ABSTRACT
Rhythm is conventionally conceived in terms of regular beats in time. Time, at least in Western civilization, is assumed to be a continuum, running ‘horizontally’ from the past through the present to the future. Rhythm punctuates the continuum through repetition: “succession is repetition, time is nontime” (Paz 1974: 65). In other words, from this conventional point of view, rhythm lifts time beyond itself by creating a pattern that becomes ‘nontime’. It fuses past and future into a present that is patterned and physical and which moves the listener—sometimes actually physically moving the listener to tap his or her feet, get up and dance. Even if the listener does not physically move, he or she can be moved emotionally and/or spiritually and/or intellectually by the rhythmic configuration. As Jaques-Dalcroze suggests, “[I]t is rhythm that gives meaning and form to juxtapositions of sounds” (1921: 48).
