It’s been my experience that most of my students don’t become bagpipers because they want to play at events.  My average student comes to me because he/she is curious about playing the bagpipe.  Once I get them to the point where they can play something, a family member or a friend calls them on the phone and says:  “Hey John/Judy, I hear that you play the bagpipe.  My uncle passed away, and I was wondering if you would play at the funeral?”  The question is:  “What are you going to play?”.

In my mind, bagpipe music at a funeral consists of 4 elements:

• The Prelude
• The Processional
• The Recessional
• The Postlude

I tell people that I do what an organist would do if we were in a church playing the funeral service.  So this is my recipe for funeral music.  Let me break that down:

The Prelude starts as the cars pull up in the cemetery.  I play a series of slow marches until they open the back of the hearse.  When the casket starts moving, I play the processional, which is “Going Home”.  I play that until the casket is in place, the flowers are in place, and the service is ready to start.

After the funeral director makes his final announcement, I play the “recessional” which is “Amazing Grace”, unless something else is requested.  Following the recessional is the Postlude.  If the deceased is a veteran, I will play his service song based on the branch of the service that he/she was in and then an Irish or Scottish medley depending on from where the deceased/deceased’s family hailed.  I always ask the family or funeral directors if they were Irish or Scottish and if they served in the military.

This set could be no more than 10 tunes.  It can also be played when your family or friends put you on the spot to play for them at their party or gathering. Hey, most people are curious about you playing the bagpipe.  The average listener doesn’t know whether you made a mistake while playing unless you have a meltdown.  If you learn this set, you are on your way!