Whether you are working with an engaged couple on their wedding ceremony or the next-of-kin on a funeral service, having a wide knowledge & appreciation of music is important because music often makes a ceremony.
Whilst musical choices are always going to be varied & personal for the clients, as the celebrant, your advice & guidance on the tone, tempo & length of pieces will be essential.
English composer, Ralph Vaughan Williams, was born 150 years ago but his music remains hugely popular. Why not get more familiar with his work.
How about an excerpt from Fantasia on a Theme by Thomas Tallis as a wedding entrance piece? It is a rich orchestral piece with lots of anticipatory emotion.
What about Fantasia on Greensleeves as a calming certificate signing piece?
For an upbeat recessional piece, what about Vaughan Williams’ English Folk Song Suite?
For a funeral entrance, the 1st movement of Vaughan Williams’ Sea Symphony (Song for all seas, all ships) is a dramatic & stirring choral piece.
For a funeral service reflection piece, the ever popular Lark Ascending is perfect as it’s stirring melody suggests a journey. It is available on Obitus & Wesley in different length excerpts to suit all services.
To exit, Five Variants of “Dives & Lazarus” is a wonderfully poetic piece featuring both the melancholy & optimism of a final farewell.
Photo: Martin Hillary Photography
