What Is Rhythm?

Defined most simply, rhythm is a strong repeated pattern of movement or sound, generally considered to be an ordered alternation of contrasting elements.

As regular and natural patterns of change, rhythms are everywhere – in the cycle of seasons, day and night, waking and sleeping. Beyond natural manifestations, rhythm characterizes human expression and is inseparable from speech, music, dance, and all forms of art.

As Alan Lomax affirmed, “Although rhythmic behavior has been observed in many animal groups, none of them…matches human rhythmic systems in precision, flexibility, number of levels, or elaboration.”

More importantly, rhythm is the foundation of human sociability. As Eliot Chapple observed, “Consider the enormous range of biological rhythms in the human body, fast and slow, transmuted and integrated by the complex interdependence of the somatic, autonomic and endocrine nervous systems. The results of this synthesis of movement and sound act directly on us, spatially and temporally differentiating our interactional patterns.”

“For man,” Laban wrote, “the relationship of effort and recovery is one of the most important aspects of the great number of rhythmical alternations observable in nature.”

Find out more about effort and recovery in the next blog.