Today's opinion: Rhythm is a Tyrant.
A steady
beat and repetitive phrases may hypnotize or energize us, depending on the nature of the rhythm. Sometimes it deadens us.
In his Book of Laughter and Forgetting, Milan Kundera writes:
The sadder people are, the louder the speakers blare. They are trying to make an occupied
country forget the bitterness of history and devote all its energy to the joys
of everyday life.
There is a certain primordial state of musicˆ, a state prior to
its history . . . the state before the play of motif and theme was ever
conceived or even contemplated.
This elementary state of music (music minus thought) reflects the
inherent idiocy of human life. . . .
Sometimes while listening to music I try to free myself from the
tyranny of rhythm, to rise above the obvious. I find it difficult to disengage from it, but certain kinds
of music make it easier to do.
Obviously, slow relaxing music, Western European art music, some kinds
of Asian music. Pop and rock music
are very difficult to try this with; after all, what band could imagine not
having a drummer?
I suggest that even in attempting this exercise, you may reach a
wonderful state of disembodiment.
Remove the underlying rhythm and you may float freely around the
room. You might even find yourself
upside down on the ceiling. This exhilarating feeling is elusive and as soon as
you start analyzing what is happening, you will connect once again to that
ever-present beat.
Rhythm of course is much more than an ever-present beat. It is the structure of music, phrasing,
organization of sound. All of
these things work together to carry a piece of music, to ground it, to give the
listener something to hang on to.
Rhythmic repetition can also induce trance. Traditional Indonesian gamelan music,
the music that Debussy fell in love with and was inspired by, is played for
days on end. Just like mantras
that are repeated, phrases that are repeated over and over can free the
listener.
Steve Reich, Philip Glass, and other minimalists know this. They know how to draw the listener in
through repetition, and create a feeling of suspension over the music. Rhythm
can be seductive and seditious at the same time and once it establishes a sense
of monotony, it can subtly change and upset your equilibrium.
So I suggest the following:
- Turn off the lights.
- Get comfortable - sit in a great chair or lie on the couch.
- Turn on a Beethoven violin sonata, Brahms symphony or something.
- Listen to the rhythm, and tap it out.
- Now tune it out. Get carried away with the sound - the timbre, the melody, the soaring nature of the violins, whatever.
- Float.
