Music Composition DUMmIES

Sorrow

Joy

Anger

Love

Hate

Compassion

Surprise

Tenderness

Anxiety

As we said, there are no right and wrong answers. One reason for this is that

emotions and moods can have variations within themselves. For example, fear

can have a fast rhythm or a slow rhythm, with the “fast” fear being more flight-

oriented, and the “slow” fear being more dread-oriented or suspense-oriented.

However, in general, the way these moods broadly affect your bodily func-

tions is pretty universal. Surprise gets your heart rate up, whereas sorrow

slows it down. It’s a known fact that the rhythms of music can affect your

heart rate and other bodily functions. Have you ever been to a rave or dance

club? The DJ uses the rhythms of each song to adjust the heart rates of the

dancers like so many metronomes and thereby manipulates the emotions of a

whole crowd up and down over the course of the evening.

But there is more to rhythm than tempo alone. Have you ever noticed that

there is a difference in the feel of walking and skipping? Walking is quite regu-

lar and even: Clop, clop, clop, clop, clop. Figure 4-1 shows how the rhythm of

walking looks on a musical staff.

Skipping, on the other hand, has an uneven groove (Figure 4-2), with two

steps close together and then a pause. Da, da-da, da-da, da-da.

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4 ¿

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Left Right

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Walking

Left Right

Figure 4-1:
A walking
rhythm is
steady and
regular,
loping
along.

Chapter 4: Rhythm and Mood.........................................................................................