The Musical Eulogy and Other Functions of Funeral Music

Abstract

This article examines the function of music during contemporary funerals in the Netherlands. Using a performance-based approach, this article shows that music adds to the ritual dimension of contemporary funerals, by relating the music to the funeral itself, the deceased person's identity, and to emotions. Zooming in on the music that in contemporary personalized funerals is selected because it is-one way or another-related to the deceased, it will be shown that the lyrical content of this music is less important than social and emotional aspects. Theoretically, the concept of the musical eulogy is introduced as a hermeneutic tool to examine music in ritualized contexts.

Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Funerals: Experiences of Participants in the 2020 Dying2Learn Massive Open Online Course

“…Rituals are inherent in life, encompassing the traditional rites of passage such as christenings, marriages and funerals, and the more modern rituals such as gender reveals and living wakes ( Imber-Black, 2020 ). Relative to funerals, the familiar inherited structured rituals with or without religious symbolism may bring comfort, but the postmodern rituals may be preferred such as the individualised rituals celebrating a life lived ( Adamson & Holloway, 2013 ; Ramshaw, 2010 ; Davis (2008 , p.406) has said that ‘ funerals are the ultimate in final stories’ and this is seen in ceremonies and rituals that might include a photo array or videos of the deceased, the music they preferred, or personalised messaging such as drawing on/decorating the coffin ( Bruin-Mollenhorst, 2020 ; Holloway et al, 2013 ). The way in which funerals have been conducted to date though is through choice – of venue, who is notified/invited and proceedings, and choice or feelings of control in this ritualised process tends to mitigate grief responses ( Norton & Gino, 2014 ).…”

Music as Consolation—The Importance of Music at Farewells and Mourning

“…Another meaning of music has been explored in Adamson and Holloway (2012), where it was found to function to break up of spoken words sections during the funereal ceremony. This forms part of Bruin-Mollenhorst's (2018) functional description of the meaning of music.…”

“…Therefore, it is possible to argue that music fills the gap in which psycho-social-spiritual variables are involved. Bruin-Mollenhorst (2018) have discussed how lyrical content is important with regard the deceased persons' identity and emotions. The authors show that the lyrical content is less important than other aspects such as emotional and social.…”

“…Bruin-Mollenhorst (2018) have discussed how lyrical content is important with regard the deceased persons’ identity and emotions. The authors show that the lyrical content is less important than other aspects such as emotional and social.…”

“…The complexity of how music can be used during a funeral is described in Bruin-Mollenhorst (2018), where meanings, functions, motivations of choices, and the specific role of music have been studied. Researchers have used various foci but almost all of them zoom in specifically on the event of the funeral.…”