Discover the beat of life with our comprehensive guide, ‘Exploring Ritmos: The Rhythms of Life.’ Join us as we delve into the rhythm of cultures, people, and the world around us.
Since 1999, Andrew Rogers has created the world’s most extraordinary contemporary land art undertaking. His geoglyphs — chains of stone sculptures that span mountains, valleys, and plains worldwide — are conceived with the assistance of local communities, including elders, workers, and experts.
Our bodies have several biological rhythms that regulate cycles, such as sleep and wakefulness, body temperature, hormone secretion, and more. These rhythms are tied to an internal clock in your brain called the suprachiasmatic nucleus (SCN).
Rhythms of Life
Rhythm is used in many disciplines – from music, dance, and theatre to anthropology, sociology, and psychology. It refers to the patterns of activity and rest that occur at regular intervals.
The body has a set of biological rhythms, also known as circadian rhythms (circum- and diem- meaning around and day), which control your sleep and wake cycles, body temperature, and hormone secretion. In the hypothalamus, the suprachiasmatic nucleus (SCN) is regulated by your internal clock.
These internal clocks are linked to sunlight and other environmental cues, including diet, exercise, and medications. Disruption of these rhythms can lead to serious health issues, including obesity, anxiety, and depression.
A large part of human health depends on our ability to synchronize with rhythms; most people feel better about their lives when they do! Rhythmic music can provide this synchrony in a very natural, effortless way.
Rhythms of Nature
There is a tremendous biological clock that runs through the natural world. The shift between day and night, the changing of seasons, and the movement of tides are all vital to life on this planet and can be the difference between life and death.
During these times, animals and plants adapt their behavior to fit these rhythms. Mountain hares, for example, have to change their coats as the weather changes, and they can freeze to death if they don’t do this.
Likewise, musicians have found rhythm to be an indispensable element in their compositions. They use it to organize the music’s parts into a coherent whole.
Rhythms of Culture
Rhythm is an essential element of all music. Whether it has melody, harmony, or neither, the pattern of strong and weak beats in time defines and creates meaning.
Various cultures have distinct musical rhythms and are used to different ends. The difference in perception of a meter (the cyclical pattern of strong and weak beats) is one of the most common examples of the differences between music from different cultures.
In this study, we investigated the effects of culture on a perceptual task that requires participants to discriminate rhythms that are the same or different from one another. We tested adults on a series of functions using synthesized tone sequences derived from Western and East African music.
For the rhythm discrimination task, we calculated d’ scores for each participant to reflect their accuracy in discriminating between rhythms that are the same and those that are different. Error bars indicate +-1 SE of the mean.
Rhythms of the Soul
The soul is a collective term for several genres of music that Black Americans pioneered in the mid-twentieth century. These include rhythm and blues (R&B), urban blues, Motown, smooth jazz, and gospel music.
The roots of soul music can be traced to traditional blues and the gospel music of the Black church. Many of the genre’s leading artists learned their music through performing in gospel groups, and these traditions are still reflected in much of the genre today.
A common characteristic of the soul is gospel-music devices, such as call-and-response vocals between a lead singer and the chorus. The harmonic language of the blues also influences this tradition.
Classical soul music is still widely played on radio stations and streaming services. In addition, it has significantly influenced more contemporary music traditions, including hip-hop and disco.
