Cadences

A cadence is a completed phrase or musical sentence. There are four main cadences; Perfect, Plagal, Imperfect and Interrupted.

The Perfect Cadence uses chords V (five) to I (one). This cadence sounds finished when performed.

The Plagal Cadence uses chords IV (four) to I (one). This cadence also sounds finished and it is often performed at the end of hymns, sometimes called the Amen cadence.

The Imperfect Cadence uses chords I (one) to V (five) or chords IV (four) to V (five). This cadence sounds unfinished. This cadence can also be II - V, III - V, VI - V and VII - V, but the I - V and IV - V chord sequences are more common.

The Interrupted Cadence uses chords V (five) to VI (six). This cadence also sounds unfinished.

There is another cadence called the Phrygian Cadence. It uses chords IVb (four first inversion) to V (five). This cadence is an Imperfect Cadence in a minor key.

If we performed a perfect cadence in the key of D major, chord V would consist of notes A,C#,E to chord I which would be D, F#, A. If we look at the chart below, it shows us the chords in C major and D major.


Image By Louise MacPherson 24/12/2016

To work out the chords in the scale, the first task is to work out the notes of the scale. The scale of D major is D E F# G A B C# D. The next step is to work out the notes in the chords. For chord I we take the first note of the scale which is D, miss a note, F#,miss a note, A. If we want to work out chord IV, we start with the fourth note of the scale which is G, miss a note, B, miss a note, D. The same system can be applied to working out the chords of different scales.

The keyboard in the picture below can help to work out the chords.

Image By Louise MacPherson 24/12/2016

Baxter, Harry and Michael Baxter. The Right Way To Read Music. Tadworth: Right Way, 1993. Print, pp. 86 to 88.

Warburton, Annie O. Basic Music Knowledge. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1995. Print, pp. 119 and 120.