What Is Rhythm?

Rhythm is a regular, repeated pattern of sounds or movements. For a more exact explanation, Merriam Webster puts it best:

• “An ordered recurrent alternation of strong and weak elements in the flow of sound and silence in speech.”
• “The aspect of music comprising all the elements (as accent, meter, and tempo) that relate to forward movement.”

So why do we study rhythm? People have a basic need for rhythm, or for the effect produced by it, as laboratory experiments in psychology have demonstrated. You can see by watching a crew of workers digging or hammering, or by listening to chants and work songs.

Rhythm gives pleasure and a more emotional response to the listener or reader because it establishes a pattern of expectations and rewards, providing the listener or reader with the pleasure that comes from having those expectations fulfilled, or the noted change in a rhythm.