ROOT POSITION TRIADS EXAMPLES

Voicing and spacing. Although the ranges cross, it is rare for the voices themselves to actually cross within a passage of traditional four-par t writing. Par ticularly, examples of Tenor dropping below Bass, or Alto exceeding Soprano, are extremely rare. They can double, however – that is to say, sing the same note. In terms of spacing, there should not be a gap of greater than an octave between Soprano and Alto, and between Alto and Tenor (the exception is the gap between Bass and Tenor, where the gap can be considerably wider). Here are some representative voicings of C major and A minor. Note that as triads have three notes, and we are using four voices, a chord degree (the root, 3rd or 5th) will have to double. The most common solution is to double the root (although as we’ll see later, the 5th is of ten doubled in a second inversion voicing) in the bass and then higher up.