Karaoke Forums

I have been asked to sing Amazing Grace at a funeral. I am wondering if there are "usual verses" or do people sing the entire song? I know there are verses that people are not familiar with. I will have a harp accompanying me and I don't really want to do make it too short, but don't want to drag it out. Any suggestions anyone?

Karen, I found one that sounds appropriate @ www.littleleaf.com/amazinggrace htm Sorry, I don't know how to link. I just did a Yahoo search for amazing grace lyrics, and it was the 3rd one down. The third verse has to do with someone passing. Hope this helps.

Rosario

You can always borrow the Hymnal Book of either the church or funeral home where the services will be held, which will have the version they use. Also check with the harpist to see what version he/she uses for such occassions.

_________________
You can be strange but not a stranger

Thanks guys. Will check out both your suggestions.

I read the title and said to myself, "who died"? I really wasn't expecting to be right. Sorry about the loss.

My work just started manufacturing parts for harps. Even got a tour of the assembly part of the shop. I couldn't believe how many pieces are on the inside of one of those. Pretty cool.

Again sorry for the loss. Hope it goes well.

Here are some lyrics from the internet, Susan Boyle's version

Amazing grace, how sweet the sound
That saved a wretch like me
I once was lost but now am found
Was blind but now I see

'Twas grace that taught my heart to fear
And grace my fears relieved
How precious did that grace appear
The hour I first believed

Through many dangers, toils and snares
I have already come
'Tis grace that brought me safe thus far
And grace will lead me home

The Lord has promised good to me
His word my hope secures
He will my shield and portion be
As long as life endures

And when this flesh and heart shall fail
And mortal life shall cease
I shall possess within the veil
A life of joy and peace

When we've been there ten thousand years
Bright, shining as the sun
We've no less days to sing God's praise
Than when we first begun


I don't think I've ever heard the 5th verse shown above, although it does seem appropriate and deals with life after death. I think for a funeral, the last verse is good, because it expresses an eternal hope, and I've heard it sung a lot. Maybe 1, 2, 3, and 6, or 1, 2, 5, and 6, or is that too many or too few? You could also have the harpist play one verse as an instrumental interlude to break up the singing if you wanted. Is the congregation singing too?

Thanks Seadriz. Will print these out, talk to musician, and see what we come up with as far as number of verses. This will be a solo with the harp accompanying. Outside on the hillside at the cemetery, so no, no one else singing unless they just join in.

A couple years ago I about froze at a hill top graveside service this time of year. Stay warm!

Advice taken! Never know now - yesterday 68,,,today 48,,,,tomorrow 68! Weird.

Gotta love the PNW!

_________________
LIKE Lonman on Facebook - Lonman Productions Karaoke & my main site via my profile!

Hey Karen, we never heard how this went.

I was just asked to sing a song at someones wedding. "Your Song" by Elton John. I've never done anything like this before. It's an outside venue about 250 guests. I know I can sing the song, and I was tricked into trying first the other night before I was asked. But the nervousness part of it has me thrown. She said she'll either by the karaoke disc, I could hold a paper with the words, memorize them, sing it with the band doing the music. I mean the bar is different. And I actually karaoked at Six Flags, one song once, which was outside, so is it the same thing? I don't know.

She wants something special for her husband, and this is their song. I'd like to accept, but I don't know if I could pull this off. I'd be a wreck. And then to be well, next to them the center of attention, and because of the importance, I don't know how much liquid courage I should have. Well I do, but "none" isn't quite what I was looking for.

Any tips from you guys out their would be appreciated. I guess for such an important day I just don't want to screw it up. And I probably should let her know soon. It's about 6 weeks away.

practice practice practice. It's an easy song to sing. Just GO FOR IT!

One thing that may help is being able to practice it the day of the wedding before hand. Practicing it in the environment you'll be in always helps me.

I always try to keep in mind when singing for a wedding all eyes are on the bride and groom. You aren't the main focal point like if you were performing at a venue. Usually the singer is positioned some where off to the side, in the balcony or the back of the church.

You'll be giving them a gift they will always remember. I think you'll do an awesome job!

_________________
[shadow=pink][glow=deepskyblue]. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
[updown]~*~ MONKEY BUSINESS KARAOKE~*~ [/shadow][/updown][/glow]

Better to memorize but have a hard copy to glance if it needed. No, they will not be watching you, they will be watching the bride & groom, etc., like Babs says. The better you know your music, the easier it will be. Nerves aren't really an issue for me but my periodic memory lapses create havoc at times. I performed in a live show on Friday night, had only two songs to sing, and probably overdid it with the memorization (learning to sing the songs just based on the sounds and connecting the sounds, not really the words....old memorization trick) but did just fine.

Better not to drink anything ETOH beforehand. Just a policy of mine. It's a 'job.'

My background in musical theater helps me a lot in these situations but again, it's just knowing your music. That's a beautiful song. Great of you to do it for them.

Use a music stand to put the lyrics on. If you look at symphonies quite often a feature singer will use a stand to put their music/lyrics on.

_________________
You can be strange but not a stranger

Totally agree with your suggestion, Timberlea. Black solid music stand is something that blends in well, and yes, you do see professional singers use these.

I was asked to be a guest singer for a band a few weeks ago. The song " Whos Says You Can't Go Home". I didn't have time to memorize the song as well as I'd like, so I had the lyrics printed out as a safety. Dumb, dumb, dumb me should have memorized the song better. I started off fine remembering the lyrics then I went blank. I couldn't find the spot on the printed out sheet where we were at and had to wing it. Yikes I won't let that happen again.

_________________
[shadow=pink][glow=deepskyblue]. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
[updown]~*~ MONKEY BUSINESS KARAOKE~*~ [/shadow][/updown][/glow]

Thanks for the input. I still don't know if this is inside or outside. It's a forest preserve that has both. Gonna try and find out the particulars tonight.

Babs that last post doesn't help my nerves at all

Sorry about that.

I guess my point was I wasn't prepared. If you are prepared you'll be fine.

The wedding I did last summer I was extremely nervous, but I practiced the song until I could do it in my sleep. I was able to practice it an hour before I did it in the hall I was to perform it in. Huge plus in my mind. Everything went well.

_________________
[shadow=pink][glow=deepskyblue]. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
[updown]~*~ MONKEY BUSINESS KARAOKE~*~ [/shadow][/updown][/glow]

Well, the Wedding was this weekend and I feel I pulled it off. It was so casual being at a forest preserve and all. Never been to wedding with guests in tank tops and tshirts. I'm sure this helped. She did push me back to 7:00, which was tough to be there and think about it for 6 hrs. Like some suggested and I knew, really didn't drink during that time except for a couple of beers. But lookout when 7:05 hit
Like Mr Scotts weekend, we had some rain also. It made for some messy volleyball players, but wasn't to bad.
I did make a hard copy of the lyrics like suggested too. I knew my nerves and memory would fail me. I laminated it with a wedding type picture on the other side with the date and their names. I wrote a little message on the lyric side, signed it and gave it to the couple afterwards. This is where the groom , in a joking type manner cussed at me for making him cry. He didn't know I was doing this, it was a special gift from the bride to him. They also liked how I changed a lyric to: You can tell everybody, this is your "wedding" song.
Now for all of you that said they wouldn't be looking at me, they'd be looking at the couple. LIARS, LIARS, LIARS. There were like 3 cameras on me the whole time. But by this time, the crowd thinned out a bit and it did really seem like karaoke, so my nerves were only at the 6 hour waiting for this moment. It did help to get to hide behind a cowboy hat and sunglasses though.
I practiced alot a few days before, and then 2 more times in the car an hour before hand.
All in all I felt like a Champion by the time all was sung and done. Or maybe it was just because I was wearing a Chicago Blackhawks jersey.

Thanks everyone for the help