Topmusicanswers
Perfect and plagal cadences provide a harmonically stable end to the music, whereas the imperfect and interrupted cadences make the music sound unfinished or surprising. A perfect cadence uses the chordal progression V-I in the home key and is the most commonly used cadence in tonal music.
How do you know if a cadence is perfect or imperfect?
A cadence is a two-chord progression that occurs at the end of a phrase. If a phrase ends with any chord going to V, a half cadence (HC) occurs. If a phrase ends with any chord going to V, an imperfect cadence occurs.
What are interrupted cadences?
"A cadence is called 'interrupted', 'deceptive' or 'false' where the penultimate, dominant chord is not followed by the expected tonic, but by another one, often the submediant." This is the most important irregular resolution, most commonly V7–vi (or V7–♭VI) in major or V7–VI in minor.
