Music, at its core, is about creating and resolving tension. As a composer or songwriter, you may have come across cadences and their powerful role in shaping the emotional tone of a piece. Whether you’re writing a classical piano composition or producing the next hit pop song, understanding cadences can give your music a deeper sense of emotional impact. Today, I want to dive into two specific types of cadences that evoke strong emotional reactions—plagal and deceptive cadences.
With the Piano Companion app, exploring and mastering these cadences becomes an interactive and creative experience. This app allows you to understand not only what these cadences are but also how they can be used in different musical contexts to heighten emotional intensity. Let’s dive in.
What is a Plagal Cadence?
The plagal cadence is often referred to as the “Amen” cadence because of its prominent use in hymns, specifically at the end of the “Amen” section. Musically, it’s a cadence that moves from the subdominant (IV) chord to the tonic (I) chord. While the perfect cadence (V-I) provides a sense of finality and resolution, the plagal cadence offers a softer, more introspective conclusion, which can be both powerful and moving in the right context.
In the Piano Companion app, you can explore the plagal cadence using the Chord Progression Builder feature. This tool allows you to experiment with chord sequences, offering you a practical way to understand the subtle differences between various cadences. Additionally, if you’re working with different scales, the app can help you identify which chords naturally fit within your chosen scale, making it easier to incorporate the plagal cadence into your composition.
Why Plagal Cadences Matter for Emotional Music
Plagal cadences work exceptionally well in emotional music, where the goal isn’t necessarily to give a clear, definitive ending but to leave the listener with a feeling of peace, reflection, or contemplation. The IV-I progression offers a softer resolution compared to the more traditional perfect cadence (V-I), and this can evoke a range of feelings from reverence to nostalgia.
For example, in more meditative or spiritual pieces, a plagal cadence can create a sense of calm. By ending your piece with a plagal cadence, you’re inviting your listener to sit with the emotions the music has conjured. The Piano Companion app helps you navigate these emotional nuances by providing a list of compatible chords and scales, ensuring that your cadence fits seamlessly into the musical context you’ve created.
Deceptive Cadence: Building Tension and Surprise
On the other hand, the deceptive cadence does the exact opposite of what a listener might expect. Traditionally, a deceptive cadence is a V chord moving to a vi chord instead of the anticipated tonic (I) chord. This unexpected resolution leaves the listener hanging, creating a sense of unresolved tension or anticipation.
The beauty of the deceptive cadence lies in its ability to surprise. While most listeners expect the perfect cadence to resolve on the tonic, the deceptive cadence throws them off balance, creating a moment of tension that can be both jarring and captivating. For composers looking to infuse their music with unexpected emotional turns, the deceptive cadence is an essential tool.
With Piano Companion, you can easily practice deceptive cadences using the reverse chord finder or the Circle of Fifths. This app makes it easier to visualize the harmonic relationships between chords, allowing you to experiment with different resolutions and progressions in real time.
Incorporating Deceptive Cadences in Your Music
Deceptive cadences are ideal for moments in your music where you want to sustain tension or lead the listener somewhere unexpected. For example, in a pop ballad, you might use a deceptive cadence to extend a verse or chorus, creating anticipation before resolving to the tonic in a later section. This technique is particularly effective in bridging sections of a song or in keeping listeners engaged by subverting their expectations.
The ability to experiment with different chord progressions in Piano Companion allows you to easily find the right deceptive cadence for your composition. You can hear how a deceptive cadence sounds with different inversions or in various keys, helping you to better understand its role in building musical tension.
Using the Piano Companion App to Explore Cadences
If you’re like me, you sometimes find it difficult to remember the names of certain chords or scales—especially when you’re in the heat of the creative process. This is where the Piano Companion app truly shines. Its user-friendly interface and robust feature set make it a fantastic tool for musicians at any level.
One of the features I find particularly useful is the ability to play around with different cadences and chord progressions. Whether you’re working with a plagal cadence to evoke a sense of calm, or you want to introduce a deceptive cadence to keep listeners on edge, Piano Companion makes it easy to visualize, listen to, and experiment with these harmonic structures.
Beyond simply showing you which chords work in a given scale, Piano Companion also lets you experiment with custom chords and scales. For example, if you’re composing in a less common scale, you can easily input custom chords and build your own chord progressions from scratch. The app’s extensive database of over 1,500 chords and 10,000 scales ensures that you’re never short on inspiration, no matter the musical style or genre you’re working in.
Exploring the Perfect Cadence: The Ultimate Resolution in Music
What is the Perfect Cadence?
The perfect cadence (also known as an authentic cadence) is the most conclusive type of cadence in Western music. This cadence moves from the dominant (V) chord to the tonic (I) chord, creating a sense of finality and resolution. If you’ve ever listened to a symphony or a classical piano piece that ended on a clear, triumphant note, you’ve probably experienced the power of the perfect cadence.
In contrast to the plagal or deceptive cadences, the perfect cadence provides closure. It’s a harmonic “full stop” that signifies the end of a musical phrase or section. This cadence is particularly useful in classical, jazz, and even contemporary pop music where a strong resolution is desired.
How to Use Perfect Cadences in Your Music
The perfect cadence is often used to close a musical phrase or section, but it can also be strategically placed at key moments to signal resolution and bring emotional satisfaction to your listener. The Piano Companion app helps you practice the perfect cadence by allowing you to hear how it resolves in different contexts and scales. You can play around with various inversions, experiment with different keys, and even loop the cadence to hear it in different progressions.
Additionally, the Piano Companion app features an interactive Circle of Fifths, which is an essential tool for understanding harmonic relationships in music. The Circle of Fifths helps you see how different chords relate to one another, making it easier to incorporate cadences like the perfect cadence into your compositions.
Why Cadences Matter in Music Composition
Cadences are the punctuation marks of music—they tell your audience when to pause, when to feel tension, and when to experience resolution. Whether you’re using a plagal cadence to evoke a sense of peace, a deceptive cadence to build suspense, or a perfect cadence to provide closure, understanding these harmonic structures is key to creating emotionally resonant music.
For me, working with cadences has completely transformed my approach to songwriting. With the help of tools like the Piano Companion app, I’ve been able to experiment with different chord progressions and cadences, ultimately crafting music that feels more intentional and impactful.
Conclusion: Elevate Your Music with Piano Companion
If you’re serious about creating emotionally impactful music, cadences are an essential tool in your compositional toolkit. And with the Piano Companion app, mastering these cadences becomes an intuitive and creative process.
From plagal cadences that bring a sense of calm, to deceptive cadences that leave listeners hanging, to perfect cadences that provide a clear resolution, Piano Companion empowers you to explore the emotional range of your music. Whether you’re a composer, producer, or teacher, this app will help you elevate your understanding of music theory and create compositions that truly resonate with your audience.
Start experimenting today and see how cadences can transform the emotional tone of your music with Piano Companion.