Understanding Cadences in Music
1. The Basics of Harmony 🎹
When we make music there are few things that affect how a piece of music feels as much as the chords that we use. There are many types of chords but they all begin as the humble “triad” which forms the basis of all chords in music. These chords can end up as something much fancier, such as a “Cmaj7b9#11” - but in reality, this is just a C triad with some extra notes!
This means that if we know which triads a piece of music is using, we can pretty much play anything! Every song uses a scale comprised of 7 notes! This means that using a scale we can only make 7 triads (one starting on each note)…which means that most songs only have 7 triads that they are using.
To make a triad we just play every other note in the scale starting on whichever note in the scale you like. So, in C major for example;
These are the 7 notes in the scale:
C D E F G A B
These are the 7 triads we can make:
C E G - D F A - E G B - F A C - G B D - A C E - B D F
Using these triads you can play any song and you can also add notes on top of these triads to make them sound more interesting. This is why I like to think of “fancier” chords as “triads + other notes”.
2. Musical Punctuation ❣️
However, which of the 7 triads that are used are often not chosen at random. Each of the triads has a particular sound and each of the triads has a particular relationship to each other!
For example CHORD 1 in a scale feels like home! It feels stronger and more secure than the others.
CHORD 4 and CHORD 5 also feel quite strong and secure, but not quite like home….if we finished a piece of music on chord 4 or 5, it would sound unfinished and like we need to go back home (CHORD 1)!
CHORD 2, CHORD 3 and CHORD 6 sound darker as these are minor chords when we are using a major scale. If we finished a piece of music on one of these chords it would naturally feel like it’s ending in a much darker place that also isn’t home.
CHORD 7 sounds a bit odd and more suspenseful because this is a type of chord called a diminished triad.
This is why songs usually open with CHORD 1, because the piece of music wants to establish what home feels like. Then, when we play other chords we can hear that they are moving away from home and the more distant the chords are the further we have travelled! For example, if we change to a different scale and start using completely unrelated chords, this will feel like we have travelled to another world and we are no longer in the same place at all!
3. The Four Types of Cadence 📙
In music, a cadence is simply a set of 2 chords that we use to end a musical phrase and these are considered to be a way of punctuating the music.
If a piece of music starts with CHORD 1 and this feels like home, if we go back to CHORD 1 at the end of a phrase it will feel like we have returned home and it will feel complete and finished.
There are 2 types of cadences that do this:
PERFECT CADENCE
A perfect cadence is when we end a phrase using chord 5 going to chord 1 (V-I). This sounds complete and finished and like we have returned home, most pieces will end with a perfect cadence and I like to think of this as a phrase with a full stop (a period) at the end.
For example we could have a chord sequence that uses a perfect cadence like this: I - IV - ii - V - I
PLAGAL CADENCE
A plagal cadence is when we end a phrase using chord 4 going to chord 1 (IV-I). This also sounds complete and finished, once upon a time this was considered the most common way to finish a phrase and therefore it is used a lot in church hymns. Chord 4 to chord 1 sounds much warmer then chord 5 to 1 and so I like to think of it as a softer way of making a phrase feel finished.
For example we could have a chord sequence that uses a plagal cadence like this: I - IV - ii - IV - I
These types of cadences feel like they are returning home and feel finished because they finish on chord 1 and return home. However there are two other types of cadences that would feel odd to finish a piece of music with. These types of cadences are more frequently used in the middle of pieces of music as a way of punctuating the music.
IMPERFECT CADENCE.
An imperfect cadence is when we end a phrase with chords 1, 2 or 4 going to chord 5 (I, ii or IV - V). This would feel odd if a piece of music finish here because it would feel like we need to return to chord 1! So this is used more often as a way of putting a comma (,) into the music. So you may see a phrase ending in an imperfect cadence followed by a responding phrase ending in a perfect cadence. This would feel like a phrase with a comma at the end and then a responding phrase with a full stop (period) at the end.
For example we could have a chord sequence that uses an imperfect cadence like this: I - IV - ii - I - V
If we responded to this phrase with a perfect cadence we may have a chord sequence that looks like this: I - IV - ii - I - V (,) I - IV - ii - V - I (.)
INTERRUPTED/DECEPTIVE CADENCE
The final type of cadence is an interrupted (deceptive) cadence and this would be a phrase ending in chord 5 followed by chord 6 (V - vi). This type of cadence would sound quite shocking to finish a piece of music on and this is because chord 6 sounds like we are finishing a phrase much further away from home than the other types of cadences. As the name suggests, the music sounds like it has been “interrupted” by an inappropriate chord at the end of a phrase. This is the least common form of cadence for obvious reasons, however if you hear a phrase that sounds like it ends In unexpected way, now you know why!
4. What’s The Point 👇🏻
When we are writing a piece of music, working out a piece of music by ear or reading a piece of music its very important that we understand where the phrases are and this is for a number of reasons.
Firstly if you are writing a piece of music, you can pick chords that enable you to give the music a sense of structure and sounds pleasing to listen to by phrasing the music and ending each phrase with a comma (,) or a full stop (period) (.).
Secondly if you are playing by ear you can more easily hear and predict which chords are being used just by hearing whether a phrase feels finished or unfinished. For example, most songs start on chord 1…if the phrase is 4 bars long with a chord in each bar, it might end with a perfect cadence (chord V-I) which means we only have a few chords in the middle to actually work out!
Thirdly, if we are reading a piece of music, being able to clearly see where the phrases start and finish as well as understanding how the chords relate to each other can help us shape the music so that it sounds more conversational and depicts more of a story!
Cadences are a small but important part of music theory and it’s definitely a tool I would use and look out for in music that you come across. If you understand cadences then you might just find that it changes how you play and read music!
Matthew Cawood
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