Rhythm

A signature element of Member Monday is the avoidance of cross-talk. There’s something about the flow that arises from the process of actively listening to a speaker’s uninterrupted point and, only then, offering a thoughtful response. The speaker, once confident of a secure platform, accepts greater responsibility for the forum and thus rarely lapses into filibuster mode. It is this flow that has distinguished the better sessions over the past eight years. They'd achieved a certain . . . rhythm.

Our focus article (The Extraordinary Ways Rhythm Shapes Our Lives) suggests the underlying scientific (neurolinguistic) explanation for the phenomenon. Speech, you see, consists of a temporal hierarchy of (four) different-sized rhythmic units, each unfolding at their own rate i.e. at one extreme are the so-called phonemes, measured in microseconds, reflecting the sounds of letters while those at the other extreme reflect full sentences/thoughts.

The rhythm of these respective entwined elements must be sorted out by the brain. The simultaneous focus on the entire spectrum of phonemes is nearly impossible and rarely desirable. That interference, reduced to its essence (refer to article for the critical expanded explanation), is the crux of this “speechus interruptus” problem.

And so it may extend to the full discussion pattern. There’s no need to recite “Kumbaya” to notice the sense of harmony within the group when the interaction falls into a predictable actively-listen/thoughtful-pause/then-respond rhythm. Disrupt that pattern, the article tells us, and the brain behaves in a different manner. (Thus thank you for your indulgence as we try to maintain some sort of conversational discipline in our sessions.)

One need not be musically inclined to appreciate the underlying role that rhythm plays in speech, so vividly demonstrated in this Drumming To Speech video. You may enjoy the ensuing segments beyond that featured clip (drumming pattern to Willie Wonka) for random examples of the way master drummers intuit (if that’s the right word) the rhythm to previously-unheard music. If someone brings in a 144 bpm metronome we might try to reverse-intuit songs from that rhythm on our own.

We all possess a kind of rhythm intelligence e.g “shave and a haircut . . two bits,” learned from childhood. In fact, children who recognize differences in rhythm and discover how to establish beat patterns learn to read and spell more easily. As such, rhythm can play an important role in establishing group or parent-child synchronicity, addressing certain health issues, achieving emotional transcendence and, especially, for us one-eared introverts trying to overcome those spoken-word impediments, particularly in noisy places.

Rhythm cycles are behind the dozens of topics we’ve previously covered e.g. planetary motion (Western Mysticism), cycles of history MM 3/20/17 The Fourth Turning, and the cyclical nature of time itself MM 10/29/19 It's About Time.

Maybe we’ll appropriate the 144 bpm rhythm cycle for music and slow it down to its two or three beats per minute MM lyrical equivalent as a way to help us tease out future Member Monday topics.