Week One, Blog One: Conversation with Monica about Rhythm
NOTE: I've placed what I deemed the most interesting part of the conversation in italics.
C: I’m starting the interview now. Basically the assignment is to have a conversation about rhythm. I’m not sure where to begin, but, umm, the advice was to ask what you...what your definition would be; never mind what the dictionary tells you.
M: I think rhythm is the musical *laughs*
C: Wait a second *grabs mic* never mind what the dictionary tells you.
M: I think it’s the pattern of musical movement through time
C: It’s the ... is that really what it says?
C: What do you think of when you think of rhythm, never mind what the dictionary tells you?
M: I think of dancing. You have to have rhythm if you dance. I think of music. It has to have flow, and you can bop along to it...sound good.
(Long break in the conversation)
C: Okay. When you say you have to have rhythm; that means you have to be able to find a beat - like, a steady beat?
M: Yes
C: Okay *chuckles*
M: You have to be able to dance on beat.
C: Well, this conversation has stagnated *laughs*
C: Umm, I guess, uh, can you think of rhythm in any other context besides music and music and dance – maybe another medium. Maybe, I mean, the course is Rhetorics of Rhythm, so maybe in writing, something like that – poetry, for example.
M: Yes, definitely poetry, and, of course, lyrics.
C: All right. Say more.
M: Maybe if you’re writing a story or a book it has to all flow together.
C: Uh...say more.
M: Well, if it’s all jumping around, you don’t know what's going on, it doesn’t have good flow and rhythm, then you don’t know what’s going on in the book.
C: By jumping around, what do you mean plot, or what’s jumping around.
M: The storyline.
(C and M discuss where mic should be placed for the remainder of the interview)
C: All right, so, again, what were you saying about rhythm and stories.
M: I think stories need to have rhythm and flow because if it’s all jumping around and jumbled up...
C: yeah, what is it that’s jumping around, what do you mean, do you mean the plot’s jumping around – the storyline
M: The plot, the storyline, what the characters are doing, their personalities.
C: So, for you, the rhythm that you’re referring to, anyway, in stories is synonymous with coherent, uh, sequential events.
M: Yes.
C: Okay, umm, I guess another context that, particularly, that he’s interested in, although I’m not sure that this is how this should go, this conversation that is, is rhythm in everyday conversation, rhythm in everyday life, perhaps not even in any particular language medium, but just in sort of the way that you go about your business. Any thoughts on that?
M: Umm, I guess everyone has their own rhythm. Everyone does probably the same thing everyday. It’s their rhythm. You can kind of call it that.
C: Do you think it’s rhythmic, or do you think it’s just, you know, similar events. I mean, because again, your initial definition that you sourced from the American Heritage dictionary talked about, umm, a pattern through time.
M: Well, I guess that makes sense, because people have a pattern that they do everyday. Get up in the morning, do their routine, go to school.
C: Yeah. So, even if you couldn’t take that sort of pattern, like, for example, “wake up, wash up,” these are actually lyrics from a song of mine, “toss on, and roll out.” That’s sort of, you know, you wake up, you toss on your clothes and leave. Umm, and you get that same sort of pattern, that’s just before you even get to what you’re going to do at work, maybe you have the same sort of 9-5 job or whatever, and, you know, at this time you go to lunch you eat the same sort of foods, you go back you have same sort of conversations, you go home, the same sort of – this sounds pretty dull – but that’s essentially how people live. Umm, if, even if that can’t be, umm, sort of, uh, I don’t know what the word for this would, umm, but, like, maybe transcribed into music. For example, you couldn’t take waking up and make that, you know, a half note, or whatever, and that sort of thing. And, so you have that same pattern. You couldn’t let’s say, wake up-half note, wash up-quarter note, and let’s say these are all the same notes and so it’s really just about beats. So, wake up’s-half note, wash up’s-quarter note, umm, toss on’s another quarter note, and maybe roll out’s another half note. And you can go on throughout the rest of the day and sort of assign, uh, notes to each event, umm, and then loop it basically, because that’s what we’re saying, it’s a pattern; it’s just sort of looping, and play it back. And what you would have is *dunt, dunt-dunt, dunt* and that sort of pattern, and that would go on and on. It’s not really like that, in that it doesn’t take, maybe. I don’t know, I mean, I guess it is like that. I see your point. That’s probably a reasonable way to assign rhythm to everyday life.
C: I think this conversation is a little more interesting than I expected it to be considering we started off by reading from the American Heritage dictionary, although there were some bumps in the road. I’m not sure where else to go. Do you have any ideas? Do you want to go to sleep, would that be a half note? That’s pretty lame. I don’t know. I guess we’re done then. I don’t know how long this is supposed to last anyway. You sure? Nothing else?
What do you think of the rhythm of this conversation right now? Describe the rhythm.
M: I think it’s a little bumpy.
C: Bumpy?
M: It’s a little, it didn’t flow very well.
C: It’s Choppy.
M: We didn’t know what we really were going to talk about. Which, I guess, any conversation can really be like; you don’t know exactly what’s going to happen in any kind of conversation.
C: Yeah. So, I think, I guess, if we, when I end this conversation, when I press stop, umm, you’re probably not going to notice a rhythm, right, the conversation’s not going to flow in any discernable way, at least the pattern, if any, won’t be discernable. But, I imagine... *bunny scratches his ear* our bunny has the rhythm *laughs*
I imagine that if we, sort of, took lots of conversations and, you know, looped them and stepped back, then we would start to notice a rhythm, umm, maybe.
M: Probably.
C: And it would be this sort of choppiness, and then, just recurring choppiness, because some conversations don’t flow very well, and some do. So, overtime, everything sort of washes itself out. All right, I think we’re going to end on that.
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