"Musical rhythm is a strong, repeated pattern of sound. It is a living entity, just like our heartbeat. It fluctuates with our mood changes. It can be smooth or dissonant. Long before we had language, we felt our heartbeat, saw seasonal changes, and slept according to circadian rhythms. These patterns of time circle, like repeating chorus sections between verses, and continue to function today as they did with our ancestors."
"As each new era came to pass, our relationship to time perception both reflected and influenced new cultural norms and expressions. When Aristotle (4th century BCE) linked motion and change to how we conceptualize time, and St. Augustine (4th century) framed "human time" as psychological anticipation, attention, and memory, our connection to time became more conscious. It was specifically in music composition and performance that we intentionally shaped time."
Rapid technological acceleration produces unrealistic expectations for speed while biological rhythms continue to require embodied temporal awareness. Western classical music timing concepts provide practical frameworks to align external schedules with internal pulses through mindful listening and practice. Musical rhythm functions like a living heartbeat, fluctuating with mood and mirroring circadian and ancestral time patterns. Historical thinkers linked physical motion and psychological time, enabling intentional temporal shaping in composition and performance. Shared timeposts such as clocks create collective coordination, while flexible human timing enables nuanced emotional expression and interpersonal synchronization.
Read at Psychology Today
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