The period
A period is a pair of phrases where the first phrase is called “antecedent” and the second is called “consequent”.
Antecedent phrases are like the “question” and consequent phrases are like the “answer”. As such, antecedent phrases are phrases that suggest continuation or suggest temporary repose. Consequent phrases suggest a relative feeling of finality. Essentially, both have specific kinds of punctuation.
In classical music
✏️ flesh this out
- need to read Caplin’s stuff
- mention cadences
- do cadences NEED to be IAC to PAC? or can they be weak to less-weak?
Nuances
In film music, it is not uncommon for periods to not have any kind of harmonic cadence. (richards-2016 par.22)