Assignments 21-25
Harmonic Cadences

This assignment page is related to the topic of Harmonic Cadences and more generally Chord Progressions.

Assignment 21 - Harmonic Cadences in C Major

When one chord moves to another we refer to that as a chord progression. The first set of chord progressions we study are the classical harmonic cadences commonly used at phrase endings. A list is shown below of the standard harmonic cadences:

• Authenic Cadence (perfect and imperfect)
• Plagal Cadence
• Half Cadence
• Deceptive Cadence

The last two chords are the important defining chords of the cadence. The Authentic cadence has the last two chords of V-I. In this case we preceed the V chord with a II chord but it could be any chord, the important part is the V-I final two chords. The perfect version has the root in both the lowest and highest voice of the final I chord (with the imperfect version either the lowest note or the highest note of the I chord is NOT the root). It's an unfortunate use of 'imperfect' as terminology, and this type of cadence shouldn't be thought of as defective. It works fine, it just doesn't have the root in both the top and bottom voices. That's OK.

The Plagal cadence has a final two chords of IV-I. Sometimes referred to as the 'church' or 'amen' cadence it is commonly used as the final chords to church hymns.

The Half cadence has a final chord of the V chord. It is usually used at an internal phrase that is part of a longer musical phrase. It could be approached from several different chords and our example uses a I II V progression.

The last cadence is called the Deceptive cadence and is it similar to the authentic cadence except it doesn't resolve to I (often it resolves to VI instead). So it sets the listener up to expect an authentic cadence then 'deceptively' resolves to VI instead of I.

Assignment 21 is to write out a version of these 5 cadences (using both perfect and imperfect authentic cadences) in the key of C. Use a single bass note in the 'left hand' entry field and three note chords in the 'right hand' entry field (using 2 chord notation). This assignment is already completed and displayed in the note entry fields. Click Play to hear the progressions which are separated by a whole note rest. You'll hear the following progressions:

1. Authenic Cadence (perfect) II-V-I
2. Authenic Cadence (imperfect) II-V-I
3. Plagal Cadence I-IV-I
4. Half Cadence I-II-V
5. Deceptive Cadence II-V-VI

Copy and paste both the note code and the resulting lilypond score code into your course file.

Assignment 22 - Harmonic Cadences in C Minor

Complete the same types of cadences in the key of C minor. Use the harmonic minor form and use the same roman numeral chord progressions as the major example above. In harmonic minor the I chord is minor, the II chord is diminished, the IV chord is minor, the V chord is major and the VI chord is major. Since this is in the key of C minor, you can use the previous assignment in C major as a starting point.

1. Authenic Cadence (perfect) in C minor II-V-I
2. Authenic Cadence (imperfect) in C minor II-V-I
3. Plagal Cadence in C minor I-IV-I
4. Half Cadence in C minor I-II-V
5. Deceptive Cadence in C minor II-V-VI

Just make changes to only the notes that need to be changed to make the chords work in the key of C harmonic minor (i.e. change the notes that are different in C harmonic minor compared to the notes of C major). Copy and paste both the note code and the resulting lilypond score code into your course file.

Assignment 23 - Harmonic Cadences in A Major

Complete the same types of 5 cadences in the key of A major. Use the same roman numeral chord progressions as the C major example above.

1. Authenic Cadence (perfect) in A major II-V-I
2. Authenic Cadence (imperfect) in A major II-V-I
3. Plagal Cadence in A major I-IV-I
4. Half Cadence in A major I-II-V
5. Deceptive Cadence in A major II-V-VI

You may use the voicing pattern of the C major example or do something different. Copy and paste both the note code and the resulting lilypond score code into your course file.

Assignment 24 - Harmonic Cadences in A Minor

Complete the same types of cadences in the key of A minor. Use the harmonic minor form and use the same roman numeral chord progressions as the major example above. In harmonic minor the I chord is minor, the II chord is diminished, the IV chord is minor, the V chord is major and the VI chord is major.

1. Authenic Cadence (perfect) in A minor II-V-I
2. Authenic Cadence (imperfect) in A minor II-V-I
3. Plagal Cadence in A minor I-IV-I
4. Half Cadence in A minor I-II-V
5. Deceptive Cadence in A minor II-V-VI

Since this is in the key of A minor, you can use the previous assignment as a starting point. Just make the changes to the notes that need to be changed to make the chords in the key of A harmonic minor (the notes that are different in A harmonic than the notes of A major). Copy and paste both the note code and the resulting lilypond score code into your course file.

Assignment 25 - Quiz on Harmonic Cadences

Write out the following cadences using a similar form as the previous assignments.

1. perfect Authentic cadence in G minor II-V-I
2. Half cadence in Eb major I-II-V
3. imperfect Authentic cadence in F major II-V-I
4. Deceptive cadence in E minor II-V-VI
5. Plagal cadence in Bb major I-IV-I

key: Ab A Bb B C Db D Eb E F F# G | time signature: 2/2 3/2 4/2 6/2 2/4 3/4 4/4 5/4 6/4 7/4 2/8 3/8 4/8 6/8 9/8 12/8 2/16 3/16 4/16 6/16 | pickup measures: 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 | title:

(click stop in between plays)
Select Assignment Assignment 21 Assignment 22 Assignment 23 Assignment 24 Assignment 25

Enter your lilypond note code for right hand below:
\\relative c' { <f a d>2 <d g b> <e g c>1 r1 <f a d>2 <g b d> <g c e>1 r1 <e g c>2 <f a c> <e g c>1 r1 <e g c>2 <d f a> <d g b>1 r1 <f a d>2 <g b d> <e a c>1 }

Enter your lilypond note code for left hand below:
\\relative c { d2 g c,1 r1 d2 g c,1 r1 c2 f c1 r1 c2 d g1 r1 d2 g a1 }

swing | tempo: 60 65 70 75 80 85 90 95 100 110 120 130 140 160 180 200 | mute | volume: -Infinity -30 -27 -25 -20 -18 -15 -10 -5 0 | loop

Full lilypond score output:

Paste this code into lilypond to view the music notation. See instructions here