Major
& Minor Cadences
Major
and Minor Cadences: Between Triads and Keys
In the previous
lessons we have been able to progress in easy steps from
major and minor thirds to major and minor triads underlying
complex passages of music. Now we must make more of a leap.
Hearing major and minor keys would be easy if in a major
key, for example, all of the triads used were major. Unfortunately,
this is not the case. If we are in the key of C major, using
only the notes from the C major scale, we will be able to
construct equal numbers of major and minor triads, three
of each. The situation is even more confusing with minor
keys; there are usually more major chords than minor chords
available in a minor key.
In the process
of learning to hear major and minor keys, there will not
be one simple feature to listen for that will always help
us to make the correct identification. Soon it will be necessary
to let go of concrete reference points. You will need to
learn by practice how to make a distinction that has only
a nebulous relation to other distinctions you have already
learned how to make. Before this point, though, there will
be one more helpful exercise.
Listening
for cadences will help us toward being able to identify
major and minor keys in two important ways. Firstly, it
will focus our attention on the most important triads in
a passage of music. No one cadence will tell us the mode
for sure, just as no one triad will tell us the mode. In
general, though, cadences highlight the most important triads
in a passage; paying attention to them will help us make
a much more educated guess about the mode. Secondly, cadences
can be thought of as short, simple pieces of music. They
offer us an easier domain in which to practice making a
new distinction which is less straightforward than the ones
you learned how to make in earlier lessons.
Cadences:
A Quick Definition
Our word "cadence"
comes from the Latin verb "cadere," to fall. In speech it
refers to the fall of the voice, as at the end of a sentence.
Similarly, in music a cadence is a conclusion, a coming
to rest. A cadence concludes a musical idea and brings the
music to a resting point, either temporary or permanent.
In general a
cadence will have two phases. In the first phase, we have
sense that a musical idea is nearing a point of completion.
Though this sense may have been gradually increasing for
some time, in the first phase it becomes much sharper;
the music behaves in ways that we recognize as "the beginning
of the end." In tonal music we have a sense that the arrival
of a specific chord is being set up. (You may not be conscious
of expecting a specific chord, but we will demonstrate this
effect shortly using musical examples.) Then in the second
phase we get a clear sense of conclusion and arrival. In
tonal music, we get the chord we have been expecting; in
fact, the second phase consists solely of this chord, often
elaborated in some way.
Here is an example
of a simple phrase, a musical idea, which ends with a clear
cadence. The video display will illustrate the two phases
of the cadence. It is taken from the aria "My Darling's
Lovely Cheeks" from Mozart's early comic operetta Bastien
and Bastienne.
Video
Example 1: Beginning of "My Darling's Lovely Cheeks"
from Mozart's Bastien and Bastienne
In the example
above, the cadence occupies a fairly brief span of time
at the end of the musical idea. Here's the cadence alone.
Audio
Example 1: Cadence from video example 1
In this lesson
we will deal with cadences alone, out of their context.
This is because in tonal music there are a number of standard
harmonic patterns which usually underlie cadences. It is
important to understand, however, that the sense of conclusion
comes most strongly when the cadence is heard in the context
of a full musical idea. A cadence is an end, and an end
is only an end in context. If you take the end by itself,
it is no longer really an end, but a separate object.
For our purposes here, it will be useful to listen to the
typical harmonic patterns, but do remember that for a cadence
to function as a musical conclusion it must be prepared
in a fuller musical context.
Let's return
to the cadence itself that we just heard. Remember that
above we claimed that the first phase creates an expectation
of hearing a specific chord, and that the second phase fulfils
this expectation by giving us that chord. Let's listen to
the example again, but without the concluding chord.
Audio
Example 2: The cadence without the final chord
If we skip the
final chord, the second phase of the cadence, we have a
sense that something is incomplete; we are left hanging.
Whether we know it or not, we are left at the end of the
first phase expecting something very specific. Below are
a few examples in which various different chords have been
substituted for the final chord.
Audio
Example 3: The cadence with a different final chord
Audio
Example 4: The cadence with another different final
chord
Audio
Example 5: The cadence with yet another different final
chord
Some of those
sound more jarring than others, but none of them completely
satisfy the desire for completion we have at the end of
the first phase. So although you may never have been aware
of it, when you hear cadences in tonal music (a category
which includes pop, rock, and jazz) you are experiencing
an expectation of hearing a specific chord. In a normal,
complete cadence, this expectation is fulfilled. Here's
the original cadence again; notice how much more complete
it feels than the three above. If you like, play them again
for the sake of comparison.
Audio
Example 6: The original cadence again
Listening
for the Final Chords of Major and Minor Cadences
Recall that although
major and minor keys both contain major and minor triads,
the tonic triad is always the same mode as the key, major
for major keys and minor for minor keys. It is clear that
this fact will be useful to us only if we have some way
of knowing when we are hearing the tonic triad. But few
untrained listeners know at any given moment whether or
not they are hearing the tonic triad. Learning to hear cadences,
however, can help us to identify the tonic triad. This is
because in tonal music cadences are used to signal arrivals
on important harmonies. The final chord of a complete cadence,
the cadence's arrival point (we called it the second phase
of the cadence above), is generally an important harmony
for the passage of music which contains it.
As the harmonic
home base of the music, the tonic triad is the most
important harmony, so we can be certain that there will
be strong cadences to the tonic triad. The catch here is
that in any but the shortest and simplest passages of music,
there will be cadences to triads other than the tonic triad.
So we can't be sure of the mode just by listening for the
final chord of a single cadence, any more than we can by
listening for the mode of any other individual chord in
the piece. But cadences help us to listen for the most important
harmonies in a passage of music, allowing us to single them
out among the many harmonies passing by. We can make much
more educated guesses about the mode by paying special attention
to the mode of cadences, and especially of those which are
either particularly prominent in some way, or else which
are placed at the beginning or end of a section.
Below are two
examples of simple cadences, one in major and one in minor.
Audio
Example 7: Major cadence, descending melody
Audio
Example 8: Minor cadence, descending melody
Here there are
two useful clues. First, the final chord of the cadence
in major is a major triad, and the final chord of the cadence
in minor is a minor triad. Second, the melody in each case
consists of a downward scale -- major or minor -- from the
fifth note to the first. These examples allow you to identify
whether the key is major or minor based on two other things
you have already learned to hear as major or minor: triads
and scales.
Now here are
two similar, but more difficult examples. Though the chord
progression is the same, the melody has been changed, so
that it no longer makes use of any pitches that differ between
major and minor scales. The two melodies are now the same.
Audio
Example 9: Major cadence, flat melody
Audio
Example 10: Minor cadence, flat melody
To distinguish
these two by the methods discussed to far it is necessary
to listen carefully for the mode of the final chord.
Listening
for the "Majorness" or "Minorness" of Cadences
The last statement
above contained an important qualification; that listening
for the final chord is necessary by the methods discussed
so far. Though the melodies are the same, you can hear
that the wholes of the two examples sound different from
each other; it is not just the final chords that sound different.
Play these examples again a few times. The goal here is
to begin to get a feel for the "majorness" of major keys
and the "minorness" of minor keys. These words "majorness"
and "minorness" are not meant to refer to details like the
quality of the final triad, but rather to suggest some kind
of general attribute of the whole. Try to get to the point
at which you can tell the difference between the two cadences
before you get to the final chord. If you can do that, you
are starting to hear "majorness" and "minorness."
Listening for Cadences in Real Music: A Warning
Before going
on to the training environment for major and minor cadences,
a warning is in order; it has to do with listening for cadences
in real music.
In the Baroque
period (and even earlier, before the advent of tonal music)
it was common for composers, when writing in minor, and
when reaching the end of the whole piece (or of a main section)
to substitute a major chord for the final minor chord. The
substituted chord would have the expected root, the tonic,
but instead of a minor chord a major chord would be used.
This technique is known as the Picardy Third. Learning
to identify Picardy Thirds is not a part of this lesson,
but so that you can recognize them when you hear them, a
few examples are given below. The first is a simple minor
cadence; the second is also in minor, but a major chord
has been substituted at the arrival point.
Audio
Example 11: Minor cadence
Audio
Example 12: Minor cadence with Picardy Third
Here's an example
of a Picardy Third used in real music, the end of the chorus
"Have lightnings and thunders their fury forgotten" from
Bach's St. Matthew Passion.
Audio
Example 13: End of "Have lightnings and thunders"
Picardy
Thirds can make listening for cadences in the minor tricky.
For it is possible that a piece could be in minor, but have
major chords concluding a great many of its cadences, either
because of internal cadences to chords other than the tonic
or else because of Picardy Thirds at the ends of sections.
The cadences
in the training environment won't have any such tricks.
They are valuable less because you should listen for cadences
when trying to tell if pieces are in major or minor (though
this is one piece in the puzzle) but more because they can
be like very short, simple pieces of music. Listen for the
quality of the cadential chord, but use this like training
wheels when learning to ride a bicycle. Don't just
listen for the cadential chord, but listen for the relationship
between the cadential chord and the whole of the music that
preceded it. Use this environment not just until you can
make correct identifications on the basis of the final chord,
but until you start to get a sense of the overall character
of "majorness" and "minorness."
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