Rhythm is the primal, most ancient element of music. Long before melody and harmony, people clapped, stamped, and beat drums — creating rhythmic structures.
Rhythm distinguishes the waltz (triple meter) from the march (duple meter), jazz (with its swing) from rock (with its driving beat). Messiaen's complex rhythms, the polyrhythm of African drumming, the aksak rhythms of the Balkans — all of this is an endless universe of organizing sound in time.
Rhythm is the organisation of sounds in time according to their duration; it is closely bound to metre (the regular pulsation) but not identical with it. Note durations relate to one another in simple ratios (whole, half, quarter, eighth), and rests, ties, dotted values, and syncopations give rhythm its special “drive.” In many cultures of the world it is complex rhythm, rather than melody or harmony, that carries the chief musical meaning.
