From Beat to Bar to Metre to Rhythm
By the ear we can perceive sound and rhythm, but through body movement we can physicaly feel and perform it.
To sensitize the rhythmic feeling and develop a consciousness for movement rhythm, we must practice and experience the change of tension and relaxation in all its variations of force and speed.
Observing our environment sensibilizes our perception skills, gives space for recognition of patterns, structures and laws.
Witnessing the architecture surrounding us, the rhythm of our organ-clock, the Breathing rhythm, the biorhythm, the day and night rhythm etc, demonstrates that
Rhythm is everywhere, Rhythm is life .
Analysing the basic structure of music can give us an idea and may develop our understanding and consciousness for Rhythm.
Pulse/Beat
Defines the floating time by even impulses. It is the simplest time structure of a given music.
At this point come the music symbols, the notes in play which are used for the written recording of music.
We differentiate the basic Note Value between:
-whole Note- 4 Beates
-half Note- 2 Beats
-quarter Note- 1 Beat
-eighth Note-1/2 Beat
-sixteenth Note- 1/4 Beat
-Playing with different speeds of a ground beat from very slow/ slow /regular /fast /very fast…applied in activities as Running- Walking -Rolling Turning – Jumping
-Articulating and moving only one body part on each beat or change each beat the part of the body
-Exploring different Notes Values in activities as Walking, Sinking, Rising, Rotating etc.
-explore different dynamics on the beats
from very strong, with weight, light, very light
Bar
Defines the combination of beats.
Like 2/4, 4/4, 3/4 or 5/4
-change direction after each Bar
-change the activity after each Bar
-change the Note Value after each Bar
Metre
Explains the order of the highpoints, means the repetitious interplay between accented and unaccented tones.
-Like in a 4/4 the first and third note will be accented
-set a pattern of repeated accents within the bars. Clapping, stumping, walking, parts of the body
-Explore to set accents with different dynamics while moving
Rhythm
Describes an accent pattern over Bar/Metre. Rhythm contains always a correlation between stressed, accented and unstressed, un-accented movements and is defined also by duration, Dynamic and tempo.
-Invent rhythms by combining different notes
-Define the accents in the former rhythm
-Repeat the rhythm with different parts of the body, transporting the body in space, or using different space levels.
The Inner Rhythm
Searching within yourself
When we listen carefully within our body and take time to recognize the happenings which go on, we can perceive different rhythms inside us, and, that those rhythms change in relation to the circumstances of our daily life.
Breathing Rhythm
By breathing we communicate with our outside world; we take in oxygen, and we release carbon dioxide. It is a filling and emptying.
-Exploring different tempos of inhale and exhale, faster or slower, putting them in contrast, holding the breath and letting go, accenting the inhale or exhale in contrast to non-accent breathing might produce diverse rhythmic patterns.
Heartbeat/ Blood floating
Listening to its own heartbeat brings us to a proper time feeling, a subjective time perception. It brings us in the NOW.
-Explore the impulses of the heartbeat with different gestures
-Differentiate between rest and movement
-Imagine the heartbeat moves the blood in your body
Peristalsis Rhythm
A series of strong and smooth waves, a rhythmical muscle contractions that moves the food through the body
-Explore to move with different tensions
through the room, as if you would push something away
-Vary the tension within the course of the movement
