Whistling Past the Graveyard
Wherever the funeral is being held, in a beautiful church, a crematorium, a private home, or at the graveside, Leah and Narelle have always found that music is what unites the mourners in that final farewell.
Singers, raconteurs, writers, and doyennes of death positivity, Leah Cotterell and Narelle McCoy have been talking about music and the art of death for years. It’s a lively topic! After all, in Australia death is a growth industry.
Their project “Whistling Past the Graveyard” was performed at the South Brisbane Cemetery (2023 and 2024) and at the Redcliffe Museum (2024). See a review of the 2024 performance. By presenting their engaging and moving performances to general audiences in cemetery, community and museum locations, Narelle and Leah have created safe spaces for conversation and reflection about end of life care, death and mourning rituals.
In 2025 they are coming out of the graveyard and into community spaces, to explore the experience of funeral singers. “Confessions of a Funeral Singer” will be created from singers’ reflections gathered through surveys and interviews. Through the comfortable and comforting medium of songs, this new performance will showcase contributions from the Moreton Bay community reflecting on subjects of grief and mourning. "Confessions of a Funeral Singer” will be presented on 24-25 May 2025 at three community halls in the 2025 Moreton Bay Anywhere Festival.
Please contact Leah and Narelle to share your experiences and recollections of funeral songs and singing: confessionsofafuneralsinger@gmail.com
Whistling Past the Graveyard, a site-specific performance and a cultural practice
On an autumn afternoon among the old stone monuments, these two talented raconteurs share fascinating reflections about funerals and the end of life. In “Whistling Past the Graveyard” Doctor Leah Cotterell and Mistress Narelle McCoy draw from their written memoirs and academic research to look at the best and worst of funerals, from the truly sad to the sublime and uplifting. The musical materials are as eclectic as the subject matter, ranging from classical and folk song to emblematic pop songs and of course, together we sing ‘Amazing Grace’.
In December 2024 at the International Association of Popular Music - Australia New Zealand, Leah and Narelle presented a conference paper sharing the outcomes of their cultural practice drawing on doctoral research and self-writing about death. In this practice Narelle McCoy draws on her research into music and Irish death rituals which intersect with both her family’s Irish Catholic funeral practices in Australia, and improvised community rituals that emerged during the AIDS crisis of the 1980s. Leah Cotterell has embedded her DMA research on music, empathy, and emotion into the construction of the work, and shares her experience as a carer for family members living with complex and chronic mental illnesses.
IMAGE: IASPM ANZ Panel, L-R Leah and Narelle with Luka-Amber Anapu-Bunnin, Julie Rickwood, with chair, Kirsten Zemke.
Short Bios:
Leah Cotterell
On the way from her first gigs in community theatre in the 1980s to her 2020 Doctor of Musical Arts, Leah established a national profile as a jazz singer before diverging into song writing projects and the production of musical works featuring gifted collaborators at premier venues. A ‘Women in Voice’ regular Leah has brought her warm soulful voice to many styles. Her musical memoir 'The Pleasure of Sad Songs' was the subject of a 2015 'Conversations' interview on ABC Radio National. Leah was awarded the 2022 Letty Katts Fellowship in the Queensland Memory Awards.
Narelle McCoy
Narelle is a writer, musician, academic, archivist and researcher. She is a lecturer and Fellow at the Queensland Conservatorium, Griffith University as well as presenting at international conferences on the topic of the Irish wake ritual, death and Irish mythology. She currently lectures in popular music, music theatre and music history. Narelle was awarded the 2020 Letty Katts Fellowship in the Queensland Memory Awards.