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RHYTHM (Tue 26 Dec 06 @ 01:31:15) |
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RHYTHM
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In general, pattern in space and time. With sound, rhythm describes the pattern of events in time, or as Ezra Pound put it, "Rhythm is form cut into time."
The speed of rhythm is its TEMPO. The range of tempi includes those much slower than those of human experience, called infra-biological, and those much faster, called suprabiological. In between lies a narrow range of speeds common to human activity. Many developments of technology have introduced faster and more complex rhythms into the SOUNDSCAPE, including those where separate events can no longer be discerned (see DRONE, STATIONARY SOUND).
A large variety of rhythms are based on a cyclic or PERIODIC repetition of events (see diagrams under CYCLE and TEMPO). The regularity of cyclic rhythm is to be found in such patterns as the inhalation and exhalation of breath, the systole and diastole of pulse, the ebb and flow of tides. The period of repetition is sometimes called the measure or bar, as it is in music. Metric rhythm, which is common to many types of music, involves the subdivision of the measure into equal units marked by a pulse called the beat. The first beat of the measure is usually accented. |
