How are the antiphons at the begninning of Mass and pre-communion supposed to be proclaimed?

In my parish (err pastorate) there has recently been some hubbub about the music directors not wanting to do "chant" any more, which I believe they refer to as "anything you can't play with a flourish on a piano". In any event, some of the more traditional minded parishioners (pastoratees?) have uncovered their plot to undermine their own sacred duties and petition the Bishop to get out of singing the antiphons at Mass. What this sounds like, and if you've never heard it before - you're probably not alone, I had never heard this. At the beginning of Mass, the cantor belts out one verse of a psalm and then the opening hymn is played. Then before communion, she belts out another verse. She always uses the same psalm tone with no accompaniment and it always seems very out of place. So I can agree with the music directors, to a point, but I think like Christianity itself, singing the antiphons during Mass isn't something that has been tried and found difficult, it's something that has been done poorly and left for dead by professional liturgists. So can anyone point me to an example of what the antiphons _should_ sound like during Mass and does anyone know what kind of leeway music directors have with them - when is it appropriate to leave them out altogether?