Harmonising a cadence
In this guide...
Key terms:
Subscription required!
To view the complete study guide, you will need a valid subscription. Why not subscribe now?
Already have a subscription? Make sure you login first!
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:
- Key: in which key is the music?
- Chords: what are the notes in the chords of
I
,ii
,IV
andV
? - Final note: is the final note part of
I
orV
?
If both, then look at the penultimate note. Is that note part ofI
orV
? Both chords must be different (otherwise it isn't a cadence!), and the second chord must be eitherI
orV
. - Penultimate note: if the final note is in
V
, then the penultimate note will be inI
,ii
orIV
, and if the final note is inI
, then the penultimate note will be inii
,IV
, orV
. - 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.
Working:
Key: The music is in C major.
Chords: Let's write down the relevant chords:
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
.
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:
- contains the notes to be harmonised, and
- 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.
Working:
Key: The music is in F major.
Chords: Let's write down the relevant chords:
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
.
Answer:
Our answer, therefore, is:
- A:
IV
- B:
V
- C:
ii
- D:
V
- E:
I
Dominant seventh chords in cadences
It is extremely common to find a dominant seventh in a perfect cadence, because it so strongly resolves to I
.
Any of the examples in this guide could use V7
instead of V
in a perfect cadence.
However - you would never use V7
in an imperfect cadence (e.g., I-V7
). This would leave too strong a sense of incompletion!
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:
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".
In an exam
In a music theory exam, you may be asked to write the 64 - 53 figured bass notation underneath the appropriate chords in a passage of music, as in the example above.
The best way to answer this is first to identify the key of the music, then look for where the dominant note in the bass either spans two chords, or is the same for two chords in succession, and then finally check that the two chords are Ic
and Va
(in other words, that they match the figured bass).
You could use this progression in answer to an "approach chord" question, but you will only need to name the triads (for example, as I-V-I
), and not actually write out the full progression or give the inversions of the triads.
Read more...
With a subscription to Clements Theory you'll be able to read this and dozens of other study guides, along with thousands of practice questions and more! Why not subscribe now?