The Complete Idiot''s Guide to Music Theory

210 Par t 5:Embellishing

Turnarounds

Chapter 10 also presented a concept of the phrase-ending cadence.Well, in the

fields of jazz and popular music, you find a similar concept called a turnaround.

A turnaround typically is a two-bar phrase, with two chords per measure, that

functions much the same as a traditional cadence, “turning around” the music

to settle back on the I chord at the start of the next phrase.

There is a wide variety of chord combinations you can use to create an ear-

pleasing turnaround, some of which go outside the underlying key to circle

back around to the tonic.

Here are just a few you might want to try:

Common Chord Turnarounds

Turnaround Example (in C)

I-IV-iii-ii

I-vi-ii-V

iii-VI-ii-V

I-vi-
vi-V

I-
VII-iii-ii

IV-iii-ii-
ii

I-vi-
vi-
II

I-VI-
V-
III

Some jazz musicians refer

to turnarounds as turnbacks.

Note