amen cadence

9.9

A musical ending in church music where singers finish by singing Amen

noun
/ˈeɪmən ˈkeɪdəns/

Specialized

: cadencia de amén

The choir concluded the hymn with a beautiful amen cadence that lingered in the sanctuary.

Examples

Many traditional church anthems end with an amen cadence to give a sense of finality.
Composers often use the amen cadence to bring a peaceful close to liturgical music.
The choir performed the amen cadence beautifully.
Did you hear the amen cadence at the end of the hymn?
Many traditional church anthems end with an amen cadence to give a sense of finality.
The choir concluded the hymn with a beautiful amen cadence that lingered in the sanctuary.
Composers often use the amen cadence to bring a peaceful close to liturgical music.

Synonyms

cadence

vsamen cadence

Specialized

1 6.8

A sequence of chords that ends a musical phrase

focuses on a specific church progression rather than general musical endings

plagal cadence

vsamen cadence

Specialized

9.9

A chord change from the fourth chord to the main chord that ends church songs

is the customary name in hymns for the same progression

Surface Forms

amen cadence singular

amen cadences plural

Morphology

amen + cadence

Knowing 'amen' (a term that concludes prayers) and 'cadence' (a closing chord progression), a B1 learner can reasonably infer this refers to a cadence used to end hymns or prayers. However, the specific technical detail (the subdominant-to-tonic/plagal structure) is specialized musical knowledge not predictable from the parts, so the relation is only partially transparent.

Etymology

Amen cadence comes from church singing: one popular story says choirs often held the word amen while music made a simple move that leads to the final chord, and people began to call that peaceful close an amen or closing cadence. So, the name explains why an amen cadence now means a calm musical 'ending' at the end of hymns.