Can we hire a musician for a funeral on short notice?

Yes. A funeral is usually arranged inside a week, and a date that's a few days away is a normal request here. Send the date, the venue and the time of the service, and we'll answer against the booking calendar and come back with a recommendation and a price.

What music is played at a memorial service?

Usually a prelude as people arrive, one or two songs during the service, and music as everyone leaves: hymns, the standards, and the songs the person loved. Instrumental guitar or piano suits the service itself because it lets the words of a reading or a eulogy stand on their own, and a singer suits a family that wants a hymn or a song sung.

Do you play celebrations of life?

Yes, and that's where a duo comes in. Upright bass and guitar play the standards under the conversation at the reception, the restaurant, the club or the house, at 65 to 72 dBA at the nearest table, for an hour or two, and a singer with a guitar plays the songs the person loved. Where the family wants a jazz band, this is the place for it.

Can a musician play at the graveside?

Yes. A guitar plays a graveside or a scattering without power, on a battery-powered system or none at all, and the same guitarist can play the service before it. Cemeteries have their own rules about where a musician stands and whether amplification is allowed, and we ask them beforehand.

Can you learn a specific song for the service?

Yes. Tell us the title and the musician learns it if it isn't already in the set, and the first learned song is included in every booking. Hymns, standards, folk and country songs, and the pop songs of the last sixty years are in the published song list on the repertoire page.

Funerals and memorials

A musician for a funeral, a memorial service or a celebration of life.

A funeral or a memorial service has three or four places where music goes: as people arrive and find a seat, once during the service for the one song that was theirs, at the end as everyone stands, and afterward, at the reception or the celebration of life, where it plays under the conversation for an hour or two. One guitarist covers the service, a pianist covers it where the chapel has a piano, and upright bass and guitar cover the reception afterward. We book all of it, and a service that’s a few days away is a normal request.

This page is part of our daytime bookings, and it’s written for whoever is arranging the service: the family, the funeral director, the officiant or the church. The booking comes with sound support where the venue has none, a certificate of insurance where the venue asks for one, and one personal contact from the first email to the last song.

Check a Date See Pricing

Hear it

The one song, and the hour after.

Can’t Help Falling in Love on one nylon-string guitar, which is the kind of song a family asks for during the service, and Autumn Leaves on one guitar at conversation volume, which is what the reception sounds like.

The service

Where the music goes in a funeral or a memorial.

The order is the officiant’s or the family’s. These are the four places a musician usually plays, and any one of them can be booked on its own.

As people arrive: Twenty to thirty minutes of prelude while people find a seat, played by one guitarist or a pianist: hymns, the standards, and the songs the family names. This is the stretch that decides whether the service starts in silence or in music, and it’s the easiest part to add.
During the service: One song, or two, at the point the officiant or the family chooses: after a reading, during a slideshow, before the eulogy. The song is the one that was theirs, instrumental on guitar or piano or sung, and the first learned song is included in the booking. Nobody is talking over it, so the timing is agreed with the officiant beforehand and the musician takes the cue from them.
The recessional and the graveside: Music as everyone stands and leaves, and at the graveside if the family wants it there. A guitar plays a graveside without power, on a battery-powered system or none at all, and the same guitarist who played the chapel plays it.
The reception or the celebration of life: An hour or two of music under the conversation at the church hall, the restaurant, the club or the house afterward. This is where a duo, upright bass and guitar, plays the standards at 65 to 72 dBA at the nearest table, or a singer with a guitar plays the songs the person loved. Where the family wants a jazz band, this is the place for it, and the jazz duo and trio page covers the sizes.

Who plays it

Guitar, piano, or a voice.

Acoustic or Spanish guitar

The solo guitarist plays hymns, standards and the songs the family names on steel strings, and the Spanish guitarist plays the same service on nylon strings, which is the sound in the clip above. Either one sets up in 6 by 4 feet, plays a small chapel without amplification, and moves to the graveside.

Piano

Where the chapel, the church or the funeral home has a piano, a pianist plays the prelude, the song and the recessional on it, and sings when the family wants the words. The roster page lists the solo piano booking.

A singer

The singer and guitarist is the booking when the words matter: a hymn sung, a country song, the one from the year they married. One voice and a guitar, and the same musician plays the prelude instrumentally.

For the reception, the jazz duo or the trio plays the hour after. When a celebration of life at a home or a club runs into the evening, the private parties page covers a longer booking.

Booking it

Planned with the officiant, on short notice.

Send the date, the venue and the time of the service as soon as you have them, even if the service is this week, and we’ll answer against the booking calendar. Then the musician and the officiant or the funeral director agree the order of service and the cues, so on the day nobody has to signal anything from a pew.

The songs are yours to choose. Hymns, the standards, a folk song, the song from a first dance forty years ago: tell us the titles and the musician learns what isn’t already in the set, with the first learned song included. Where a family isn’t sure, the musician suggests from what’s usually asked for, and the published song list is searchable on the repertoire page.

Churches, funeral homes and cemeteries each have their own rules about amplification and about where a musician can stand, and we ask them before the day rather than on it. A certificate of insurance goes to any venue that wants one, with a W-9 and one invoice.

What a solo musician or a duo costs in this market is on the pricing page. A service is priced as its own date, and a service and its reception together are one booking.

Questions

Asked about music for a funeral or a memorial.

Can we hire a musician for a funeral on short notice?: Yes. A funeral is usually arranged inside a week, and a date that's a few days away is a normal request here. Send the date, the venue and the time of the service, and we'll answer against the booking calendar and come back with a recommendation and a price.
What music is played at a memorial service?: Usually a prelude as people arrive, one or two songs during the service, and music as everyone leaves: hymns, the standards, and the songs the person loved. Instrumental guitar or piano suits the service itself because it lets the words of a reading or a eulogy stand on their own, and a singer suits a family that wants a hymn or a song sung.
Do you play celebrations of life?: Yes, and that's where a duo comes in. Upright bass and guitar play the standards under the conversation at the reception, the restaurant, the club or the house, at 65 to 72 dBA at the nearest table, for an hour or two, and a singer with a guitar plays the songs the person loved. Where the family wants a jazz band, this is the place for it.
Can a musician play at the graveside?: Yes. A guitar plays a graveside or a scattering without power, on a battery-powered system or none at all, and the same guitarist can play the service before it. Cemeteries have their own rules about where a musician stands and whether amplification is allowed, and we ask them beforehand.
Can you learn a specific song for the service?: Yes. Tell us the title and the musician learns it if it isn't already in the set, and the first learned song is included in every booking. Hymns, standards, folk and country songs, and the pop songs of the last sixty years are in the published song list on the repertoire page.
How much does a funeral musician cost?: We publish no prices of our own. What a solo musician or a duo costs in this market, with the sources, is on the pricing page. A service is priced as its own date, and a service and its reception together are one booking. Send the date and we'll come back with a recommendation and a price.

Send us the date, the venue and the songs, and we'll plan the music with whoever is leading the service.

Live music for your event, from a solo musician to a full band, with sound support that’s the right size for the venue and a personal contact for the day.

Check a Date

Send us the date and the venue, and we’ll come back with a recommendation and a price for your day. What live music costs in this market is on the pricing page.