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a cadence · I–IV–V–I

12 s · 90 bpm · triads in C major, one per bar

a cadence · I–IV–V–I 12 s · 90 bpm · triads in C major, one per bar
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The most familiar chord progression in Western music — home, away, tension, home — voiced as triads in C major

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A progression is one line; a chord is another

The most familiar move in Western music — home, away, tension, home — is written as four degrees:

# the progression — I, IV, V, I
1 4 5 1

Each of those roots becomes a triad by way of a second line, the voicing:

# stack the 1st, 3rd, and 5th scale-steps on each root
1 3 5

Read both against C major and you get C, F, G, C triads — the I–IV–V–I cadence — out of two short rows of integers:

source:
  kind: notes
  chord_line: prog        # 1 4 5 1
  voicing_line: triad     # 1 3 5
  scale: major
  key: C

Neither line names a chord. The harmony is what falls out when you read them through the scale.