Rhythm and the Brain

Why do we FEEL THE GROOVE? Why do we MOVE TO MUSIC? (2 min read)

MUSIC AND RHYTHM

Rhythm is primal. Rhythm is the most important basic fundamental aspect of music. If you take away all of the melodies and the harmonies, and forget about keys and scales, what you have left is still undeniably music. And rhythm is everywhere. Not just in music, but in our biology too, like the rhythm of or heartbeat, the rhythm of walking, and the rhythm of breathing.

RHYTHM AND THE BRAIN

The deeper we dive into the human brain, the more universal one’s propensity for music and for emotion goes. Human brain imaging (MRI) has shown what areas are more active when we are perceiving a beat. Surprisingly it wasn’t just auditory areas, which you might expect, bu also networks of regions including motor regions and regions that help you plan movements. We often say that we can ‘feel’ the beat in music, not just hear it, and maybe we use that language because in the brain beat perception is not just an auditory phenomenon, it’s an auditory motor phenomenon.

According to neural resonance theory, the electrical signals of the auditory and motor system in the brain automatically creates coordinated rhythms, so-called oscillations: the synchronized activity of millions of brain cells. This creates the beat in our heads. The brain literally synchronizes its electrical activity with the beat of the music. This has a strong meditative effect on our minds.

ENTRAINMENT

So, what makes human music so special is the link between sound and motion, due to the connections in human brain between the motor regions and the regions controlling hearing and sound. You don’t even have to be trained to learn how to tap, knod or move to rhythm, it happens quite spontaneously and automatically in response to music. Synchronizing with the beat is something we call ‘entrainment’. This seems to be a very unique human quality, that animals don’t seem to have.

Perceptual entrainment involves a large network of areas around the brain. It involves motor areas like the primary motor cortex and supplementary motor area. It involves the cerebellum which helps coordinate movement, and the basal ganglia which regulates the movement. In fact, our ability to perceive and follow rhythm cannot be separated from our motor functions!

FIVE FORMS OF ENTRAINMENT

1. The first is neuronal entrainment, when internal neuronal firings are driven by, and fire in phase with the external signal. This is also known as phase locking, and is the foundation for all other levels of entrainment.
2. The second form of entrainment involves the formation of our internal representations of rhythm and meter. We form a mental representation, a structure, that gives us the ability to expect and anticipate future beats.
3. The third form is how our unconscious biological systems, like heart rate and respiration, synchronize or attempt to synchronize to the rate of the music. For example, when we hear fast-paced music, our heart rate increases, when we hear slower paced music, our heart rate decreases.
4. The fourth form of entrainment involves conscious physical movement and depends on perceptual entrainment. This one is is quick. As soon as you perceive a clear beat, you can move along to it.
5. The fifth, is a social form of entrainment, and involves our ability to entrain to the cycles of other people, for example when dancing together.

There is still a lot of neuro-scientific research going on about this. Entrainment is only a part of the bigger story, of course, but a very interesting part. In short: Groove simply helps us to synchronize, or to get into alignment, with parts of ourselves, and with others, which can be a wonderful, powerful and healing experience.

Come join us, next time!