Funeral songs and hymns for a mum
Choose music she loved and hymns the congregation can sing. This guide sorts hymns, choral pieces, and songs by where they sit in the service and by the kind of mother she was, with a note on what a choir adds to each. For the short list, see funeral songs for a mum in our main guide to funeral songs.
What is a good funeral song for a mum? For a churchgoing mum, Lord of All Hopefulness or The Lord’s My Shepherd lets the whole congregation sing for her. For a gardener, Morning Has Broken or All Things Bright and Beautiful. To listen to, Fauré’s Pie Jesu, an Ave Maria, or Supermarket Flowers. A choir of four can lead the hymns in harmony and close the service with Rutter’s The Lord Bless You and Keep You.
Be Thou My Vision, sung by our full choir. Hear more recordings.
Music for each part of the service
A crematorium service of 30 to 40 minutes has room for two hymns and one piece to listen to. A church funeral of an hour can take three hymns and two or three choral pieces. While people arrive and take their seats, the organist plays quiet music, and the choir begins with the first hymn.
The first hymn
Choose a hymn the room already knows, because people find it hardest to sing at the start. The Lord’s My Shepherd, sung to Crimond, and All Things Bright and Beautiful both work here. With a choir leading, the congregation hears the tune in the first line and has voices to follow.
After the readings or the tributes
This is the place for a piece everyone listens to. Fauré’s Pie Jesu lasts about three minutes and needs a soprano and an organ. Howard Goodall’s The Lord Is My Shepherd, the theme of The Vicar of Dibley, lets a family hear Psalm 23 sung for them while they sit. After a tribute that made people laugh, Wind Beneath My Wings or Somewhere Over the Rainbow suits the mood.
Before the commendation
A gentle hymn sits well just before the minister commends your mum to God. Lord of All Hopefulness and Be Thou My Vision share the Irish tune Slane, so choose one of the two. At a crematorium the committal follows, and a choir can sing a short piece as the curtains close: the Pie Jesu, or Ola Gjeilo’s Ubi Caritas.
The end of the service
John Rutter wrote The Lord Bless You and Keep You in 1981. It takes under three minutes and sends people out with a blessing, sung by the choir before the coffin leaves. A last hymn can carry the coffin out instead, with the organ playing on as the church empties. If you want to end with a record she loved, play it as people leave.
Music for the mother she was
A mum who went to church
Start with her own hymns. If she sang Dear Lord and Father of Mankind at her parish church for forty years, it belongs in her service. Jan Struther wrote Lord of All Hopefulness in 1931, and its four verses ask for blessing at morning, noon, evening, and night, at work and at home. Make Me a Channel of Your Peace, Sebastian Temple’s 1967 setting of the Prayer of St Francis, fits a woman people remember for her kindness.
A gardener or a lover of the countryside
Morning Has Broken sets Eleanor Farjeon’s words of 1931 to Bunessan, a Scottish folk tune named after a village on the Isle of Mull. Cecil Frances Alexander wrote All Things Bright and Beautiful in 1848, and it names the flowers, birds, mountains, and rivers of a country walk. Churches sing it to Royal Oak, an English folk tune Martin Shaw arranged in 1916, or to William Henry Monk’s tune of 1887, so tell us which one her church used. A choir can sing the verses in harmony and leave the refrain to everyone.
A mum who loved musicals and pop
Harold Arlen and Yip Harburg wrote Over the Rainbow for The Wizard of Oz in 1939. It and You Raise Me Up both exist in arrangements for choir, so we can sing either one live. Amanda McBroom wrote The Rose, and Bette Midler sang it in the 1979 film of the same name. The song is short, and it ends on an image of a seed waiting under winter snow; in four parts it sounds close to a hymn. Wind Beneath My Wings thanks someone who carried the people around her. Ed Sheeran’s Supermarket Flowers suits a recording or one singer with piano.
A Catholic mum
At a Requiem Mass the parish priest decides what is sung, and many parishes keep pop songs out of the Mass itself. The Ave Maria suits the offertory or Communion: Schubert’s melody of 1825, or the Bach–Gounod version. Gounod published his melody over Bach’s Prelude in C in 1853, and his publisher, Heugel, issued it with the Latin words in 1859. Ola Gjeilo, a Norwegian composer born in 1978, set Ubi Caritas for four-part choir. Its Latin text, an old antiphon for Maundy Thursday, begins “where charity and love are”, and it suits the preparation of the gifts. Our guide to hymns for a Catholic funeral goes through the Mass point by point.
Irish, Welsh, or Scottish roots
For an Irish mum, Be Thou My Vision and Lord of All Hopefulness both use Slane, a folk tune named after the Hill of Slane in County Meath; our guide to Be Thou My Vision at a funeral covers its history. For a Scottish mum, The Lord’s My Shepherd comes from the Scottish Psalter of 1650, and its tune, Crimond, shares its name with a village in Aberdeenshire. For a Welsh mum, Calon Lân (A Pure Heart) has words by Daniel James and a tune by John Hughes, and Welsh rugby crowds sing it before Test matches.
A grandmother
When grandchildren are in the congregation, All Things Bright and Beautiful and Morning Has Broken give them a hymn they may know from school assemblies. Ed Sheeran wrote Supermarket Flowers about his own grandmother. A grandmother may have chosen The Lord’s My Shepherd for her own wedding, so ask the family which hymns she picked then.
What a choir brings to a mother’s funeral
At a funeral, a Small Choir of four sings in four parts: soprano, alto, tenor, and bass. In a hymn, the singers take the tune together in the first verse so the congregation can find it, then add harmony, with a descant over the last verse if you want one. When voices in the pews give out, the choir carries the hymn until people are ready to rejoin. A song such as The Rose or Over the Rainbow needs an arrangement for voices. Tell us the songs when you book, and we will say which suit the choir and which suit a recording.
In Greater London a Small Choir of four costs £1,150 for up to two hours, including a rehearsal, or £1,400 with an organist. A quintet costs £1,400, and a choir of eight £2,000 for a large church. Outside Greater London we add travel to the quote. If you want one voice, a soloist costs £275, or £550 with an organist. Our pricing page lists the sizes and what each includes.
Live singing, recordings, or both
Some songs belong to one voice: Bette Midler’s Wind Beneath My Wings, Eva Cassidy’s Over the Rainbow. If your mum loved the record itself, play it. Hymns and choral pieces work the other way round. A recording of the Pie Jesu through a crematorium’s speakers sounds thin beside a soprano in the room, and a congregation follows singers it can see.
A mix suits many services: two hymns and a choral piece sung live, with her favourite record played as people leave. Give the venue the track and the moment you want it, and tell us too, so the choir and the recording do not overlap. For a thanksgiving service later in the year, our guide to memorial service songs covers the hymns of thanks, and the most popular funeral hymns sets out the tunes and writers of the hymns above.
Sources: Wikipedia on Lord of All Hopefulness, All Things Bright and Beautiful, Bunessan, Ave Maria (Bach/Gounod), Ubi caritas, Ola Gjeilo, The Rose, Calon Lân, Crimond, and John Rutter; Hymnary.org on Lord of All Hopefulness.
Frequently asked questions
What is a good hymn for a mum’s funeral?
Lord of All Hopefulness, which Jan Struther wrote in 1931, asks for blessing through a whole day, at work and at home, and suits a mother whose faith showed in ordinary life. Morning Has Broken and All Things Bright and Beautiful suit a gardener. A choir helps the congregation sing them.
What is a good song to end a mum’s funeral?
John Rutter’s The Lord Bless You and Keep You, sung by a choir of four or more, takes under three minutes and closes the service with a blessing. A last hymn such as Abide with Me can carry the coffin out. If you want a record she loved, such as Wind Beneath My Wings, play it as people leave.
Can a choir sing a pop song at my mum’s funeral?
Yes, where an arrangement for voices exists. Choirs sing songs such as Over the Rainbow, You Raise Me Up, and The Rose in four-part arrangements. Tell us the song when you book and we will say whether it suits the choir or a recording. At a Catholic funeral Mass, ask the parish priest first.
What music is played as people arrive at a funeral?
The organist plays quiet music while people arrive and take their seats. The singers begin with the first hymn, once the service has started. If there is no organist, people arrive in quiet.
How much does a choir cost for a mum’s funeral?
In Greater London a Small Choir of four costs £1,150 for up to two hours, including a rehearsal, or £1,400 with an organist. A choir of eight costs £2,000. Outside Greater London we add travel to the quote, and there is no VAT to add. Our pricing page lists the other sizes.
What songs suit a funeral for a grandmother?
All Things Bright and Beautiful and Morning Has Broken give grandchildren a hymn they may know from school. Ed Sheeran wrote Supermarket Flowers about his own grandmother. Ask the family which hymns she chose for her wedding: if she chose The Lord’s My Shepherd, it works at her funeral too.
Talk to us about the music for your mum
Send us the hymns and songs you have in mind, or the order of service if you have one. We will suggest where a choir fits and send you a price.
Ask about a choir for the funeral
Text us on WhatsApp for the fastest reply, or email office@londonchoralservice.com.