What types of cadences work well in natural minor mode?
I am currently interested in writing a piece in the natural minor mode, and it seems like "v - i" cadence does not quite work as well as compared to the harmonic / melodic minor modes, which use "V - i". How can I write a good cadence in the natural minor mode? Would "VII - i" work well?
VII - i would sound great! It would definitely keep to that natural minor sound you are looking for. Adding a bVI before that VII would work nicely as well. A nice way to create some more interesting progressions here would be to try different inversions of chords that stay true to this mode. Good chords that stand out to me are the bVI and bIII as well as maybe throwing in a neopolitan (bII) chord after that bVI. Also adding 7th’s to these chords would be a good way to bring out the modal harmony. This is often used in jazz writing/piano playing but often in the Dorian mode.
