Cadences Cadences generally represent a pause in rhythmic, melodic or harmonic movement. They often combine a momentary standstill of rhythmic motion ith the use of common to-chord patterns to finish a phrase. There are four different types of harmonic cadences: perfect (or authentic) imperfect (or half), plagal and interrupted (or deceptive). Perfect Cadences: A perfect cadence occurs hen a phrase ends ith chord or chord vii going to chord (or i in a minor key). Perfect cadences sound complete and often end a piece of tonal music. vii Plagal Cadences: A plagal cadence is a to-note progression that goes from (or iv) to (or i). Though it is often used at the end of a piece, it has a softer ending and sounds less final than a perfect cadence. mperfect Cadences: The to-chord progression that ends in chord (ith any chord preceding it) is referred to as an imperfect (or half) cadence. This cadence sounds incomplete, as though the music has paused in the middle of a sentence. Therefore, the imperfect cadence ill often be folloed by a perfect cadence at the end of the next phrase. ii
nterrupted Cadences: An interrupted cadence occurs hen a phrase ends ith chord going to any chord other than (or i). nterrupted cadences deceive the listener into thinking that chord ill follo chord, but instead another chord is presented. This is hy this cadence is also called the deceptive cadence. vi bb b n b b b ii ocal Style and Piano Style As can be seen in the examples above, there are four notes in each chord, ith to notes in the treble clef and to in the bass clef. The upper to voices are referred to as the soprano and alto voice, and the loer to voices are referred to as the tenor and bass voices. Soprano bb b n Alto Tenor b b b Bass This arrangement of notes is called four-part vocal style. Another ay of riting cadences is called four-part piano style, hich is ritten ith three notes in the treble clef and one note in the bass clef. As opposed to vocal style, piano style is more easily played on a piano.
bb b n b b b ii *This is a previous example, this time ritten in piano style. Writing Cadences: Talking about cadences is one thing, but ho do e go about actually riting one m going to use the progression of chord to chord (a perfect cadence) to demonstrate ho ould approach riting cadences. Step One: On some spare manuscript paper, rite don the notes in each chord including the doubled note. Usually, the root of the chord is doubled, but doubling other chord members is also acceptable. CM: œ œ Step To: Write the bottom notes of the chords in the bass voice and label them ith the appropriate Roman numeral. Step Three: dentify if your chord has a leading note: if it does, ensure that it rises to the tonic in the next chord. This can be placed in any voice.
The leading note rises to the tonic Step Four: dentify if there is a common note beteen both chords; if there is, place these in the same voice. The leading note rises to the tonic Common notes stay in the same voice Step Five: Fill in the remaining notes: The leading note rises to the tonic The remaining notes Common notes stay in the same voice
n most theory books there are some general rules to follo hen riting cadences, and four-part harmony in general. Doubling: There are four voices but there are only three notes in a triad, therefore one note has to be doubled. These are some things to avoid hen doubling chord tones. Most commonly the root of the chord is doubled, though you can double any note of a chord. f needed, you can also triple the root (omitting the fifth of the chord). Never omit the third of a chord. Never double the leading note. Doubling certain notes of the chord can help you solve any voice leading issues that may arise. Connecting chords: The leading note should rise to the tonic (so long as there is a tonic in the next chord). f there is a common note in both of the chords, this note should be kept in the same voice. Do not allo leaps of an augmented second (usually occurring in harmonies in minor keys). Stepise motion and small leaps (in all voices) are ideal. oice leading and voice spacing: Do not allo more than one octave beteen to adjacent voices, ith the exception being beteen the tenor and the bass voices. Avoid parallel (consecutive) fifths, octaves and unisons: o To voices that move in the same direction in either fifths, unisons or octaves. Parallel movement to be avoided: Octaves Unisons Fifths Avoid contrary motion fifths and octaves: o A fifth in one chord moves outard in contrary motion to another fifth (and vice versa). The same applies to octaves. Contrary motion to be avoided: Octaves Fifths
Avoid hidden fifths and octaves: o Whenever to parts move in the same direction toards a single fifth or octave. o They are only a problem if they occur beteen the outer voices (beteen soprano and bass). Hidden fifths and octaves: 4 4 Hiddenoctaves beteensoprano andbass 4 4 Leaps: Leaps larger than a fifth need to be handled ith care: o The octave is the maximum distance to leap beteen notes. o Avoid to large leaps in the same direction. o Generally, after a large leap, return stepise in the opposition direction. Hiddenfifths beteensoprano andbass *Disclaimer: don t agree ith some of the rules stated above. They are strict and can often confine creativity and promote thinking about music in a ay that isn t really musical. For some reason, these rules are often taught and treated as la, and breaking them is illegal. f you are sitting an AMEB exam (in Australia), hoever, you need to kno the folloing: t is mandatory that you follo the rules discussed in this post. They also believe the folloing about cadences: A perfect cadence is chord only. An interrupted cadence is chord vi () only. An imperfect (half) cadence are only the folloing progressions: o o ii o. f you are sitting an AMEB exam, follo these rules or they ill mark you rong. For more information click this link: AMEB rules about cadences.