Meet the Amen chord, the plagal cadence. A four chord is aspirational. At its root, the word means oblique or sideways.
That’s because while modal thinking lies along a line, functional harmony tends to sandwich the tonal center between an octave built on the pillars of the fifth. For the plagal cadence, I like to say you swipe right, and for the perfect, you swipe left. But notice while the perfect abandons the tonal center, the plagal keeps one foot planted firmly on terra firma and reaches for the heavens.
It’s hopeful. Extending out of its worldly container, it’s a comma rather than a period, reaching sideways past the world we inhabit to one we aspire to. Or it’s just a four chord.
Either way, Amen, friends. Music makes the world better, and you can share that with someone who belongs in a big kitchen glass. (music)
