cadence

(kād'ns)

1. Balanced, rhythmic flow, as of poetry or oratory.
2. The measure or beat of movement, as in dancing or marching.
3. 1. A falling inflection of the voice, as at the end of a sentence.
   2. General inflection or modulation of the voice.
4. Music. A progression of chords moving to a harmonic close, point of rest, or sense of resolution.

[Middle English, from Old French *cadence, from Old Italian cadenza, from Vulgar Latin *cadentia, a falling, from Latin cadēns, cadent-, present participle of cadere, to fall.]

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noun

The patterned, recurring alternation of contrasting elements, such as stressed and unstressed notes in music: beat, cadency, measure, meter, rhythm, swing. See repetition.

The conclusion or punctuation point in a musical phrase; the formula on which such a conclusion is based. Cadences are the most effective way of affirming or establishing the tonality of a passage. Four forms are common in tonal music. The perfect cadence (also called authentic or final cadence or full close), at the end of a phrase, moves from a dominant chord to a tonic one (V-I), both normally in root position (ex.1); some theorists require that the uppermost voice must sound the tonic in the final chord if a cadence is to rank as perfect. The imperfect cadence (half cadence, half close) ends on the dominant and may be preceded by any chord, often the tonic (ex.2). The plagal cadence is one in which the tonic is preceded by the subdominant (IV-I:ex.3). The interrupted cadence (deceptive cadence, false close), the name of which speaks for itself, moves irregularly from the dominant to an unexpected final chord other than the tonic, usually the submediant (V-VI:ex.4). In the Phrygian cadence, related to the minor-key imperfect cadence, the lowest part descends to the final or tonic by a semitone step (from a so-called upper leading note). A cadence in which the first chord is inverted is sometimes called a medial cadence (or inverted cadence) as opposed to a radical cadence with root-position chords.

Ex.1

Ex.2

Ex.3

Ex.4

cadence [kay‐dĕns], the rising and falling rhythm of speech, especially that of the balanced phrases in free verse or in prose, as distinct from the stricter rhythms of verse metre. Also the fall or rise in pitch at the end of a phrase or sentence.

Adjective: cadent.

The stride (or step) frequency during walking or running, i.e. the number of strides (or steps) per unit time.

The melodic or harmonic ending of a piece, or the sections or phrases within a piece. A chord progression that gives a feeling of resolution, or conclusion.

The progressive rhythmical pattern in lines of verse; also, the natural tone or modulation of the voice determined by the alternation of accented or unaccented syllables.

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The rhythm of a horse's gait. The walk is a four beat cadence, the trot is two beat, the canter has three beats and the gallop has four.

• Devices, Techniques, and Elements - cadence: measured, rhythmic emphasis of language
• Harmony, Melody, and Structure - cadence: chords at end of phrase or piece that suggest harmonic resolution
• Rhetoric and Figures of Speech - cadence: rhythm and measure of written or spoken language

Look up Cadence or cadence in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

Cadence may refer to:

Music

• Cadence (music), a melodic configuration at the end of a phrase, section, or piece of music
• Cadence Magazine, a monthly review of jazz, blues and improvised music
• Cadence Jazz Records, a record label issued by the above magazine
• Cadence Records, an American record label during the 1940s and 50s
• Cadence Weapon, a rap artist from Edmonton, Alberta, Canada
• Kadans, a Haitian Creole music genre, also known as Cadence
• Cadence (or Cadence-lypso), a genre of music from Dominica
• Military cadence, a chant that is sung by military personnel while marching
• Drum cadence, a work played exclusively by the percussion section of a modern marching band

Other

• Cadence (cycling), the number of revolutions of the crankset per minute
• Cadence Design Systems, an electronic design automation company
• Cadence (film), a 1990 film directed by Martin Sheen
• Cadence (gait), the number of steps per minute
• Cadence (given name), a girl's name
• Cadence Industries, publishing company formed in 1970s that owned Marvel Comics

Fictional Characters

• Cadence, or DJ Cadence, a fictional DJ in the online virtual game Club Penguin

This disambiguation page lists articles associated with the same title. If an internal link led you here, you may wish to change the link to point directly to the intended article.

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Dansk (Danish)
n. - tonefald, rytme, kadence

Nederlands (Dutch)
stembuiging, cadans, cadens (slot van muzikale frase), ritmische beweging/klank

Français (French)
n. - inflexion, rythme, (Mus) cadence

Deutsch (German)
n. - Rhythmus, Kadenz

Ελληνική (Greek)
n. - ρυθμός, παλμός, (μουσ.) καταληκτική διακύμανση, διακύμανση, σκαμπανεβάσματα φωνής (π.χ. στην ανάγνωση ποίησης)

Italiano (Italian)
cadenza, intonazione, ritmo

Português (Portuguese)
n. - cadência (f), ritmo (m)

Русский (Russian)
каденция, модуляция

Español (Spanish)
n. - cadencia, ritmo

Svenska (Swedish)
n. - rytm, tonfall, kadens

中文（简体）(Chinese (Simplified))
抑扬顿挫, 韵律, 节奏

中文（繁體）(Chinese (Traditional))
n. - 抑揚頓挫, 韻律, 節奏

한국어 (Korean)
n. - 은율, 박자, 악곡의 종지법

日本語 (Japanese)
n. - 韻律, 抑揚, リズム, 終止, カデンツ, 歩調, 調子

العربيه (Arabic)
‏(الاسم) الأيقاع‏

עברית (Hebrew)
n. - ‮ירידה בגובה הקול בייחוד בסוף ביטוי או משפט, הדגשה במבטא, סיום של משפט מוסיקלי, תינח, מקצב, קצב‬

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