Cadences
The harmonic punctuation marks that end phrases — and how each one lands with a different weight.
A cadence is a chord progression that closes a musical phrase, the harmonic equivalent of punctuation in a sentence. Different cadences land with different weight, and composers and songwriters choose between them the way a writer chooses a period, a comma, or a question mark.
The authentic cadence (V-I, or V7-I) is the strongest full stop: dominant resolving to tonic, leading tone resolving up to the tonic note. It's the default "the phrase is over" sound. The plagal cadence (IV-I) is gentler and less directional — it lacks the leading tone's pull, which is exactly why it's associated with the "Amen" sound at the end of a hymn.
The half cadence (any chord moving to V) is a comma, not a period: it ends on the dominant, which feels unresolved and clearly expects more music to follow — a natural way to end the first half of a phrase before answering it with a full cadence. The deceptive cadence (V moving to vi instead of the expected I) sets up the strongest expectation of all, then deliberately breaks it — a direct, composed-in surprise.
Notice the pattern: every cadence is defined by what comes right before the final chord, not the final chord alone. That's the core idea behind tension and release you'll study later — it's the approach, and the expectation it builds, that gives the arrival its meaning.