rhythmic pattern
Music's underlying structure
A rhythmic pattern is a repeating sequence of beats, accents, or sounds that creates a recognizable structure in music, speech, or movement.
Drummers learn standard rhythmic patterns; poets work with established ones like iambic pentameter.
The term extends to any regular recurrence: the rhythmic pattern of ocean waves, the rhythmic pattern of daily commutes.
- ostinatoRepeating musical figure
- bass lineLow-register melodic phrase
- anapesticMeter with galloping rhythm
- call and responseAlternating vocal pattern
- stepFoot movement forward
dactylic · iambic · foot tapping · heartbeat · body clock · pulse · subdivision · clave · four on the floor · trochaic · sequence · beat · sway · circadian · time signature · tempo · accent · drum circle
temporal regularity
rhythmic patternarrhythmia
Abnormal cardiac rhythm
irregular rhythm · free time · rubato · ad libitum · drone