Cadences

Question 1

What is a
Perfect Cadence?

Answer 1

V > I

• A musical full stop.

Question 2

What is a
Plagal Cadence?

Answer 2

IV > I

• A musical full stop.

Question 3

What is an
Imperfect Cadence?

Answer 3

I / ii / IV / vi > V

Minor: i / iidim / iv / VI > V

• A musical comma.
• Sounds half-finished.

Question 4

What is an
Interrupted Cadence?

Answer 4

V > Any Chord, Except I

• A musical exclamation mark.
• Sounds like a surprise.

Question 5

What is a Cadential 6-4?

Answer 5

• A cadence stretched over 3 chords.
• 6-4 us another way of saying “second inversion” i.e. Ic or ic
• The cadential 6-4 uses chords:
  
  • Major key: Ic - Va - Ia
    
    • CMaj: C/G - G - C
  • Minor key: ic - Va - ia
    
    • Am: Am/E - E - Am
• ​​The 6-4 (Ic) inversion is used because the bass note of the Ic is the same as the bass note of a Va chord:
  
  • ​CMaj: Ic (G C E) - Va (G B D)
• ​This created a strong resolution to the final chord (Ia) due to the static bass of Ic-Va and then the drop of a 5th to the C in the final Ia chord.

Question 6

What is a Passing 6-4?

Answer 6

• The passing 6-4 beings with a Ia chord, then uses a second inversion chord (Vc) followed by a first inversion chord (Ib).
• This created a bassline that moves by step:
  
  • ​Major: Ia - Vc - Ib
    
    • ​C Major: C - G/D - C/E
  • ​Minor: ia - Vc - ib
    
    • ​A Minor: A - E/B - A/C

Question 7

What are cadences?

Answer 7

Cadences are musical versions of punctuation.

Cadences occur at the end of a phrase or the end of a piece of music.

• They can signify a natural pause in the music. A comma is like an imperfect cadence – one which leads to chord V. We pause, but we are aware that more is going to come.
• A full stop is like a perfect cadence (V-I). We are assured that an end has been reached.

Question 8

How can you spot a cadence?

(From Grade 6 Theory)

Answer 8

You can usually spot cadences because there is:

• A longer note value than elsewhere in the melody
• A pause mark (one eyed man)
• A double bar line
• A combination of the above.

Aim to use root position chords at a cadence.

Don’t assume that the melody will end with a perfect cadence – sometimes you are given an incomplete melody, which might end with an imperfect cadence.

Plagal cadences (IV-I) are also possible, but they are not used as much as the perfect and imperfect cadences.