Music and Lyric Characteristics of Popular Dutch Funeral Songs

Abstract

This study compared the characteristics of 150 songs (Dutch lyrics, N = 47, English lyrics, N = 103), popular at Dutch funerals, to an equal number of non-funeral songs. The variables explored included those linked with the music (valence, energy, danceability, acousticness, key, and tempo); and lyrics, namely: linguistics-related (first-person singular/plural, second-person pronouns; past, present, future tense; expressed emotion (positive, negative words, and the discrete emotional categories anger, anxiety, sadness); and category words (those relating to family, friends, death, religion). Funeral music was lower in valence, energy, and danceability and higher in acousticness than non-funeral music. Furthermore, English funeral music lyrics contained more second-person pronouns and were more future-focused than comparison songs. Funeral lyrics were not particularly negative, but English texts contained more words relating to sadness. In conclusion, funeral music differs in severable notable respects from general popular songs that may reflect the special purpose of this music.

A Comparison of Music Characteristics of Funeral Music from Croatia, the Netherlands, and the United Kingdom

“…These investigators found that funeral music was lower in valence, energy, and tempo and more often in a major mode than music from popular charts and characterized it as sounding solemn, serene, and tender. These findings were partially replicated and expanded upon by Hanser et al (2022), who reported that English and Dutch popular funeral songs are lower on Spotify values of valence, energy, and danceability but higher in acousticness than nonfuneral music. Funeral music was also more often in a major mode.…”

“…This is surprising, given music's key role during the ceremony (Bruin- Mollenhorst, 2020), in the experience of consolation (Hanser et al, 2016;Viper et al, 2022), and during the grieving process (Merrill et al, 2022). The present study aimed to replicate recent findings on funeral music used in the Netherlands, which is characterized as lower in valence, energy, danceability, tempo, higher in acousticness, and more often in a major mode, compared to popular songs in general (Hanser et al, 2022;Mollenhorst et al, 2016). In addition, we investigate whether a similar pattern can be found for funeral music applied in Croatia and the United Kingdom and whether there are differences between these countries for the aforementioned values.…”

“…A slow tempo in combination with a major mode is often associated with music sounding tender (Juslin & Laukka, 2004). Music characteristics of funeral music thus suggest it sounds sad and tender, and is of mixed affect (Hanser et al, 2022;Mollenhorst et al, 2016).…”

“…These countries were selected because of the dates of crematorium appearances and the availability of lists of music used at funerals. Previous PSYCHOLOGICAL TOPICS, 32 (2023), 1, 209-226 investigations into funeral music used in the Netherlands served as a starting point (Hanser et al, 2022;Mollenhorst et al, 2016).…”

“…The selection process was like that of previous research on funeral music in which online sources were consulted (Hanser et al, 2022;Mollenhorst et al, 2016). For a sufficiently large sample of music, information was gathered from multiple websites belonging to funeral homes, crematoria, funeral insurers, musicians, or other funeral-related services that offer help, lists of (often) used music, or examples of what music to use at a funeral.…”