Irtiza Shafaat Bokharee<\/p>\n
When someone sings a little off-key\u2014or is \u201cbe-surra\u201d in the parlance of the North Indian music tradition, which is also followed in Pakistan\u2014many of us don\u2019t immediately notice. But if they rush or lag in timing \u201cbe-tala,\u201d it stands out right away. Even the untrained ear picks up on bad rhythm more quickly than off-pitch singing. There\u2019s something about timing, about being in sync, that our bodies instinctively respond to. This points to a more fundamental reality: rhythm might be more elemental\u2014and more universal\u2014than pitch. To see why, let\u2019s start with what these terms mean.
\nPitch refers to frequency: the highness or lowness of a sound. It allows us to distinguish between notes in a melody or the different tones in a singer\u2019s voice. Pitch is central to what we think of as the melodic content of a song\u2014the part you can hum, sing, or whistle. But pitch is also highly culturally specific. Different musical traditions use different tuning systems, scales, and ideas of what sounds \u201cin tune.\u201d For example, contemporary Western music uses a 12-tone equal temperament system, while Indian classical music includes microtones\u2014a system of 22 tones called shrutis, which are subtle shifts in pitch that express deep emotion for trained ears but may go unnoticed by outsiders. This is why many classical purists consider the harmonium a colonial instrument\u2014it uses the Western 12-tone system and cannot produce the microtonal nuances essential for ragas like Darbari, with its distinct use of a flat sixth (dha). Arabic maqamat and Indonesian gamelan traditions also use tonal systems that diverge significantly from the Western norm. Performances in these traditions might seem off to the first-time listener because of lack of conformity.
\nRhythm, on the other hand, is about timing and tempo\u2014the beat, the pulse, the pattern of sounds over time. Rhythm is what makes us tap our feet, nod our heads, or dance. It\u2019s the heartbeat beneath the melody, the internal clock that keeps everything moving. And unlike pitch, rhythm doesn\u2019t require specialized knowledge to be felt. You don\u2019t need to understand music theory to sense when something feels off\u2014you just feel it.
\nRemarkably, we feel rhythm before we can even speak. Babies bounce to a beat before they form words. In the womb, a fetus hears the mother\u2019s heartbeat\u2014a primal rhythm that stays with us for life. When that rhythm stops, we die. Rhythm shapes not only music but also language, movement, and thought. Every language has its own prosody\u2014its own rhythmic flow of syllables and stresses. Even poetry often relies more on meter and cadence than on melody.
\nWhile pitch is closely tied to learned systems, rhythm is built into our biology. And it\u2019s not just humans\u2014animals like parrots and sea lions have been shown to keep a beat. But most animals, and many people, struggle with pitch. They can\u2019t reproduce melodies or distinguish subtle tonal shifts the way trained musicians can. This suggests rhythm may connect to something more fundamental and universal. That doesn\u2019t mean rhythm is always simple. African polyrhythms, Indian tala cycles like the \u201cchampak savari, 11 beats,\u201d and syncopation-based frames in jazz show that rhythm can be deeply complex. Yet even the most intricate structures are grounded in something intuitive\u2014something you can move to, even without fully understanding it.
\nOf course, rhythm and pitch overlap. Both are essential to music, and both carry emotional weight. A melody without rhythm is shapeless; a beat without pitch is flat. Some contemporary musical movements try to abandon traditional rhythmic structures entirely, but these remain on the fringes. Percussive instruments must also be tuned to pitch\u2014otherwise they sound off. That\u2019s why tabla players use a special hammer to tune their drums. If not tuned properly, the sound is dull or jarring. Still, if we ask which of the two is more immediately accessible, more cross-cultural, and more instinctive\u2014rhythm has the edge. This universality is evident in shared human practices. Across the world\u2014at protests, parades, rituals, or weddings\u2014people clap, drum, and move together in rhythm. War drums played a huge role in ancient and medieval times. Even when words and melodies are unfamiliar, the beat brings people together. It\u2019s a shared language that doesn\u2019t require translation. And perhaps most powerfully, rhythm endures even when much else is lost. People with memory loss may forget names, faces, or words\u2014but they can often still tap their feet to a familiar rhythm. It reaches deep into the brain, connecting us to ourselves and to others.
\nFor great artists like Ustad Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan, natural musical talent combined with years of practice created a powerful synergy. His mastery of complex rhythmic articulations (lay-kari) complemented his vast repertoire of composed melodies, shining through in his signature qawwali improvisations. As Nusrat said, \u201cPeople in Japan didn\u2019t understand the language, but the language of music made arenas sway in spiritual ecstasy.\u201d Similarly, jazz legend John Coltrane revolutionized rhythm and melody through relentless exploration and spiritual intensity. Coltrane once said, \u201cMy music is the spiritual expression of what I am \u2014 my faith, my knowledge, my being.\u201d Both artists show that it\u2019s not about whether rhythm or pitch matters more\u2014it\u2019s their blend, combined with sincerity and authenticity, that creates something truly transcendent. At that level, music performance moves beyond worrying about the technicalities of the form; it has more to do with finding a unison with the centre of the universe.<\/p>\n
The author is a freelance columnist, academician, and an independent musician.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Irtiza Shafaat Bokharee When someone sings a little off-key\u2014or is \u201cbe-surra\u201d in the parlance of the North Indian music tradition, which is also followed in Pakistan\u2014many of us don\u2019t immediately notice. But if they rush or lag in timing \u201cbe-tala,\u201d it stands out right away. Even the untrained ear picks up on bad rhythm more […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[13645],"class_list":{"0":"post-479192","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-article","7":"tag-irtiza-shafaat-bokharee"},"yoast_head":"\n