Cadence Notes

Chord Voicings: • Pitch levels in a key have names: tonic, supertonic, mediant, sub-dominant, dominant, sub-mediant, leading tone (or sub-tonic) • All major 7th intervals (leading tone) should resolve up to tonic • When doubling voices, the tonic or dominant (for the key, not the chord) is usually the note doubled. You can double other voices, so long as you don’t violate other voicing rules. • Avoid Parallel 5ths and 8ths .

All Cadences: • Cadences occur at the end of musical phrases, and therefore at the end of songs as well • All phrases should end in some type of cadence • Cadences can have non-chord tones in them o Non-chord tones are notes that don’t fit in the current chord, but represent either the chord before, the chord after, or are simply a note that the part is passing through (passing tone or neighboring tone) • Cadences will be Plagal, Imperfect Authentic, Perfect Authentic, Deceptive or Half. • Common signs of a cadence are o Fermata o The end (of an excerpt, song, phrase, 1st or 2nd ending, etc.) o Significant change – rhythmic, melodic, key, style, etc. o Prior to rests o Punctuation (in choral music) • There can be the use of an empty fifth (no third) in the final chord of a cadence, although this is typically only used in the authentic cadences. • A song in minor that ends in a major triad is called a Piccardy 3rd. The cadence type is not changed (PAC, IAC, Plagal, etc.), but the Piccardy 3rd helps to describe it. There is no special notation other than using the upper-case roman numeral rather than the lower-case.

Plagal Cadence: • Plagal cadences are a IV-I (iv-i, IV-i) chord progression. • They are commonly referred to as the “church” or “a-men” cadence for their abundant use in religious music.

Imperfect Authentic Cadence: • They are V-I (V-i or v-i) chord progressions • Can be voiced in most any manner, although normal voicing procedures should be followed

Perfect Authentic Cadence: • Are the same as Imperfect Authentic Cadences except they must meet all of the following rules: o Soprano must move stepwise o Both chords must be in root position o In the final chord, the root of the chord must be in both the soprano and the bass

Half Cadence: • These cadences move from I-V (i-V or i-v) • The Half Cadence usually is used to show that there is more still to come, often in first endings and prior to cadenza passages.

Deceptive Cadence: • These cadences move from V (or v) to anything other than I (or i) • The second chord is usually a vi chord, although other chords can be used. • These cadences can often be used to start a modulation to a new key, or simply “deceive” the listener into thinking there will be a resolution, when in fact the piece is not yet over.