Minor-Start Authentic Cadence vi-IV-V-I
Piano sound loads on first tap. Resolved in the key of C — every chord links to its full analysis.
Starts on the relative minor (vi) for an unsettled, hopeful colour, then walks IV→V→I to deliver a full authentic cadence. Opening away from the tonic and arriving on it through the strongest V→I pull makes the final I land with extra weight.
What each degree does
The relative minor — the tonic's reflective shadow. It often replaces I in a deceptive cadence, where you expected home and its sad side arrives instead.
A step out from home into the light — the subdominant. It sets up the dominant or resolves with a plagal ('amen') colour, opening space without sharp tension.
Tension pulling home — the chord that 'wants to resolve' to I; it closes or opens sections. The dominant, the engine of the key.
Feels like home — complete rest, where the piece departs from and returns to. The major tonic, where everything settles.