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Week 12 · Lecture outline

Week 12 — Lecture Outline · Cadences and Phrases

Music Theory I · MUS 156 Fictional sample

Course: MUS 156 Music Theory I · Kenosis College
Instructor: Professor Hemsworth
Unit: Learning Unit 12 of 16 (Week 12) · two sessions per week
Objectives: SLO 5 (analyze diatonic harmony — identify cadences and phrase structure) · SLO 7 (translate what you hear into names and notation — the spine)
Sessions: session 1 — teach · session 2 — studio

You already hear this. We're going to name what you already know.

Sung in Aural Skills I: cadence bass lines — sol–do against sol–la — and hear-and-name closure drills; MUS-155 sings the landings you'll name here this morning, so the bass note your voice finds there is the one your pencil labeled here.

Week at a Glance

The table below summarizes the unit in one screen.
The unit's big question "Every song you know breathes in phrases, and every phrase lands somewhere. You can already feel the difference between a full stop, a comma, and a swerve — so what are those landings called, and how does naming them let a band end a song together?"
By the end of the unit, students can… (1) define a cadence as the harmonic landing that ends a phrase; (2) label authentic cadences and say exactly what separates a PAC from an IAC (both chords root position AND do on top — two conditions, not one); (3) recognize and label half, deceptive, and plagal cadences in a keyed progression; (4) explain the cadential six-four — looks like tonic, behaves like dominant, bass on sol, written I6/4 (i6/4 in minor); (5) define a phrase by its cadence, not its bar count; (6) diagram a period: antecedent asks (weaker close), consequent answers (PAC).
Key vocabulary cadence, perfect authentic cadence (PAC), imperfect authentic cadence (IAC), half cadence (HC), deceptive cadence, plagal cadence, cadential six-four, phrase, antecedent, consequent, period
Materials Deck 12 · the Week 12 chapter · a piano or keyboard in the room · studio prediction sheets (the second session) · students' own instruments welcome in the studio — Round 4 wants them
Timing note 7 segments ≈ 150 min. Session 1 = Segments 1–6 (75). Session 2 = Segment 7 (75: studio). Scale to your own pacing.

Segment 1 — Ear first: stop one chord early (8 min) · Session 1 opens

Hook (no notation on screen yet). Play a plain, honest progression in C at the piano — I, IV, V7 — and stop. Don't resolve it. Count four slow beats of silence while the room squirms. Then ask: "Where does it go?" Have them sing the chord they need. They will sing a C major chord — most of them will sing the actual bass note, C — without one second of instruction.

  • "Your ear just finished the sentence. It's been finishing musical sentences your whole life — every time a worship set lands, every time a karaoke crowd hits the last note together. What you don't have yet is the names for the landings. That's the whole week."
  • The promise (say it, then put it on the board): "By the end of this week you can predict a song's landing before it arrives, label it with the word every trained musician uses, and set up an ending your own band actually lands together."
  • One more play: resolve it properly this time — V7 to I — and let the room enjoy the arrival they earned.

Memory hook: "A cadence is punctuation. Your ear already reads it; this week you learn to write it."

Segment 2 — The cadence: where the phrase lands (10 min)

Plain language first. Music moves in phrases — complete musical thoughts, the length of a comfortable sung breath. And every phrase ends by landing somewhere. That landing — the last chord or two of the phrase — is the cadence. Last unit's functional cycle (T → PD → D → T) is the engine; the cadence is where the wheel touches down.

  • The punctuation map, on the board: some landings are full stops (home, finished), some are commas (pause, more coming), one is a plot twist (you were promised home and got somewhere else), and one is the Amen (home by the gentle side door). Five names this week, one decoration, and every one of them is a sound the room has known for years.
  • Interaction (2 min): hum the end of Amazing Grace ("...was blind, but now I see"). Full stop or comma? Full stop — everyone hears it. Now hum the end of its second line ("...was lost, but now am found" — wait, keep going — stop at "found"?). No: stop mid-verse at "wretch like me" — comma; the music leans forward. Nobody needed a chart to vote.

Misconception + cure:

  • ❌ "A cadence means the music is finished — cadence = ending."
    ✅ Cure: every phrase cadences, and most cadences are not final. A three-minute song might land twenty times and only park once. The cadence family exists precisely because there are different strengths of landing — that's the next four segments.

Segment 3 — The authentic family: PAC and IAC (14 min)

Ear first. Play V7–I in C twice: once with the melody ending on C5 (do on top), once ending on E5 (mi on top). "Same two chords. Which ending would you put at the very end of the song?" The room picks the do-on-top version every time. Name what they voted for.

  • Authentic cadence = dominant to tonic: V (or V7) → I — the strongest landing gesture in the vocabulary.
  • Perfect authentic cadence (PAC) — the full stop — requires two conditions at once: (1) both chords in root position (sol then do in the bass), and (2) the melody ends on do. Meet both and the door closes.
  • Imperfect authentic cadence (IAC) — still V to I, but at least one condition missed: melody ends on mi or sol instead of do, or one of the chords is inverted. Real arrival, door left ajar.
  • Show it, then describe it in words:
KEY: C major    METER: 4/4    CLEF: treble
| <G3,D4,B4>/h <C4,E4,C5>/h | <G3,D4,B4>/h <C4,E4,E5>/h |

Two cadences in C major, two chords each. Bar one: a V chord (G–B–D, with ti on top) resolving to I with C5 — do — in the melody, both chords root position: a perfect authentic cadence, ti rising the half step home to do. Bar two: the same V chord, but the tonic arrives with E5 — mi — on top: the same two chords now make only an imperfect authentic cadence. (In bar one the tonic's fifth is omitted so three voices can close cleanly — standard practice.)

Misconception + cure:

  • ❌ "PAC vs. IAC is about the melody note — root position doesn't matter." (Or its mirror: "it's about the bass — the melody doesn't matter.")
    ✅ Cure: the hinge is soprano AND root position — both. V–I with do on top but the V inverted? IAC. Root-position V–I with mi on top? IAC. The perfect cadence is a two-lock door, and both locks have to turn. Drill it: call variations ("root position, mi on top?" — IAC), thumbs up for PAC, sideways for IAC.

Segment 4 — The comma and the plot twist: HC and deceptive (14 min)

Half cadence (HC) — the comma. The phrase stops on V and just stays there. Not V going somewhere — V as the parking spot. Play I–ii–V in G major and stop; the room leans forward. That lean is the half cadence.

KEY: G major    METER: 4/4    CLEF: treble
| <G3,B3,D4>/h <A3,C4,E4>/h | <D4,F#4,A4>/w |

A short phrase in G major: the tonic chord (G–B–D), then ii (A–C–E), then a whole note V chord (D–F♯–A) — and the phrase ends right there, hanging on the dominant. That full stop on V, with no resolution, is a half cadence: a musical comma. (G major: one sharp, F♯.)

Deceptive cadence — the promise delayed. Set it up honestly: play V7 in C, let the room expect I… and land on vi (A minor) instead. Audible gasp, every time.

KEY: C major    METER: 4/4    CLEF: treble
| <G3,B3,D4,F4>/h <A3,C4,E4>/h |

One bar in C major: a V7 chord (G–B–D–F) that resolves not to C but to vi — A minor (A–C–E). The bass, promised a fall to do, steps up to la instead. The ear was promised home and got the house next door — same neighborhood (vi is a tonic-family chord), wrong driveway.

  • In minor the swerve is V → VI — in A minor, E major (E–G♯–B, the raised leading tone courtesy of harmonic minor, Week 11's lesson) landing on F major (F–A–C). Capital VI: it's a major chord.
  • Why writers love it: it buys the song another loop. The worship team that "should have ended" and instead floats one more chorus — that's a deceptive cadence doing its job.

Misconception + cure:

  • ❌ "The deceptive cadence is a wrong chord — somebody missed the ending."
    ✅ Cure: it's a delayed promise, fully intentional and centuries old. The V does everything a V does; the resolution simply hands the melody to vi — a tonic-family stand-in — and the real landing comes a phrase later. Nothing is wrong; something is postponed. (And: ❌ "every cadence is final" dies here too — HC and deceptive exist to keep music going.)

Segment 5 — The Amen and the six-four (14 min)

Plagal cadence — the Amen. IV → I. Play it in C, low and warm:

KEY: C major    METER: 4/4    CLEF: bass
| <F2,A2,C3>/h <C3,E3,G3>/h |

Two chords in the bass register: IV (F–A–C) settling directly onto I (C–E–G). No dominant involved — a predominant-family chord stepping straight home. It's the "A-men" sung at the end of a hymn, and in most real music it arrives after an authentic cadence as a gentle tag: the song has already landed; the plagal move is the hand smoothing the blanket.

The cadential six-four — looks like tonic, behaves like dominant. The one decoration this unit adds. Play in F major: an F chord with C in the bass, then C, then F. That first chord spells like tonic (F–A–C) — but listen to where the weight is: the bass is on sol, and the whole gesture is dominant-area, leaning into the V it decorates.

KEY: F major    METER: 4/4    CLEF: treble
| <C4,F4,A4>/h <C4,E4,G4>/h | <F3,A3,C4>/w |

Three chords in F major: first the tonic's notes stacked over a C bass — the cadential six-four, written I6/4 — then the real V chord (C–E–G) over the same bass note, then the true arrival on I (F–A–C). The bass line is sol–sol–do; the six-four is tonic-shaped paint on a dominant-shaped wall.

  • Say the honesty out loud: the six-four contains the tonic triad's notes and is not a tonic arrival. It's written I6/4 in major, i6/4 in minor, and it lives glued to the V that follows it. The figures use slashes, same as Week 10 — a hyphen means a suspension, and that's unit 14's story.
  • Where they know it from: the grand pause chord before a gospel ending; the "hold… hold…" moment before the final chord of practically every big anthem.

Misconception + cure:

  • ❌ "It spells like I, so it counts as the tonic arrival."
    ✅ Cure: function lives in the bass and the behavior, not the spelling. Bass on sol, resolving into V: dominant area. The real I comes after. If a chatbot tells you a second-inversion tonic "functions as tonic," you've caught this week's classic AI error.

Segment 6 — Phrase, antecedent, consequent, period + the AI-critique moment (15 min) · Session 1 closes (~75)

Plain language first. Now zoom out from the landing to the sentence. A phrase is a complete musical thought that ends with a cadence — usually about a singable breath long. It is defined by its cadence, not by its bar count: four bars with no landing is a fragment, and a six-bar thought with a landing is a phrase.

  • Antecedent + consequent = period. Pair two phrases: the first — the antecedent — asks the question, closing on a weaker cadence (usually a half cadence). The second — the consequent — answers it, often opening the same way, and closes the deal with a PAC. The pair is a period: question, answer, one complete paragraph.
  • Fully worked example — Ode to Joy (everyone can sing it):
KEY: C major    METER: 4/4    CLEF: treble
| E4/q E4/q F4/q G4/q | G4/q F4/q E4/q D4/q | C4/q C4/q D4/q E4/q | E4/q. D4/e D4/h |
| E4/q E4/q F4/q G4/q | G4/q F4/q E4/q D4/q | C4/q C4/q D4/q E4/q | D4/q. C4/e C4/h |

Beethoven's Ode to Joy theme in C major, eight bars of mostly even quarter notes. The first four bars — the antecedent — end hanging on re (D4, held), the note the V chord holds up: a half-cadence close, a musical question mark. The second four bars start identically and end on do (C4, held) over the tonic: the PAC answer. Two phrases, question then answer — a period.

  • Sing it as a room, and have them raise a hand at each breath — the hands go up at bar 4 and bar 8, every time. The form was in their lungs before it was on the board.
  • AI-critique moment (3 min, live on the projector). Paste into a chatbot: "In C major, a phrase ends with a C major chord with G in the bass, then G7, then C. Is that first chord functioning as tonic? One sentence." Read it aloud. Many tools will say yes — "it's a C major chord, so it's tonic" — which is exactly Segment 5's collapse. Have the room fix it: bass on sol, glued to V — dominant area, written I6/4. "All term the tool drafts and you judge. Your tutorial's audit runs on your own knowledge — this is the knowledge."

Why this makes you a better musician

This is the unit where endings stop being luck. When the leader says "take it around one more time and then land it," you now know what "land it" is made of: root-position V to root-position I, melody on do — and you can hand the bass player two notes (sol, do) that make the whole band arrive together instead of trickling in. When a worship set floats past its expected ending and the room lifts — you'll hear the V7 go to vi and follow it on purpose instead of lunging for the tonic and clashing. And phrases are how working musicians memorize: not thirty-two bars of stuff, but four questions and four answers. Know where the song breathes and you can learn it in half the time, cue a singer's entrance with your eyebrows, and fix the arrangement moment everyone feels but nobody can name. The studio is exactly this, played: predict the landing before it arrives, then build endings your own trio has to land.

Callback + tease + hand-off.

  • Callback: "Week 11 gave every chord a job. This morning you learned where the jobs clock out — and your ear voted correctly on every single landing before the names went up."
  • Tease: "Next unit — Progression, and two independent voices: your progressions grow a second voice. Two independent lines at once — the harmony vocal that works, the bass line that stands on its own. Bring the cadences; they're the guard rails."
  • Hand-off: read the chapter if you haven't; Tutorial 12 with your AI tutor is due before Week 12's second session — the studio predicts landings all morning and assumes the tutorial's reps. Practice set, quiz, discussion, and the Twenty Landings assignment close the end of Week 12. And keep your Chart song warm: its progression (milestone 2, drafted last week) has phrases and cadences in it — this week's vocabulary is how you'll label them.

Segment 7 — Studio: "Where does it land" (75 min) · Session 2

Run from the studio sheet (P-studio-week-12). Shape, for planning: finished-or-not ear warm-up → stop-one-chord-early prediction rounds (the instructor halts each progression one chord before the cadence; the room votes, sings the expected bass, then labels what actually happens) → the hymn cadence hunt (Old Hundredth, Nettleton, Joy to the World — count phrases, mark the breaths, grade the landings) → "Land the ending" — small groups build and perform a PAC, a deceptive swerve, and a plagal tag on their own instruments while the room identifies each blind → the six-four spot and a whole-room period diagram of Ode to Joy. The studio is the payoff enacted: predict it, name it, then land it together. 20 points, graded in session; async make-up path (full credit) on the studio sheet.

Instructor FAQ — common stumbles

The table below lists predictable Week 12 questions and quick cures.

Student says / does Quick cure
"V–I with do on top — why isn't that automatically perfect?" Check the bass too. If either chord is inverted, one lock didn't turn: IAC. Two conditions, always both: root position and do on top.
Labels every V-to-I an IAC "to be safe." Make the two checks mechanical: (1) bass = sol then do? (2) melody ends on do? Yes + yes = PAC, and say it with confidence. Hedging is a sign the checks aren't being run.
"Isn't a half cadence just an authentic cadence that hasn't happened yet?" No — the HC ends on V; the phrase is over, on purpose. The next phrase starts fresh. If V resolves to I inside the same breath, that's an authentic cadence, not a half.
"The deceptive cadence sounds like a mistake to me." Play V7–vi, then play an actual mistake (V7 to a random chord — try D♭ major). The room hears the difference instantly: vi shares two notes with I; it's a tonic-family stand-in. Delayed promise, not wrong turn.
Calls the cadential six-four "a I chord, so tonic function." Ask one question: what's in the bass? Sol. Where does it go? Straight into V. It looks like tonic and behaves like dominant — that's why we write I6/4 but file the whole gesture in the dominant area.
Writes the six-four figure with a hyphen (I6-4). Slashes for inversion figures, always: 6/4, 6/5, 4/3, 4/2. The hyphen is reserved — it means a suspension (4-3), coming in unit 14. One symbol, one meaning.
"So a phrase is four bars, right?" Usually — in this repertoire — but the definition is the cadence, not the count. No landing, no phrase. A phrase is over when the music breathes, and the cadence is the breath.
"Period, phrase, sentence — aren't these all the same old-timey words?" Phrase = one complete thought ending in a cadence. Period = two phrases in a question–answer pair (antecedent weak close, consequent PAC). Keep the pair straight and ignore the rest of the zoo — deeper phrase taxonomy belongs to later theory courses.
"In minor, why is the deceptive cadence V–VI with a capital VI?" Spell it: in A minor, V is E–G♯–B (harmonic minor's raised 7, unit 11), and VI is F–A–C — a major chord, hence the capital. The bass still does the same swerve: sol up a step.

Scope flag

This outline stays inside Week 12's ten ledger concepts (cadence; PAC; IAC; HC; deceptive; plagal; the cadential six-four; phrase; antecedent/consequent; period), building on Week 9–Week 11's triads, Roman numerals, figures, and function families. Phrase/antecedent/period form an intra-unit chain per the ledger and are taught in that order. The hyphen-vs-slash aside names suspensions by forward-reference only — they belong to Week 14. Deeper phrase-form taxonomy (sentences, phrase expansions) is deliberately out of scope for this course. The Chart reference in the hand-off recaps milestone 2 (Week 11) and previews milestone 3 (Week 13) without assigning new Chart work this week.

~ Professor Hemsworth's edition · Kenosis College · built with thecoursemaker.com