FREE OPTION FOR FUNERAL MUSIC​

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If you opt to have only the Church's default, preselected proper chants sung at the funeral (click here), the music director will provide that service for you at no charge. Handouts with the chants will be printed for guests, also at no charge. You may choose the Latin or English versions of the chants, or a combination.

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STANDARD FUNERAL MUSIC SERVICE​

 

If you opt to custom-select the songs that will be sung at the funeral, the standard stipend for preparing and providing the music is $275.

 

Please pay that directly to me, Mark Bauman, by 4:00 p.m. on the day before the funeral via Zelle (preferred method), Venmo, check, or cash. Payment app accounts may be identified as belonging to Mark Bauman with phone number 719-663-6144 or Venmo account @Mark-Bauman-865; you may also scan one of the QR codes provided.

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Stipends for musicians must be paid in advance, at least by the day prior to the funeral. Before implementing this policy, families sometimes neglected to pay musicians for their services, even with communication after the funeral. Services not paid for in advance will not be provided.

 

Unless you request otherwise (see "other optional music services" below), a small, two-to-four-person, volunteer choir will likely assist with leading the singing at the funeral liturgy.

• If you would like to make a donation to the parish music program in gratitude for the volunteer choir’s services, please do so with a check made payable to St. Francis of Assisi Church, designated for the music program.

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If you are interested in other options for musicians, such as hiring a solo vocalist or having the music director sing himself instead of having a small volunteer choir sing, please see the optional music services below for that information. If you request one or more of those options, I’ll provide you with further instructions about how to pay for them.

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KEYBOARD STRINGS ACCOMPANIMENT OPTION​

 

If you would like to have the music director set up a synthesizer keyboard that can replicate the sound of a string quartet and orchestral strings instead of piano and organ accompaniment, the stipend for that would be $100 more than the standard music stipend, totaling $375. This is an economical way to add the elegant beauty of string sounds to the music/accompaniment without paying much higher fees to hire individual string musicians.

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Note: this option may be used with a volunteer choir, but it works better with a separately hired solo vocalist.

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Below are embedded sample recordings of songs sung at funerals using strings for the accompaniment. (soloist Christina Mandico)

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OTHER OPTIONAL MUSIC SERVICES​

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• Live or archived streaming via YouTube and recording of the funeral liturgy on a flash drive might be available, conditional upon a church video technician being available on the day of the funeral. The video would be streamed/recorded using the church's video recording system, which has permanently mounted cameras at the back of the church, and would be similar in style to the church's streams of weekly Sunday Masses: $150 fee payable to St. Francis of Assisi Church.

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• Solo vocalist: if you custom-select the songs that will be sung, a professional solo vocalist may be hired to lead the singing for $200 instead of having a small volunteer choir sing; the soloist will be selected by the music director.

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• Music director as soloist: if you custom-select the songs that will be sung and would rather have the music director lead the singing as a soloist while also playing piano or organ (instead of having either a small volunteer choir or a separate soloist lead the singing), then $75 will be added to the standard music stipend, totaling $350. 

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• Specially requested music not on the suggested music list nor in the parish hymnal: $25 per piece for the extra preparation and music acquisition. Note: requested music must be Christian/religious, not secular; subject to the music director's approval.

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• Involving a relative or friend singing a solo: $50 for the extra rehearsal time and vocal coaching involved.

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• Instrumentalists such as violin, cello or flute may be hired to play for $200-$250 per instrument, subject to availability.

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• Handout with song lyrics or music (as much as will fit on both sides of a single, folded 8.5”x11” sheet of paper): $50. Enough copies will be printed for the number of guests you expect.

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• Projected slides of song lyrics or music in the same format used at parish Masses: $75 for the creation of the slide file, and $50 to pay the trained audio-visual operator required to project and manage the slides and the sound mixer.

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• If you would prefer to arrange for visiting musicians to provide all music instead of using the music director’s services: $225 bench fee for the music director (instead of the standard $275 stipend) for supervising the visiting musicians’ use of church instruments and sound equipment and assisting them with setup and sound mixing on the day of the funeral, starting one hour before the funeral. Note: all music selections must be approved by the music director as being appropriate for a Catholic funeral.​