Rhythm
is a repeating pattern of sound. We hear rhythm everywhere—from the crashing
waves of the ocean, to the hypnotic sound of a train, to the speech we hear in
our daily lives. Rhythm is part of nature. Summer rises and leads to fall. Fall
leads to winter, and then spring arrives. The sun rises and sets. We wake up;
we go to sleep. Rhythm is so engrained into our spirits, minds, and experience,
that we often don’t stop to think about it.
Rhythm
is found in nature, but it is also learned. As we learn to speak, we naturally
learn rhythm. Take some time to listen to someone that doesn’t speak English as
a native language. Even if every vowel and consonant resonates with perfect
pronunciation, they still may be difficult to understand. Why? They have
pronunciation, but they don’t have a rhythm our ear is accustomed to. Our
native tongue shapes our experience and conditions us to be drawn to certain
rhythmic patterns. When those patterns are missing, we find things jarring, and
it requires extra effort to extrapolate meaning.
In
English certain syllables are given more or less emphasis. We generally have
three variations in emphasis: loud, which is a stressed syllable; medium, which
is a semi-stressed syllable; and soft, which is an unstressed syllable. Let’s
consider the word, “harmony”. It is generally said:
HAR mon ee
Obviously,
the emphasis is being exaggerated, but when the emPHASis is on the wrong sylLABle
things sound a bit wonky. We've grown used to a rhythmic pattern for
familiar words, and when someone doesn't follow that pattern, we find the sound
cacophonous.
Let's
consider a pattern of rhythm for a moment:
DUM cha dum cha
Say it!
Yes, I'm serious! Now, take it and repeat it in a cycle:
DUM cha dum cha DUM cha dum cha
DUM cha dum cha DUM cha dum cha
DUM cha dum cha DUM cha dum cha
DUM cha dum cha DUM cha dum cha
This
rhythmic cycle is the most common pattern of rhythm found in Western music. No
doubt other cultures may produce different rhythm patterns. Ever eat at a
Chinese restaurant? At my local Chinese establishment (with its addicting beef
lo mein), when the lady takes your order, she then barks it back to the kitchen
staff in Chinese. You can hear all the cooks barking back and forth in a speech
that sounds foreign and jarring to my tender American ears. Why does it sound
so jarring? Because the rhythm isn't what I'm used to! Can you recognize music
that comes from the Orient? It has a certain sound, doesn't it? Part of this is
the rhythm.
Ever
wonder why someone sounds a little pompous when they never use contractions and
always use "he or she" instead of the ubiquitous "they"?
It's because they are grammatically correct, but rhythmically challenged. It
ain't right, but sometimes grammar and rhythm collide. "It ain't" has
a different rhythm then "it is not", and often the "ain't"
paints a better melody. Contractions also change the rhythm of a sentence,
because they shorten things one syllable. One syllable doesn't sound like much,
but consider:
DUM cha dum cha DUM cha dum cha
DUM cha dum cha DUM cha dum cha
DUM cha cha dum cha DUM cha dum cha
DUM cha dum cha DUM cha dum cha
Oh, that
hideous third line of rhythm!
Do
you happen to have a friend that likes to curse, and is also funny? You can be
honest and tell me the truth. I'm only a blog, so I won't tell anyone:) Part of
you may be thinking, "He shouldn't be saying those frickin-frackin words,
that son of a blizzard!" Yet, part of you finds his colorful metaphors
(with all those bleeping words and even his grammatically deficient sentence
structures) not only appealing, but raucously hilarious! Why?
Consider
cursing for a moment. It's okay, I won't tell your mother. Cursing often
involves short words or phrases that are rhythmic in nature. "The man who
had sexual relations with my maternal parent" isn't as rhythmic as that,
"MOTHER F, . . ." Well, you can fill in the rest! If you consider
cursing from the standpoint of rhythm, curse words and phrases are a rhythmic
Lego set that easily allows one to construct rhythmically powerful language.
When
building rhythm, it's often easier to use short, concrete words as opposed to
long, abstract words. How often do you hear the word "exponentially"
in a song? In Western music, the most common rhythm patterns are based on two,
three, and four "syllables". Okay, "syllables" isn't the
correct technical term, but for the moment we're looking at the similarity
between music and language. In many ways, the beat of music is similar to the
syllables of speech.
There
is a rhythm to speech we find appealing. That rhythm is similar to rhythm we
tap our feet to or enjoy when we hear Dr. Suess. Rhythm is a foundational
element to music, writing, and poetry. If you want success in those
disciplines, you need to get your groove on. Rhythm is also the point where the
three intersect. Song lyrics can be viewed as poetry that is voiced with an
emphasis on changing pitch. Poetry is a song without strong emphasis on
changing pitch. Music can be written without lyrics, but even without lyrics,
there are certain patterns of rhythm our ears find appealing. Many of those
patterns come from the way we speak our language.
