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14.3.3: Deceptive Cadence

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    258564
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    Composition of a Deceptive CadenceG major to A minor in the key of C

    An additional inconclusive cadence is the deceptive cadence. With a deceptive cadence, the first chord is the dominant chord. Since the leading tone of the key is present in the dominant chord, our ear expects to hear it resolve to do. Instead of resolving to the tonic chord as might be expected, the deceptive cadence resolves to a chord that includes do but is not the tonic chord.

    • V is the first chord (leading tone of the key is present)
    • Do is present in the second chord
    • Second chord is not tonic
    • Second chord is often the minor six (vi) submediant

    The Sound of the DC

    The deceptive cadence has an unexpected resolution because our ear is prepared to hear the tonic and the chord we hear is not the tonic.

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    This page titled 14.3.3: Deceptive Cadence is shared under a CC BY-NC 4.0 license and was authored, remixed, and/or curated by Lauren C. Sharkey.

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