Cadences
Cadences are played at the end of a phrase or section of music. A cadence is formed by two chords at the end of a passage.
There are 4 cadences you will need to visually and aurally recognise for your GCSE and A level exams. ABRSM exams also ask for these to be identified in the aural tests.
They are identified by roman numerals.
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 (I II III IV V VI VII)
There is a good section on GCSE Bitesize website online which I would encourage you to look at.
If you can play these chords on a keyboard, you will recognise the cadences in no time! It is often helpful to listen to the bass line as they are played in root position so you can hear the distance between the two intervals as well as the overall chord sound.
Perfect cadence(V-I)– sounds finished, the music has come to an end. These are formed by chord V – I. E.g In the key of C major, G chord would be played followed by C chord.
Imperfect cadence (?-V) – sounds unfinished, the music sounds like it needs to continue with another phrase. This cadence ends on Chord V. Normally it would be I – V.
Plagal cadence (VI-I) – sounds finished, plagal cadences are often used at the end of hymns, try to get used to this sound. Chord IV – I.
Interrupted cadence (V-VI)– this surprises the listener as from chord V you’d expect chord I to follow forming a perfect cadence however, interrupted cadences go to chord VI (in major key, a minor chord is played) which is not expected.
Try playing each of them on the keyboard before you commence the listening exercise. Once you have checked your answers, listen again and really commit the sound to your memory!
There are 4 cadences you will need to visually and aurally recognise for your GCSE and A level exams. ABRSM exams also ask for these to be identified in the aural tests.
They are identified by roman numerals.
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 (I II III IV V VI VII)
There is a good section on GCSE Bitesize website online which I would encourage you to look at.
If you can play these chords on a keyboard, you will recognise the cadences in no time! It is often helpful to listen to the bass line as they are played in root position so you can hear the distance between the two intervals as well as the overall chord sound.
Perfect cadence(V-I)– sounds finished, the music has come to an end. These are formed by chord V – I. E.g In the key of C major, G chord would be played followed by C chord.
Imperfect cadence (?-V) – sounds unfinished, the music sounds like it needs to continue with another phrase. This cadence ends on Chord V. Normally it would be I – V.
Plagal cadence (VI-I) – sounds finished, plagal cadences are often used at the end of hymns, try to get used to this sound. Chord IV – I.
Interrupted cadence (V-VI)– this surprises the listener as from chord V you’d expect chord I to follow forming a perfect cadence however, interrupted cadences go to chord VI (in major key, a minor chord is played) which is not expected.
Try playing each of them on the keyboard before you commence the listening exercise. Once you have checked your answers, listen again and really commit the sound to your memory!
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