This is one of my favorite questions to ask in choral rehearsals.
Regardless of music literacy levels of an ensemble, we can begin a conversation about parts of chords.
Even young ensembles can sing the tonic of a tonal piece (“Where’s do?”) and then figure out who’s singing that note on a tonic chord.
Ensembles with more literacy can take a minute to do some analysis and figure out who has the root by analysis.
Vocal jazz groups are often singing rootless chords – this leads to an even more interesting conversation about harmony.
Why is this important? Because recognizing the root of a chord – and what you’re singing – is an important jumping off point for many momentary musical decisions. Decisions about:
- Balance
- Tuning
- Tone and timbre
- Cross-ensemble listening
And so much more. There’s a grand conversation to be had about the value of music literacy to the choral singer, and I don’t know a better place to start than asking the question “Who has the root?”