Music for Celebration of Life show

[tjdowning]

Hello everyone,
A good friend's father has asked me to do a show about his life. He is dying of cancer, so uncertain of his time left. He wants to be able to see it before he passes, and then just play at his funeral. He is not doing well now, and they are scrambling to go through family albums, so I am also scrambling to get all scanned in and then put together show.

I have a number of beautiful songs that work for some who has passed, but some seem a little strange to use before he passes.

Looking for some beautiful songs to use for this type of show. Any help and suggestions will be much appreciated.

Thank you,
Terri
Iowa User

[BarbaraC]

My mantra is, "When in doubt, go with an instrumental," but if vocals seem better, and if you'll be showing the various eras of his life, perhaps you could find music from those eras that fits well without indicating the loss of someone.

That's quite a tough job you've taken on.

Barbara

[debngar]

Similar to what Barbara suggested, I did a show like that for my Mom who was about 93 at the time and mostly used meaningful songs from her era that she shared with me to help tell her story and how she met Dad.

As it turned out, her eyesight and hearing were probably a bit too far gone at that point for her to absorb the show as well as one might have been able to if those things were in better working condition. She did absorb most of it.

I think it's a great idea. When they can see it before they pass away, as they watch it, that can stir wonderful memories and sometimes offer a bit more input on story/content for tweaking a final version. Keep the music upbeat and not sad as you might guess.

I would encourage anyone to do a show like this for someone they love and to start early on.

[gpsmikey]

I would strongly suggest asking the person who is dying - he wants to see it before he goes, he undoubtedly has some favorite music - see what he has to say.

mikey

[debngar]

I used this song (after the instrumentals that occurred earlier on in the memorial) in my Father-In_Law's memorial a little over a year ago. It leans toward being a tear jerker though so maybe it might not do for you in this case.


"Thank You For Being My Dad"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CWY1vFMdma0

Last edited by debngar on Thu Oct 31, 2013 11:57 am, edited 1 time in total.

[BarbaraC]

These things are so very individual, depending on the person and on those left behind. For instance, in a very private show I did for my father, I used "The Wind Beneath My Wings" because that's exactly what he was for me.

I don't envy the tough job ahead of you.

Barbara

[tdew]

I started wondering how I would want to do my own memorial show. I think I'd hit on all the most important events and use my favorite music.
Has anyone ever done an "auto-memorial show" ?

[tjdowning]

He has told me he has one song that he likes and wants to use. With the many hundreds of pics he will have, I told him there would be numerous songs for that length of show.

My good friend who's dad it is, is not dealing with this well and is in the mode of "not wanting to talk about it", so not much input from her. I just thought that maybe I would burn a CD of the songs that might work and let him listen to them and see if OK.

Barbara, good point of using some instrumental, sometimes with this kind of show some of the words in the songs can really get to you. I did a show a few years back for a friend's husband and his daughter gave me all the songs to use, which were his favorites. Some of them were some 80's rocker songs, but then I thought that if that's what he wanted, it worked for me.

So maybe I can get this man to give me some of his favorites and then it would be nice to let people know these were the songs he wanted.

On a happy note, had my 4th grandchild on Tuesday, so another reminder of the circle of life

Thanks for everyone's suggestions, always great to get your thoughts. Enjoy each day....and leave nothing left unsaid to our loved ones. -Terri

[weldr]

I haven't listened to this in a few years. It was donated by one of the early forum members, Nannybear. Worth bringing up again. May not work for you but I remember it was a nice song. Don

[weldr]

I haven't listened to this in a few years. It was donated by one of the early forum members, Nannybear. Worth bringing up again. May not work for you but I remember it was a nice song. Don viewtopic.php?f=15&t=11514