Song Suggestions...and Refrains

A few song suggestions and performance ideas:


“Christ Is Risen” by Mia Fieldes and Matt Maher is a wonderful song for the Easter Season and beyond. The text is great. The melody is very simple, yet also interesting and fun to sing. On the recording, Matt starts with an intro, followed by Verse 1, followed by the Refrain. At my parish we were going to introduce this song at the Preparation of the Gifts on Sunday with NO time to rehearse with the assembly. So, instead of following the recording we chose to start with the Refrain. We began with just piano, guitar, and a single voice. Then we repeated the refrain with more voices and more instruments. The bass came in on the verse immediately after while the drums came in full once the Refrain came back. By doing it this way the assembly had a chance to hear the refrain twice before they normally would have, and the song ramped up nicely. They caught on quickly and the song worked great.

We have been using “Alle, Alle, Alleluia” by John Angotti (WLP) for our Gospel Acclamation this Easter. We actually perform it pretty much like the recording, though I play the intro on piano instead of guitar. I think it’s important to point out to the rhythm section that the drums and bass play ON the beat while the vocals sing on the off-beats (on the “Alle, alle” part of the refrain.) That’s what gives it the ‘feel’ you hear on John’s recording. There are three verses in the score, each one of them different both in words and music. We’ve been changing it up each week. Verse 2 adds a nice modulation to give it another ‘lift.’

Alle, Alle (Angotti) - WLP



“Blessed One” by Aaron Thompson (WLP) is a beautiful song to our Blessed Mother. There are 4 verses with wonderful text followed by a refrain that simply says:

“Ave, ave, ave, ave, ave, ave, Blessed One.”

Aaron does a great job of changing up the chords in the refrain while the melody stays the same. Even though you are singing the same melodic figure three times, it doesn’t seem like it since the chords are changing underneath. BUT…it makes it very easy to learn and sing.

Many times I have led the assembly in just singing the refrain a few times. It’s beautiful enough to hold its own, plus it takes no time to learn it. I plan to use it this weekend for the May Crowning at St. Ann’s. Take a listen and you’ll see what I mean.

Blessed One (Thompson) - WLP

It is often effective to begin a song with the refrain, even if the sheet music and recording do it differently. It enables the assembly to get familiar with the text and melody more quickly. Otherwise, I have found that, after playing an intro, verse, and a pre-chorus, we might get to sing the refrain a couple of times...that's all. My goal is to always engage the assembly as soon as possible. This is not to say that the assembly shouldn't sing the verses...of course they should. Usually, though, the refrain is the easiest to learn first.

It's also an effective way to lengthen a song. If you begin with the refrain (maybe even twice) you can then, essentially, 'start over' from the beginning.