1. Give harmony a destination
A cadence is a harmonic and melodic arrival that articulates the end of a phrase or section. Some sound conclusive; others sound like a pause that asks for continuation. The chord labels below describe the harmony, but rhythm, melody, and phrase position help determine the effect.
Purpose: hear a progression as preparation and arrival, not merely a row of chord shapes. A cadence belongs to the end of a phrase. The same chord succession in the middle of a phrase need not have the same closing effect.
The chords are C major; D minor over F; G7; and C major. ii6 means the supertonic triad in first inversion, not a chord with an added sixth. Its F bass is the third of D minor. In V7, G is in the bass while RH supplies F, G, and B; the fifth D is omitted.
Follow the last change carefully: F resolves downward to E, B rises to C, and G remains in the RH. The bass returns G to C. These movements make the arrival more intelligible than treating the final chord as simply another grip.
Hear the closing voices
Play the bass alone, counting four beats per chord. Then play the RH upper line G–A–B–C. Add the remaining RH notes softly, and finally combine both hands. Keep the full values without making the last chord an automatic accent.
With root-position V and I and tonic C in the uppermost voice, the final V7–I has the ingredients of a perfect authentic cadence when it closes a phrase. Changing the final soprano or bass can change that classification. Terminology also varies between teaching traditions; learn the sound and voice motion alongside the name.
Checkpoint: you can identify the bass and upper voice, explain the F-to-E and B-to-C resolutions, and hear the final chord as a destination.
2. Compare an arrival with an open ending
The first pair is F major to C major, a plagal progression. Listen to F moving to E and A to G in RH while C remains. The second pair ends on G major, the dominant: at a phrase ending this creates a half cadence, leaving the music open rather than returning to tonic.
Play each pair separately with a breath between attempts. The written four-bar line is a comparison, not one prescribed four-chord cadence. Compare the final C of the first pair with the final G of the second; do not make the dominant sound final merely by playing it longer or louder.
Change the destination
After playing V–I from the previous page, try V–vi in C major: G major to A minor. In a phrase where tonic is expected, this can produce a deceptive arrival. Name the changed bass and chord tones before choosing comfortable voicings; not every V–vi succession is automatically a cadence.
For minor work, establish the form of the dominant explicitly. In A minor, a conventional major dominant is E–G♯–B, and E7 adds D. G♯ leads to A; it is not supplied by the natural-minor key signature. Compare that pull with the softer effect of E minor to A minor.
Transfer the hearing
Choose one key and play the bass route first, then add a nearby upper-voice arrangement. Retain the common tones and resolving semitones that matter, without forcing every finger to remain held. Exact all-key cadence voicings will be collected in the reference appendix rather than duplicated throughout the chapter.
Checkpoint: you can distinguish authentic, plagal, and half-cadence effects by the harmony and phrase context, not only by a memorized label.