Lesson Four: Antiphons as Psalm Sandwiches

Listen to Psalm 100.

Psalm 100
Shout with joy to the Lord, all you lands.
Serve the Lord with gladness;
Come into his presence rejoicing.

Know that the Lord is God.
He made us and we are his.
His own people, the sheep of his pasture.

Come into his gates, giving thanks.
Enter his courts with praise.
Give thanks to him and bless his name.

Praise the Lord, for he is good,
His love endures forever
His faithfulness from age to age.

Doxology:
Praise the Father for his merciful love;
taste and see that the Lord is good;
give him praise in the Holy Spirit.

Generally speaking, monks seem to prefer their psalms in the form of a "psalm sandwich." If you can imagine a psalm, like the one above, as the "meat" of a musical sandwich, the "bread" on either side is a contrasting musical line known as an "antiphon." As in any good sandwich, the purpose of the bread is to help you get your hands around the contents, while at the same time highlighting the flavor.

Musically, the melody of the antiphon is usually a bit more complex and tuneful than the psalm tone itself, which is mostly sung on just one note. Another name for an antiphon is a "refrain." As in folk music everywhere, a good refrain will stick in your mind easily and keep singing itself inside you long after the song is over.

The text for the antiphon can be drawn from a versicle in the psalm itself, or it can come from a different psalm or from a different part of the Bible altogether. In any case, its function is to punctuate the psalm--to add a bit more depth and resonance--and to put the psalm in context. The antiphons generally will vary with the liturgical seasons. At Easter, for example, a time of great joy in the life of the church, if you were to go on retreat at New Camaldoli Monastery in Big Sur, you'd hear the monks singing Psalm 100, with the

surrounding it:

Be not afraid.
Go tell my friends to set out for Galilee.
There they will see me.
Alleluia.

[The beginning of Psalm 100 is sung again.]

Shout with joy to the Lord, all you lands.
Serve the Lord with gladness;
Come into his presence rejoicing.

The text for this antiphon--"Be not afraid, go tell my friends to set out for Galilee. There they will see me. Alleluia."--comes from the gospel reading for Easter morning. It is one of the first lines Jesus spoke to Mary Magdalene shortly after rising from the tomb. You can see how the antiphon provides an effective and moving way to tie in the psalm with the theme of the day. "Shout with joy to the Lord, all you lands" is now set in the context of the Easter resurrection message. That's the artistry of monastic psalmody.

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