Brainlag Plus Music

The four cadences, in four parts

Music theory, Cadences and six-four chords, 15 minutes

Perfect, imperfect, plagal and interrupted cadences written for four voices, how each sounds and why, with the Phrygian cadence as an extension.

Cadences, now in four parts

A cadence is the pair of chords that ends a phrase. You named perfect, plagal and imperfect cadences at Grade 5. Grade 6 adds the interrupted cadence, uses them in any key, and asks you to write them in four parts, where the voice leading matters as much as the chords.

Perfect: V to I. The leading note (tenor) rises to the tonic and the soprano falls to it: finished, like a full stop

The rest of this lesson and its 5 practice questions are in Plus Music.

Screen 1 of 4, free to read.

5 exam-style questions, marked as you go, each with a worked solution
Anything you get wrong is saved to your flashcards

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