was a real gap for a specialised funeral music service. We try to choose the voices and skill sets that would best fit each funeral.

We just celebrated our 10-year anniversary as a business, which is incredible.

What is so important about music at a funeral?

There is something really specific about the way music interacts with both your emotions and your memory, especially if there's a person right in front of you singing it. It’s just that intangible thing, isn’t it? I think at a funeral you need the space that music provides, which no amount of words will quite match. Maybe with words, there's more of a tendency to intellectualise things. But when it's music, you just let it happen to you, I think.

When Penny and I were both still singing at funerals regularly, we sang at a funeral for a newborn baby. They'd chosen Bright Eyes by Simon and Garfunkel. We started singing, and we just saw this wave go through the whole congregation. I think it gives people permission to feel something.

Have you noticed any changes or trends in the music that people are choosing for funerals?

The things that people are looking for and the styles that people are after are starting to shift. People are trying to really make the funeral about the person who's passed away, and to celebrate them as the person they were.

I get so many people coming to me and saying things like, ‘I don't want anything morbid or sad; my aunt was a really upbeat, happy lady, she had a wonderful life and I really want to celebrate that’. Having a live musical experience is a really special way to do that.

Are a large proportion of your clients looking for sacred music, or is it a blend of sacred and secular?

If they're coming to us, they are possibly looking for something traditional. For example, in Catholic services, there are traditional pieces written specifically for the mass. There’s also the fact that most church choirs aren't available during the week, which is when most funerals happen.

Equally, people who are not having a religious service sometimes come to live music because, if there isn't a religious template for the service, having songs is a way that you can start to build a personalised funeral service.

Music can also help evoke an entire portion of someone's life - if they were in the military, for instance, you can have a bugler play the Last Post.

I think one of my favourite bookings was a person who came to us asking for a violinist to play a Meatloaf medley outside the crematorium as the coffin was going into the chapel.

What's one piece of advice you’d give to someone who doesn't know what music to choose for their person’s funeral?

I would say speak to the celebrant or the religious minister, because they might have a good idea of who the person was. Some churches have specific music that they usually have played, so they can offer you that as a template.

I would also say the funeral is just as much for the people left behind as it is for the person who's died, so if they haven’t left you any music that they wanted, then think about the music that reminds you of them. In all the craziness of booking a funeral, take the time to think about what music makes you feel close to that person.

Are there any pieces of music that you think you might like at your own funeral?

My number one choice is Here Comes the Sun by the Beatles. I'd love a harmonised choral arrangement of that. And then another Beatles song, Blackbird, because I sing that to my kids before bed.

I'm not religious at all, but there's a piece called Locus Iste by Bruckner. I've sung this song in choirs, and it's just the most magical, beautiful choral piece. The meaning of the piece is to bless a place; to create sanctity in that place, wherever you are. I quite like the idea of blessing the space before the funeral starts.

And lastly, Mozart's Ave Verum Corpus. It means ‘hail the true body’, so I think it's designed to be for communion, but just the tune of it is magical. Mozart wrote it for a friend only six months before he died. Mozart is a genius!

Thank you to Briony for talking to us. Find out more about The London Funeral Singers on their website.

Explore more blogs about funeral music:

• Ideas for classical music for funerals, including religious and non-religious options – Poppy's Blog – Poppy's Funerals
• Ten ways to use music at a funeral – Poppy's Blog – Poppy's Funerals

If you’re ready to organise a funeral, we’re here for you. Get in touch with us.