Rhythm: Definition and Development of Rhythm

Instructional Materials: Cassettes and Recorder.

Contents

——- Rhythm Definition

——Development of Rhythm

The term rhythm refers to the movement of music. It can also be defined as the movement or flow of musical sounds. It can still be defined as the movement, life, or time pattern of a piece of music.

The movement of any music depends on the arrangement of notes, beats, accents, bars and phrases. The regular grouping of these elements gives shape to the music. In this case music can move in 2 (duple), 3 (triple) or 4 (quadruple) time, depending on the desired time as indicated by the grouping of beats into two, three or four. The movement of the music can  be fast,  slow or moderate. 

Beat :  Beat is the regular pulse which ticks like a clock or heart beat.It provides the time sense of the music. Musical beat or pulse can easily be determined if we knock, tap or clap to the movement of the music thereby stressing the strong accent. Accent: This refers to the emphasis or stress given to certain beats according  to the barring system of  the music. Normally the first beat of the bar receives strong  emphasis while the second one is less stressed. This results to  existence of strong and weak beats (accents), e. g.

Clapping of Rhythm : Clapping emphasizes the rhythmic flow of music, and yields easily to various clapping patterns.