Cadences
Every phrase ends on something, and that ending tells you whether the story carries on or is finished. There are four in common use, and they work exactly like punctuation. Hear all four on the same phrase and the difference stops needing an explanation.
- 4 kinds
- V to I is strongest
- the end of every phrase
which styles use it
- Classical
- Pop
- Jazz
- Gospel
In short
A cadence is the pair of chords a phrase closes on. The authentic cadence goes from the dominant to the tonic and sounds like a full stop. The half cadence stops on the dominant and sounds like a comma. The deceptive cadence promises the tonic and lands on the vi instead. The plagal cadence goes from the subdominant to the tonic, which lands softly because there is no leading tone pushing it.
A cadence is the moment you find out whether you are allowed to breathe out. You hear it before the last chord even arrives.
Where it sits in the sentence
- Halfway
The phrase stops on the V. Something else is clearly coming, which is how verses hold on to you.
- At the end
V to I closes things. Put it in the last bar of a chorus and the song feels complete.
- Surprise
V to vi promises a full stop and hands you a dash, which is perfect for talking a song into one more round.
Where you run into this
- While writing: your verse does not flow into your chorus, and usually a cadence is missing at the seam.
- While playing along: hear the cadence coming and you know a bar early where the song is headed.
- While listening: this is what makes an outro feel finished, or deliberately unfinished.
The four side by side
Same key, same tempo, and only the last pair of chords changes. Authentic, half, deceptive and plagal, played back to back until the difference is impossible to miss.