We explain what rhythm is, the elements that compose it and what musical rhythm is. Also, what is melody and rhythm in physical education.
What is rhythm?
Rhythm is any regular and recurring movement, marked by a series of opposite or different events that occur in time. In other words, the rhythm is a flow of movement of a visual or aural nature, whose internal order can be perceived and even reproduced.
Rhythm underlies most art forms, especially in the case of music, poetry and dance, since the nature of the rhythm is subjective, it depends on the perceptions of each person. A rhythm could well be found behind all the things that happen in time, as long as they involve a certain margin of repetition.
The rhythms have a series of elements, such as:
- Pulse. This is the name given to each of the units of the set of repetitions that make up the rhythm, which can be regular or irregular, accelerated or slowed down.
- Accent. It is a certain emphasis that is given to a certain pulse, and that coincides with its main discharge of energy.
- Compass. This is the particular way in which various pulses are organized into groups, generating a contrast between their weak and strong, accentuated and atonic parts.
- Tempo. The speed or frequency at which the repetitions occur is thus known, which is why it is usually measured through beats per minute (ppm).
- Duration. Determined from the relationship between pulse and tempo.
The word rhythm comes from the greek rhytmos, which translates “regular and recurring movement” or also “symmetry”. His study deals with different fields of human knowledge, depending on the subject in which it manifests itself: rhythm in music, rhythm in the performing arts, in painting, in the heartbeat, in the flow of spoken language, in architecture and even in natural phenomena and laws.
Musical rhythm
Since music consists of a succession of notes and harmonic sounds whose totality expresses a set of emotions or sensations, rhythm is a fundamental notion in it (along with melody and harmony), both in its academic and popular variants.
It could be said that rhythm is the engine of music. The musical rhythm understands how often cycles within a melody or song repeat each other, that is, the frequency of intervals and sounds that are transmitted to the listener and who is able to reproduce them with their body. In that, among other things, dance or dance consists.
Rhythm and melody
The musical rhythm is articulated from short, medium and long sounds, as well as the spaces of silence between them. The specific way of articulating these elements is known as melody And it responds to cultural reasons: Western music historically tends to obviate silences and to flow; while the oriental incorporates silence as one more note, it could be said.
The melodies, thus, receive specific names and are due to the creativity of the musicians, since they have an entity of their own. For example, it is often spoken today of riffs or from alone, depending on whether it is respectively a repetitive melody, usual for the accompaniment, or rather an autonomous melody, singular within the piece.
Rhythm in physical education
Rhythm and coordination have a common basis, which implies knowing how to translate into actions a frequency of energy discharges and intervals. These movements usually involve more than one part of the body, as occurs in dance, and modify the center of gravity of the human body, put its balance to the test, among other physical talents.
Hence, physical education often uses music and rhythm for its activities. Thus, the human body obeys rhythm and translates it into a series of muscular tensions and strains, gestures and efforts, enhancing not only the body’s harmonic response to external stimuli, but also its capacity for expression, which is useful for the body. development of the performing arts (dance, theater, etc.).
Sports activities such as aerobics, circuit exercise or forms of recreational boxing (taebo, etc.) often use music for these purposes, and also to impress on the minds of athletes the willingness to keep up emotionally.