Cadences are similar to punctuation marks found in writing. They break up the music into phrases and sentences.
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Two of them sound unfinished and give the feeling that the music needs to continue rather like the comma in punctuation.
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Two of the cadences sound like the musical idea is finished and have the function rather like the full stop in punctuation.
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Cadences help to define the structure in traditional music and are generally organised every four bars or eight bars.
A typical structure involves a question phrase ending in an imperfect cadence (comma) followed by an answer phrase ending in a perfect cadence (full stop)
It takes two chords to determine a cadence. Here is a table showing the cadences, their chords and their effect.
Cadence |
Frequency |
Chords |
Effect |
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Perfect |
Most often used |
Chord V to I The first chord should not be on a stronger beat. |
Sounds finished |
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Plagal |
Used as an alternative but weaker finish. |
Chords IV to chord I |
Sometimes called the ‘a-men- finish |
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Imperfect
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The second most often used cadence |
Chord V to chord I |
The opposite effect to a perfect cadence. Sounds unfinished
giving the feeling that the music needs to go on. |
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Interrupted |
The least used cadence. Sometimes used as the penultimate
phrase |
Usually chords V to chord VI Sometimes other chords are
used before the final chord VI |
Is often used to extend a musical composition and so used
as the penultimate phrase. |
