Different types of cadences in music

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Cadence is to musical composition what a punctuation mark is to a sentence. It can end a chord progression like a period, create a pause like a comma or add mystery like a question mark. A piece of music is incomplete, bland or confusing without the proper cadence. Four types of cadences--perfect, plagal, imperfect and deceptive--help shape and guide music to its natural conclusion. The examples of cadences will use the chords of C Major, music's most basic key.

1. Perfect Cadence

   • Due to its simplicity, the full or authentic cadence is the most commonly used progression to end a piece. The dominant or V chord returns to the tonic or I chord. In short, the music goes home. In musical notation it is written as V-I. In C Major, the chord progression is G-C. A masculine or strong finish is the major benefit of a perfect cadence.

   Plagal Cadence

   • A weaker--but still effective--cadence is the plagal. It sounds as if it is taking a nap. The progression is from the subdominant back to the tonic or IV-I. In C Major, the chords are F-C. The plagal cadence is often used to end a hymn (the "Amen" cadence) or in the middle of a piece because it lacks the power of the big ending. The main benefit is a more relaxed finish.

   Imperfect Cadence

   • Half or close also describe the imperfect cadence. It creates a musical pause and sounds incomplete. Instead of ending on the tonic, the imperfect cadence ends on the dominant, I-V. In C Major, the chords are C-G. The music can begin on any chord in the key as long as it ends on the V or dominant chord. It adds a sense of unresolved tension to a composition.

   Deceptive Cadence

   • This is the equivalent of a musical slight of hand--for where it ends, no one knows. The setup begins with the dominant chord that leads the listener to expect the tonic as the ending. The shock comes when the piece ends on any other chord except the tonic, such as V-IV or chords G-F. Other C Major chord examples include V-vi (G-Am), V-ii (G-Dm), and V-V7 (G-G7). The surprise ending effect is its purpose.

Source: www.ehow.com

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