In music, it’s important to start well.
It’s also important to finish well.
In music, we use a little thing called a cadence to guarantee a satisfying ending to our piece, and most any piece of music (with the exception of atonal music) can have one of the following cadences applied.
So, what exactly is a cadence?
A cadence is, simply put, a chordal motif that resolves - either fully or partially - a phrase, melody or piece of music.
Luckily there are only four basic types to learn, however they are all so wonderfully different that we’ll cover them all:
Perfect
Plagal
Imperfect
Interrupted
In order to best understand your cadences, it’s important to understand intervals within a key signature as I shall be referring to these. Luckily, I very recently posted a blog about that too - so read up on them here!
The Perfect Cadence
The Perfect Cadence is arguably the one that we default to most often as musicians. This is a very simple chordal arrangement of chord five to one (V - I).
When we are referring to the key that a piece of music is in, one (I) refers to the root note and five (V) - unsurprisingly - refers to the note that is a fifth interval above it; to put it another way, the fifth degree of the respective scale.
Using C major as our trusty old example, one / I / the root note would be C and we would then count up to five:
II - D
III = E
IV = F
V = G
So in the key of C major, a perfect cadence would be a resolve of chord five to chord one: G to C.
Simple.
All degrees of the scale have a technical name as well as their numerical place. If you wish to learn more about them, by all means read towards the end of this post from a few months ago, however the two that I shall share on this post are:
I = tonic
V = dominant
When we refer to a dominant seventh chord, we’re just referring to the seventh chord of the fifth degree of the key signature that we are in. Sheesh, that’s a lot of words!
Let’s break it down further:
In the key of C major, our fifth chord is G as we have established.
Now we will make this a G7 chord. This is a G major triad (G - B - D) with a minor seventh interval plonked on top (G - B - D - F). Don’t question why it is a minor seventh - it’s one of those things in music we just have to accept: a seventh chord such as G7 is the standard major triad with a minor seventh on top. These notes can be played in any order and you can even lose the D, hence why other inversions may be learned (some of my pupils know the Roald Dahl friendly BFG version of the G7 chord).
So the dominant seventh of C major is G7.
“But why is this relevant to cadences, Jack?”
Sorry, yes, I got sidetracked.
Chord five in a perfect cadence can just be a standard major chord, but it can also be the dominant seventh. Therefore, G - C is a perfect cadence. G7 - C is also a perfect cadence.
Perfect Cadence in the Minor Key
Ah yes, let us not forget about tonality here! How does changing the tone to minor affect our cadence?
In order to create a true perfect cadence, we need a leading note (oh, go on, I’ll throw you this extra one in at no extra cost!).
A leading note is the name of the seventh degree of the major scale and is a semitone below the tonic, therefore. So, in C major the leading note is B.
This resolution between semitones is what creates a perfect cadence, however anybody who read my previous post on the different types of minor scales will know that it isn’t quite that straightforward because there are not 1, not 2, not 57 but THREE types of minor scales.
Due to the gross inconsistency of the melodic minor, let’s throw that one out with the dishwater and focus on the C natural minor and harmonic minor scales:
Natural Minor: C - D - E♭ - F - G - A♭ - B♭ - C
Harmonic Minor: C - D - E♭ - F - G - A♭ - B (♮) - C
As you can see, the natural minor features a B♭, and so our fifth chord of G could only be a G minor: G - B♭ - D. This resolving to C minor sadly does not constitute a perfect cadence as the would be “leading note” is, in fact, a flat, leaving two semitones (a whole tone) between the leading note and the tonic.
On the other hand, the harmonic minor has a B♮, which brings us back to having our leading note and meaning that we have all the notes in the scale to not only find the fifth: G - B - D, but also a dominant seventh: G - B - D - F. Therefore, this is a perfect cadence.
In a nutshell, major dominant chord to minor tonic chord will get a perfect cadence in the minor key!
Plagal Cadence
Our plagal cadence also resolves to the tonic, but it comes from a slightly different place:
Degree four of the scale / IV.
Remember degree four of the C major scale? If not:
C = I
D = II
E = III
F = IV
Therefore, a plagal cadence in C major is F to C.
Play a perfect cadence and then play a plagal cadence and listen to the differences between the two.
One of the most common descriptions of the plagal cadence is that is it the ‘amen’ cadence: imagine a choir singing that very word across the two chords of your plagal cadence and you’ll see what I mean!
Plagal Cadence in the Minor Key
For plagal cadences, the natural and harmonic minor scales are technically the same thing for a IV - I transition (although if we are talking cadences we should really be referring the harmonic minor because - western classical theory!).
Our F chord in the minor scale could not be F major but would have to be F minor: F - A♭ - C; resulting in our minor plagal cadence being:
F minor to C minor (a rather sinister ‘amen’).
Another Minor Plagal Cadence
Thanks to the wonders of music theory, there is actually another slight variation on this in that you can just ‘minor’ (if you will permit the word ‘minor’ to be used as a verb) the fourth and have a major tonic. Such as F minor to C:
This doesn’t necessarily mean that you have come from the key of C major, ‘nor C minor. However - speaking independently and assuming that we are, indeed, in the key of C something or other (to make sure our numbers still add up!) then this cadence is indeed a plagal cadence - and a minor plagal cadence at that.
Imperfect Cadence
I can’t stress enough the importance of revising and cementing in your minds what you have already learned before moving on to the final two cadences as these two are great examples of music rulebooks being thrown out of the window yet again. However, if you are ready to move on - let’s do so!…
The imperfect cadence is also known as the half cadence which - whilst not as poetic - is something that may help you remember better what I am about to show you:
Rather than finishing on our tonic (C), we have to finish on our dominant (G).
And we don’t have to travel from the tonic to G to get there.
An imperfect cadence can be one of several other chords in the key - most commonly I, II or IV - resolving back to the dominant.
So, in C you could go:
C - G
Dm - G
F - G
You may observe that the first example is like a reverse perfect cadence, so that may also help you remember: an example of an imperfect cadence is a perfect cadence flipped around!
The whole point of imperfect or half cadences is that they sound incomplete and like you want them to resolve. They’re creating a sense of need for completion.
Imperfect Cadence in the Minor Key
Unsurprisingly, you can get imperfect cadences in the minor key as well!
Again, we would strive to use the ‘leading note’ principles as in perfect cadence if we were to term our cadence as imperfect, which would allow us - in the key of C minor - the following cadences:
Cm - G
D dim* - G
F minor - G
don’t worry if you’ve never come across a diminished chord before. If you take a minor triad, the top note is just lowered (diminished) by one semitone. So, a D minor triad - D - F - A - would have the A lowered by one semitone to create a D diminished - D - F - A♭.
Interrupted Cadence
Now we know what perfect cadence sounds like, imagine you’re listening to a piece of music and it goes down to the dominant or dominant seventh and you think to yourself that classic line:
“Ah - must surely be going to resolve to the tonic now”
as I have on many exciting nights.
But then - shock, horror! It doesn’t. It ‘resolves’ to some completely different chord!
That, fellow listeners, is the interrupted cadence doing its usual rude trick of interrupting your expectations (this is also called a deceptive cadence because…this!).
Whenever your dominant or dominant seventh appears to make a move to resolve but then goes anywhere but the tonic / I, you have an interrupted cadence!:
G - Dm
G - Em
G - F
G - Am
…all interrupted...
...and because it’s not worth a separate subheading for interrupted cadences in the minor key, again using the harmonic minor scale:
G - Ddim
G - E♭ aug*
G - Fm
G - A♭ dim
Oh dear, dear, it’s not a good day if you're a chord novice! An augmented chord is a standard major triad with its top note raised up (augmented) by one semitone. Thus your usual triad of E♭: E♭ - G - B♭ - would have the top note of B♭ raised up by one semitone making it a B natural. Therefore an E♭ augmented chord is E♭ - G - B♮
How We Use Cadences
Of course, almost every piece of western classical and modern popular music can - believe it or not - have a cadence applied to the very end.
So, the end of a piece is the obvious answer here.
However, we can use cadences wherever we like providing we make a point of them:
The whole idea of a cadence is that it creates an air of finality and resolve so, whilst they don’t have to come at the end of the piece, you want the phrase they are applied to to feel like a full stop and taking a breath.
The opening chords of Pachelbel’s Canon are D - A. Considering that this in D major, we wouldn’t go calling the opening bar of Canon an imperfect cadence because - even though this is precisely its definition (chord one to five), it isn’t in a place that stops and leaves you hanging. It flows through.
Speaking of imperfect cadences, both this and the interrupted cadences don’t find themselves at the end of pieces. Speaking strictly for Baroque, Classical and Romantic era composers, it would be extremely bad practise for them to employ this kind of suspense of unsatisfying ending at the end of a piece. Perfect and plagal would always find its way at the end!
We also need to take into account the written key vs. the audible key of a piece. Movements in a sonata form tend to be written in one key throughout, however they develop through to repeat themes but in a different key, using instead a littering of accidentals rather than a change of key signature. Cadences will always apply to the key you are playing in, which may be different to the one that is written in the key signature.
As a final word on cadences, strictly speaking all notes need to be considered as resolved, whether that be staying the same or moving up or down to create a new chord. In other words, a fully fledged G7 (G - B - D - F) to a C major triad (C - E - G) would be considered bad practice because we’ve lost a note! In all examples I’ve given above and below I’ve followed this rule however as anybody who studies music - even that by the greats as Beethoven etc. - this rule is so frequently not followed. Especially in piano music where sometimes it feels more logical to drop notes in certain chords.
There are other such rulings - my suggestion below about inversions may be deemed controversial as - speaking as a purist - the tonic chord should be in root position. There are many other rules that have been disputed amongst music theorists and musicians: the tonic should always be at the top, the tonic root should be played twice in the structure of the chord, however…make of that what you will and just remember the numbers and the structures!
Examples of Cadences in Music
Whilst I did indeed use ‘Over the Rainbow’ a couple of weeks ago to demonstrate an octave jump and how that sounds, I shall use it again as its verse (or chorus, depending on how you consider the song structured) features both a plagal and a perfect cadence. And it’s not even Christmas yet! :
'Way up high' is a plagal cadence because in my arrangement, ‘up’ is an F and ‘high’ is a C (and we’re in the key of C major!).
Yet on ‘lullaby’, we hang around the dominant seventh - G7 - for ‘lul-la' and resolve to the C - the tonic - on ‘by’ - creating a perfect cadence.
For simplicity, I have used root position chords although inversions of chords - such as the ones actually used in this song - would not actually affect the cadence.
To take an extremely simplified rendition of that Beethoven classic ‘Für Elise’ - which is in the key of A minor* - note how this middle section finishes on an E major chord. This is the dominant of A minor, and despite being the end of the phrase its sounding incomplete is typical of an imperfect cadence.
Disclaimer: technically this piece at this point has in fact modulated to the key of C major, and whilst its tonality has audibly changed, the inclusion of a E major chord within the passage is enough for me to continue with this example assuming it were still in A minor.
Interrupted cadences are becoming more and more popular in…popular music! Whereas a more classical approach would be to use a perfect cadence to resolve from the dominant / IV such as I - IV - V - I, or a plagal: I - V - IV - I, popular music has many examples of songs that deviate from this and go somewhere else to complete the phrase. Such as I - IV - V - back down to IV. In the key of C major, this would be C - F - G - F. That decision to go back to F rather than C separates it as being an interrupted cadence rather than a perfect cadence.
Here’s ‘Crash’ by the Primitives adapted to C major. As a phrase alone it sounds unfinished, hence why the music carries on:
Because verses and choruses feature these unresolved types of cadences so frequently in modern music, this explains why many bands and artists opt for a fade out of a recording; suddenly giving a perfect or plagal cadence would sound odd and finishing on an interrupted or imperfect would leave the listener hanging...forever!
In Conclusion
In conclusion…play around! Regardless of cadences, it’s as well to familiarise yourself with how chords sound when modulating from one to the next anyway. You don’t have to identify the specific chords as this would suggest perfect pitch, but just being able to pick out the structure in a song or piece of music is a really powerful tool to have at your musical disposal!
Knowing where cadences fall and how they are used can really help you to punctuate them in a piece of music when you play them and, of course, if you are composing, knowing how to employ them with a little more theory behind you opens up natural potential to your writing that will make your music seem more logical and flow better.
I haven't yet recorded a slightly more sophisticated video on the subject, but thanks to YouTube shorts you can see at least a couple of videos of me wittering on about cadences. Here's the first. Make sure you subscribe to make sure you don't miss any future ones!
Jack Mitchell Smith is a piano teacher based in Macclesfield, Cheshire. Click here to find out more.
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