Abstract

In primitive and early superior cultures, different elements (such as human beings, events, natural phenomena, and objects) were grouped into the same rhythmic category only because they had similar forms. This rhythm—which can be reproduced in a song or on a drum—also characterizes the individual animal, human being, or object because of their unique shape, form, or movement. According to Benveniste’s proposal, the original meaning of “rhythm” (ῥυθμός) was the perception of a “peculiar way of flowing,” or a “spatial configuration defined by the distinctive arrangement and proportion of elements” (my translation). This definition is very similar to that of form/Gestalt/structure/system, that is, a whole that is not the mere sum of its parts but is something more and something new, determined by the relationships among the components. Gestalt psychology originated from the perception of sound and was then applied to the perception of speech, audio-vision, and music. Audio-vision is an illusion, created by the fusion of two signals that come together in a new configuration, a new rhythm, a new form in the subject’s perception. In music, the perception of Gestalt/rhythmic structures is shaped by the changing characteristics of the sound field, which are influenced by the physical data, the musical structure, and the listener’s experiences and expectations. Consequently, music and perception are engaged in a cyclical process of repetition/redundancy/assimilation and change/variation/accommodation that continually reshapes our sound field perceptual organization.