The Perfect Cadence

Harmony's Full Stop

A cadence is a chord progression that ends a musical phrase, just as punctuation ends a sentence. The perfect (or authentic) cadence moves from the dominant chord (V) to the tonic chord (I) and sounds completely final and resolved.

V to I in C Major

In C major the dominant is G (or G7) and the tonic is C. Playing G7 then C gives the strongest sense of arrival in all of tonal harmony — the sound of a song coming to rest.

Cadences Everywhere

Composers place perfect cadences at the ends of phrases, verses, and whole pieces to signal closure. Once you can hear a V–I, you will notice it closing melodies all around you.