The Grateful Dead & How Rhythm Allows Your Body to Speak

What is rhythm? What does that mean? And why might it be important?

Here is a definition from music producer Carla Johnson: "The best way to describe rhythm is as a controlled movement of music in time. It may be related to the division of music into regular metric portions, distinguished from pulse, meter, and beats of music."

 Rhythym is also defined as a strong, regular, repeated pattern of movement or sound. Think of John Travolta strutting down the streets of Brooklyn in Saturday Night Fever, the tapping of your foot or the sway of your hips when listening to music, the rhythmic beating of your heart or pace of your breath.

When reading different articles and papers about why rhythm is so important in movement, I came across this story in an article called "Facing the Music: The Power of Rhythmic Movements" in Brain World magazine:
 

Mickey Hart, a drummer for the Grateful Dead, witnessed this (the power of rhythm) firsthand with his grandmother who was suffering from dementia. Hart started playing the drums for her one day even though she seemed to be consumed by her dementia. As he began to play a soft beat, Hart’s grandmother smiled and he was able to reconnect with her. She had not spoken a word in nearly a year, but as soon as she heard her grandson play the drums, she repeated his name over and over. It was a key experience that demonstrated how much our lives thrive on rhythm.

“When you have your grandmother sitting in front of you and you play a drum to her and no one else is around and it makes a reaction, kind of like a reverberation, this rhythm has allowed you to talk. Now, that’s something to be noted. I want to know why and how that happened,” says Hart.

In the article, physician and neuroscientist Dr Adam Gazzaley states: 

“Different rhythms in the brain are associated with different cognitive operations, like perception, attention, and memory. And when one brain region signals another, the message comes through with greater clarity if the two are in sync rhythmically. If their rhythms are locked in time, then they communicate with each other more efficiently, so it’s part of how the brain works in a fundamental way.”

Have you ever seen videos of dancers, dance therapists, physical therapists, or occupational therapists working with people with Parkinson’s Disease and other motor-system disorders? It can be remarkable to see the transformative impacts on gait, speech, and more. 

I often practice in silence, following my own internal rhythm. But I also (and often!) practice with music, and use external rhythms to help enhance my learning and retention, uplift my mood, challenge my coordination, and feed my brain. I am so often amazed at how something like a beat can help the complex symphony of electrical and chemical signaling within our organism synchronize within and with the world around us, harmonically. Tension and relaxation balance themselves, the posture is appropriate to the task, and the effort becomes less effortful--"effortless effort" to use yoga speak.

Most importantly rhythm speaks to the story told by drummer Mickey Hart. It helps us connect and communicate--within ourselves and with each other.

We share the vibration and the space. We share the essential yet ineffable dance!