Cadences and How Music Breathes

Recognise authentic, plagal, half, and deceptive cadences, and use them to shape phrases.

Listen to this lesson

Synthesized voice, not a studio recording

Speed

Ready to read aloud · 1/16

What you will learn

The four main cadence types and how they sound.
Why V to I is the strongest motion in tonal music.
How to identify a deceptive cadence by ear.
How songwriters use cadences to delay or release tension.

The concept

A cadence is a chord pair that ends a phrase. It tells the listener how complete or unfinished a thought feels. The authentic cadence (V to I) sounds like a full stop. The plagal cadence (IV to I) sounds like an amen and feels gentler. The half cadence (anything to V) sounds like a comma, leaving the phrase open. The deceptive cadence (V to vi) promises a return home but pivots into a minor surprise.

Cadences create the rhythm of harmony at a higher level than individual chords. Even a four chord pop song uses cadences to mark the end of verses, choruses, and bridges. Without them every progression would feel like a continuous run-on sentence.

On the guitar

Try this in G major: play G, C, G, D, then G again. The D to G at the end is an authentic cadence. Now end the same phrase on D and stop. That open feeling is a half cadence.

Replace the final G with Em and you get a deceptive cadence. The pull was set up the same way, but the resolution went sideways.

Exercises

01
Loop V to I and V to vi back to back and hear the difference clearly.
02
Pick three songs you know and find the cadence at the end of each chorus.
03
Write an eight bar phrase with a half cadence in bar four and an authentic cadence in bar eight.

Common mistakes

Treating every V to I as the same. The authentic perfect cadence requires both chords in root position with the tonic on top.
Confusing a half cadence with an unfinished thought. It is intentional, not a mistake.

Listen, play, create

Listen: the end of every Bach chorale phrase is a textbook cadence.
Play: improvise an eight bar phrase that ends on a deceptive cadence.
Create: harmonise a short melody with three different cadences for three different feelings.