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I am having so much trouble with cadence identification. After hours of Youtube video explanations I think that I have this correctly. Have I? How can I make this process easier?

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a. Perfect

b. Plagal

c. Imperfect

d. Plagal

e. Broken

Shevliaskovic
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1 Answers1

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First one's correct! Never heard of 'broken'. Interrupted maybe?

Not going to do the homework - even if it's not! Teach a guy to fish and all that!

As simply as possible: cadences only involve the final two harmonies, whatever comes before doesn't count.

  • Perfect - V>I or V>i in minor.

  • Plagal - IV>I, or iv>i in minor.

  • Interrupted - usually V>vi, but will often end on vi, or in min., on VI.

  • Imperfect - I>V, or x>V.

This is a simplified version - there are other more exact terms for which voicings get used, and other names for the cadences, particularly in the States.Since there's no clue from your profile, I'll omit these titles as they may not be relevant.Hope that helps - B C and D need a look at again!

Tim
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  • Hey Tim, thank you for your help, and sorry for the terminology. I translated from my language and maybe i phrased it wrong. Plus i was trying to be general, did not want the exact answers. Broken is interrupted, or else deceptive in american terms. This is a homework yes, and i am trying really hard,see i missed the chord progression class and now it is proving really challenging. But thanks for the input. I was looking through materials, and I think i got it right now. Do you mind taking a look again? –  Mar 23 '20 at 17:06
  • Cadence a : IAC Cadence b : PAC Cadence c : Plagal Cadence d : Imperfect/ Half cadence Cadence e : Deceptive are these the more exact terms you mean? I found this book on music theory that is helping a lot more. Please let me just know if something is still wrong? Don't solve it, please I just want to know if i am on the right track –  Mar 23 '20 at 17:09
  • That's better! Confusing is the US against UK terminology. Half is self-explanatory, as is deceptive. But the word *imperfect* gets used in both - with sort of opposite meanings, and can cause confusion. Authentic works o.k. – Tim Mar 23 '20 at 17:26
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    I’m not sure it’s been made explicit enough, so just to spell it out: Tim uses “perfect” for authentic cadences and “imperfect” for half cadences, whereas musicjoys uses “perfect” for a V-I cadence in which both soprano and bass have the tonic, and imperfect where the soprano has the third or fifth. Also, @musicjoys, the answers to the exercise in your last comment are a huge improvement. Only a and b are still wrong (though close). Take care you don’t mix the two classes of terminology (I’m talking about your answer to d) since some words overlap (as explained above). – 11684 Mar 24 '20 at 02:21
  • @Tim: short and clear explanation also for me! (I assume it is correct ;) +1 – Albrecht Hügli Mar 24 '20 at 09:57
  • Most of this answer is correct, but I'd dispute the remark that an interrupted cadence will always end in vi. It is a cadence which sounds as if it'll be perfect, but has a different chord instead of I. So this *could* be vi, but it could be IV or #ivo7 or V7 of V, for example. – Rosie F Mar 24 '20 at 12:21
  • @RosieF - you're right - should be 'usually' or 'often'. I'll edit. – Tim Mar 24 '20 at 12:27