Turnarounds
A turnaround is a used to describe a short piece of music that notifies the end of a musical phrase or progression. This allows the track to circle back round to the previous section, or chord progression, or transition to a different section of the song.
The term turnaround is typically associated with Jazz and chord progressions, however turnarounds can be applied to any music to mark the end of the musical progression, this can be a melodic change, a different harmonic chord progression or even a rhythmical change.
Perhaps a more well-known phrase for a section of a song which is used to transition from one progression to another, is a bridge. The difference is, the term bridge is typically used to describe a vocal direction to mark the end of a song section, rather than a whole musical phase.
There are many ways to incorporate a turnaround, and turnarounds are approached differently from genre to genre. Oscar from underdog describes and demonstrate turnarounds within Techno and other EDM genres.
Turn arounds in EDM and Techno
Turnarounds using chord progressions;
As shown by Oscar from Underdog, a turnaround can be achieved rhythmically and texturally, which is extremely relevant in electronic music production, but more traditionally the turnaround was marked by harmony or melody. When talking about a turnaround using chord progressions, this can be described as a Cadence.
Cadence
In musical language, a Cadence is 2 or more chords which is used to conclude a music phrase. As you can imagine this can be used as a turnaround or at least part of it. There are many different types of cadences, for a turnaround, some options will work better than others, this depends on the dynamics of the song and the order of chord progressions your using. Typically you will want the turnaround to end on non-tonic chord (I), if your main chord progression starts on a tonic chord, this allows the turnaround to mark the end of the phrase and seamlessly circle back into your main chord progression again. I’m going to categories the cadences into 2 main groups, finished and unfinished cadences. Within the 2 groups there are multiple ways to approach the 2 different cadences which I will explain below.
Finished
2 types of finished cadence are the Perfect/Authentic Cadence and the Plagal Cadence. These Cadences are grouped as Finished due to ending on the tonic chord (i), this gives the cadence a final or an ending feel to the progression.
Perfect or Authentic Cadence (V-I)
An authentic/perfect cadence can be described as a full stop, it adds a sense of closure to the progression and resolves on a tonic chord (i). This cadence makes use of fifth chord in the scale (V) to set up the tonic (i) chord, giving the listener an expectation of the piece perfectly resolving.
An example of adding a perfect cadence to a C major scale would be.
Verse
C (I) – E (iii)
Adding a perfect Cadence
G (V) – C (I)
Plagal Cadence (IV - I)
Th Plagal Cadence is still a finished cadence due to ending on a tonic (i) chord, but it makes us of the fourth (IV) chord of the scale and sounds slightly softer than the perfect cadence.
An example of adding a perfect cadence to a C major scale would be.
Verse
C (I) – E (iii)
Adding a perfect Cadence
F (IV) – C (I)
Unfinished Cadence
An unfinished Cadence would end on a non-resolving chord and can be seen as more suitable for a turnaround especially if you main chord progression begins on a tonic chord (i). In an example where the verse progression is played through but ends in a 2 bar unfinished cadence, the music can smoothly start at the beginning on the verse or setup new harmonic and melodic ideas such as a new chord progression or perhaps a chorus. An Imperfect Cadence could be compared with using comma in a sentence, this cadence feels like it set ups a new chord progression or a new melodic direction. Much like the finished cadence, there are multiple types of unfinished cadence.
imperfect Cadence
An Imperfect Cadence could be compared with using comma in a sentence, this cadence feels like it set ups a new chord progression or a new melodic direction and always ends end one the fith Chord (V) – The (v) can be preceded by any other chord, normally I-V, II-V, IV-V
An example of adding a imperfect cadence to a C major scale would be.
Verse
C (I) – E (iii)
Adding a perfect Cadence
D (ii) – G (V)
Interrupted Cadence (V - VI)
Because the ending 6th(VI) chord is set up with the perfect harmonic 5th (V), the listen expects the song to resolve to the tonic chord (I) but the forth (VI) chord interrupts the listeners expectations leaving the progression feeling unresolved.
An example of adding a Interrupted cadence to a C major scale would be.
Verse
C (I) – E (iii)
Adding a perfect Cadence
G (V) – A (vi)
This is one of the best youtube videos I can find on the subject of Cadence by music theory academy.
Enjoy
If you unsure with some of the terminology relating to chords and scales, then Id recommend starting here