Introduction

Now that you are familiar with spotting the different types of cadences, let's look at how to actually select and write out cadences in music.

Cadences

We have already looked at cadences, but here's a quick refresh of the different types:

• Perfect cadence: strongly closes a progression; V-I
• Plagal cadence: "Amen", less strongly closes a progression: IV-I
• Imperfect cadence: leaves a sense of expectation; I-V, ii-V, IV-V

Harmonising a cadence

Once you are familiar with the three types of cadence, it's useful to be able to select an appropriate cadence for a cadence point in a piece of music.

You will need to look at the two notes at the cadence point, and see which of the possible cadences chords best matches them. The final chord will either be I or V, so that is a good place to start. Try to use this process:

1. Key: in which key is the music?
2. Chords: what are the notes in the chords of I, ii, IV and V?
3. Final note: is the final note part of I or V?
   If both, then look at the penultimate note. Is that note part of I or V? Both chords must be different (otherwise it isn't a cadence!), and the second chord must be either I or V.
4. Penultimate note: if the final note is in V, then the penultimate note will be in I, ii or IV, and if the final note is in I, then the penultimate note will be in ii, IV, or V.
5. Cadence: you should now have enough information to be able to write down an appropriate cadence.

An example answer

Let's follow these steps in a typical exam-style question.

Q. Suggest suitable progressions for two cadences in the following melody by indicating only one chord (I, II, IV or V) at each of the places marked A-D. You do not have to indicate the position of the chords, or to state which note is in the bass.

Suggest cadences for the marked notes

Working:

Key: The music is in C major.

Chords: Let's write down the relevant chords:

Triads in C major

Cadence at A/B: the note G (at B) could be in either I or V, and the note A (at A) is in either ii or IV. We could therefore go for a plagal cadence, or an imperfect cadence. Musically, we are at the half-way point in a phrase, so "closure" is not called for, therefore let's go for an imperfect cadence of ii-V (note: IV-V is an equally good option here).

Cadence at C/D: the G (at C) could be in either I or V, and the E (at D) can only be in I. Musically we are at the end of a phrase, so let's "close" the music with a perfect cadence of V-I.

Suitable triads

Answer:

Our answer, therefore, is:

• A: ii
• B: V
• C: V
• D: I

Approach chords

The cadence itself consists of two chords, as discussed above. The chord which occurs immediately before the cadence itself plays an important role in setting up the full effect of the cadence, and is known as the approach chord.

In addition to selecting a suitable cadence for a marked cadence point in a melody, you may also be asked to give a suitable approach chord for that cadence, selecting from chords of I, ii, IV or V.

A "suitable" approach chord is simply one that:

1. contains the notes to be harmonised, and
2. is not the first of the two chords in the cadence itself.

It is also usually best to choose a chord that is not the final chord of the cadence itself, but there is one common type of cadential approach, which we will discuss below, where this happens.

Another example answer

Let's look at the working for the typical kind of exam question in which you will be asked to select suitable chords for cadences.

Note that sometimes an approach chord is required for two or more notes in the melody, in which case you must select a chord that contains all the notes, or at least most of the notes if otherwise impossible - this will be the case if there are passing notes, not on the main beats.

Q. Suggest suitable progressions for two cadences in the following melody by indicating only one chord (I, II, IV or V) at each of the places marked A-E. You do not have to indicate the position of the chords, or to state which note is in the bass.

Suggest cadences for the marked notes

Working:

Key: The music is in F major.

Chords: Let's write down the relevant chords:

Triads in F major

Cadence at A/B: The note E at B only fits a chord of V, so we will be writing an imperfect cadence. There are three notes at A, but the middle E is just a passing note, so the important ones are the D and F. Only a chord of IV satisfies this, so let's go for an imperfect cadence of IV-V, which also works well musically in the middle of a phrase.

Cadence at C/D/E: The note F at E works with I and IV, but the cadence must end on I or V, so the correct chord must be I, and this therefore must be a perfect cadence - which would fit musically for an ending. The chord at D must therefore be V - and the G fits. We now need an approach chord at C. The note A is a passing note, and the B flat will fit either IV or ii. Either would be correct here, but let's go for the progression ii-V-I.

Suitable triads

Answer:

Our answer, therefore, is:

• A: IV
• B: V
• C: ii
• D: V
• E: I

The "six-four / five-three" progression

As mentioned above, there is a very common type of cadence-and-approach which you will specifically need to be able to recognise, in which the approach chord is the same as the final chord.

Look at the perfect cadences in the following examples, to which we have added the figured bass notation which you encountered in Inverting triads: recall that the numbers 6, 5, 4, and 3 refer to the intervals above the bass note in each triad, and that ⁶₄ corresponds to a second inversion triad, and ⁵₃ corresponds to a root position triad:

6-4 5-3 in A major

In B minor - with the all-important raised leading note in the Va chord

In all these cases, you can see that the perfect cadence has been harmonised with an approach chord of Ic followed by Va, to end on Ia. The sequence Ic-Va shares a bass note, and is a very common chord progression.

Due to the figured bass notation of this sequence, it is often referred to as a "six-four / five-three progression".

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