Harmony
Cadences: How Phrases End in Tonal Music
Authentic, half, plagal and deceptive cadences, and the real reason a close sounds strong: what happens in the bass, the top voice and the metre.
Half cadence
A cadence that ends on the dominant chord, so the phrase pauses and asks for a continuation rather than resolving to the tonic.
Also called: Half close
A half cadence is a close on the dominant chord, V, so the phrase stops without resolving to the tonic. It is usually preceded by a chord that prepares the dominant, such as I, ii or IV. In C major, the progression C to G ends on the dominant, and so does ii to V, as in Dm to G. The listener is left expecting a continuation. Half cadences often close the first phrase of an antecedent and consequent pair, and the consequent then answers with an authentic cadence. In minor, the Phrygian half cadence is distinctive: the bass falls from scale degree 6 to 5. In A minor, an iv6 chord, D minor over F, moves to E major over E, so the bass falls a semitone from F to E.
Related terms
- CadenceA conventional pattern at the end of a phrase or section that gives a sense of closure, pause or continuation.
- Authentic cadenceA close from the dominant to the tonic, V to I or V7 to I, which ends a phrase. Its perfect and imperfect forms differ in strength.
- PeriodA two-phrase unit in which an antecedent ends on a weaker cadence and a consequent answers it with a stronger one, closing on a tonic.
- PhraseA unit of melody or harmony, usually around four bars in tonal music, that ends with a cadence and forms a complete musical thought.