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Funeral and memorial piano music

Music often played at funerals and memorial services, to read at the keyboard: Bach's Air on the G String, Handel's Largo, Schubert's Ave Maria, Elgar's Nimrod, Pachelbel's Canon in D, Chopin's funeral marches and hymns often sung at funerals. Chopin's Prelude in E minor was played at his own funeral; Bach's Prelude in C is the accompaniment over which Gounod later set his Ave Maria; Liszt and Burgmüller each wrote a Consolation; and the hymns run from Amazing Grace and Rock of Ages to O God, Our Help in Ages Past and Guide Me, O Thou Great Jehovah. Each piece has easier versions made from the score itself, starting with the melody alone.

Pieces
19
Levels
3 to 5
Key signatures
3 flats to 4 sharps
Length
8 to 108 bars

Choosing music for a service

A service usually has music in three places: while people arrive, during the service (a hymn, or a piece while people sit quietly), and as they leave. Ask the family whether a piece meant something to the person, and ask the officiant or the venue how long each place is and whether there is a piano.

Each piece here says how long it plays as written, at the speed its score marks. Most can be shortened: end at the close of a section, or leave out a repeat. For a hymn people sing, play the tune once as an introduction, then once for each verse; played on its own, once or twice through is enough. Music while people arrive can run as long as it needs: a hymn tune, the Air or the Canon can be played again from the start and stopped at the end of any phrase.

Play the version you can play calmly. A melody with a simple left hand, played steadily, serves the service better than the full score played under strain, and no one listening will mind which version is on the stand. Open a piece to print its easier versions, choose one, and practise it at the speed you will play on the day.

Level 3

Both hands busy, the hand moves around, a sharp or flat or two. Most of the Notebook minuets, sonatinas, The Entertainer.

Level 4

Real independence between the hands and more accidentals. Bach's inventions and little preludes, Für Elise, Chopin's easier preludes.

Level 5

The edge of early intermediate: dense textures, fast passages and far keys. The Moonlight Sonata, Maple Leaf Rag, Solfeggietto.

Open a piece to print any of its versions free, or to play it at your MIDI keyboard with every note marked. New to reading? The level 2 sight-reading exercises are a good warm-up.