Cadence

A cadence is a group of notes or chords at the end of a phrase or piece of music that gives a feeling of pausing or finality. Cadences may be thought as the punctuation in music, just like commas or full stops in a sentence.

The four most important cadences are:

Perfect cadence (Full stop)

This type of cadence is usually placed at the end of a piece or the end of a major section. This cadence consists of the dominant chord followed by the tonic chord.

Plagal cadence

This cadence may also be used to close a piece, but it is not as strong as the perfect cadence. The cadence is used to create a sense of agreement or "Amen". The cadence consists of the subdominant chord followed by the tonic chord.

Imperfect cadence (comma)

This type of cadence is frequently used during the course of a piece of music, since it acts like a "comma" and suggests that there is more to come. It reverses the procedure of the perfect cadence and consists of a tonic chord followed by a dominant chord.

Interrupted cadence

This cadence takes a great advantage of giving the listener the impression that it is going to be a perfect cadence, as it begins with a dominant chord; but it is "interrupted" by moving to the submediant chord rather than the tonic chord.

Cadences can also be divided into what beats they are placed over. If a cadence moves from a weak to a strong beat, it is said to be a masculine cadence. If a cadence moves from a strong to a weak beat, it is said to be a feminine cadence.

Cadences do not necessarily have to employ chords in their root position. When inversions are used, the cadence is said to be inverted.