Communion Antiphons

Communion antiphons are musical refrains taken from scripture with verses taken from the Psalms. The antiphons are sung during the distribution of communion at mass. In many cases they tie together the readings and themes of the mass being celebrated. When I first started working in Liturgical music, over 15 years ago, I had no ideas what a communion antiphon was. I was well versed in the many beautiful "communion songs" we sing in our churches, ("One Bread, One Body," "I Am the Bread of Life," "The Supper of the Lord"...)  but did not know that for hundreds of years the church had used the "communion antiphons" as their communion songs. After Vatican II all the communion antiphons were translated to the world's languages, but the chant music did not fit with the new translations. I have attempted to use different settings of communion antiphons but have found them far to complex to teach to my choir each week, let alone get the congregation singing with us. The video below is my attempt to find a middle ground. In this video you will hear all the communion antiphons for the season of lent. I have boiled them down to three simple refrains. My hopes is to make it easy on my choir and ultimately congregation. Stay tuned for more videos as I complete the setting for Easter, Advent and Christmas following the same goal of simplicity and repetition. If you would like copies to try out with your communities, please contact me and I will happily share them with you, I'm still in the testing stage and would love your input. In Christ, Nichlas

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