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Amen!

By Music examples by Tom Brislin and Michael Gallant | October, 2007

Create musical motion with classic church suspensions and cadences.

When we speak of a cadence in music, we’re referring to a small chord progression or series of intervals that brings resolution to a musical idea. It can be the end of the piece, the end of a section, or a completed phrase. There are many kinds of cadences, a common and simple one being the IV-I (G to D) cadence in Example 1b. You’ll hear this at the end of tons of hymns, and in many Baroque, Classical, and Romantic compositions, too. A progression that gets a similar cadence-like flavor from simple note suspension is the I-Isus4-I progression shown in the key of D in Ex. 1a. The idea is simple: Start with your main chord, then suspend the third of the chord up a half-step to the fourth, G, creating tension, then bringing the fourth back down to the third, resolving the tension and forming the major triad again. This simple motion is featured in thousands of tunes, including the work of Billy Joel.
The examples here probably sound familiar, and with good reason. In addition to permeating the pop and rock genres, these cadences are commonly used in gospel and traditional church music. Practice with a metronome and have fun — Amen!

Play Audio and MIDI

The audio and MIDI files to the right correspond to the lessons and full song transcription beginning on page 50 of the October 2007 issue of Keyboard. All files performed by Scott Healy.