E.10.INT:5.3 - Choosing an interesting rhythm

A workshop needs music for listeners who are familiar with 4/4 and are beginning to work with 7/8. “Choose moderately complex rhythms; they are the most interesting” hides both the response sought and the listeners’ preparation.

Recover the request as “choose material that helps these listeners maintain the beat and want to move while encountering 7/8.” The facilitator can start from simpler 7/8 material and adjust from the listeners’ response. If the purpose is instead to exercise a skilled drummer’s coordination, that practice question needs its own choice of material.

This distinction is supported by Spiech and colleagues’ study: Western listeners’ groove ratings peaked at moderate complexity in 4/4, while simpler rhythms received the highest ratings in the less common meters tested. Here groove means the pleasurable urge to move. The study supports adapting the comparison to listener and meter; the workshop’s teaching method supplies the exercise.