Sybil Andrews, The Winch, 1930 (Source: https://www.british-arts.com/artists/sybil-andrews/)
Rhythmic intelligence presupposes a mode of apprehension of reality which places the emphasis on the rhythmic features that organize lived or observed phenomena. From this point of view, it involves a sensibility that characterizes a « rhythmological » approach. Since the experience of rhythmic phenomena makes it possible to describe and account intuitively for the way time, space and changes are experienced, both from an existential point of view and in the most mundane aspects of daily life, the concept of rhythm is a privileged entry point for envisioning the fluidity of reality (Alhadeff-Jones, 2018b, p.24, my translation):
The concept of rhythm is all the more relevant because it is a nomadic concept that has been deployed, throughout the history of ideas, in various disciplines (Michon, 2005, 2017; Sauvanet, 1999, 2000). Apprehended based on its etymology and the use that has been made of it in Greek philosophy from Archiloque to Aristoxen, the concept of rhythm refers to a critical tension between order and movement, substance and flow. As Sauvanet (1999, p.6) points out, the Greek rhuthmos evokes both the form that a thing takes in time and the form as it is transformed through time. Referring to a « changing configuration » or a « fluid form », the concept of rhythm thus makes it possible to evoke an evolving order without reducing it to a substance or a formless flow.
How then can we envision perceived or lived phenomena based on the « moving forms » that constitute them (Alhadeff-Jones, 2018b, p.24, my translation) ?
For Sauvanet (2000), the study of rhythmic phenomena supposes to highlight the « patterns » that structure them, the « periodicities » through which these patterns are repeated, and the singular « movement » that characterizes them, with its variations and discontinuities. For Michon (2005), privileging an anthropological lens, the study of rhythmic phenomena implies studying the « ways of flowing » taken by language, bodies and social interactions, as well as their contributions to the processes of individuation and the power relations they translate.
By crossing these approaches (Alhadeff-Jones, 2017, 2018a), we obtain a first matrix to study some of the rhythms that characterize organized phenomena (Alhadeff-Jones, 2018b, p.24, my translation):
We can thus try to describe the patterns that are constitutive of the discourse, gestures and social interactions around which [they are] organized. We can explore their periodicity, i.e. the modalities of repetition through which these patterns are reproduced, by looking at their frequency, their period and the tempo that characterize them. Finally, we can understand what makes their development unique, by looking at the variations observed or experienced, such as interruptions, events, crises, or accidents, through which the rhythms [that characterize observed phenomena] are transformed and renewed.
Rhythmological approach and rhythmic intelligence
Based on these elements, and by taking up the definition of rhythmic intelligence proposed here, we can now envisage in a synthetic way a reformulation of what this notion implies from a rhythmological point of view. Rhythmic intelligence mobilizes an individual and collective capacity to know, understand and represent (1) the patterns which are constitutive of the ways of feeling, behaviors, speech, gestures, traces or interactions inherent to any organized, observed or experienced phenomenon; (2) the modalities through which these ways of feeling, behaviors, speech, gestures, traces or interactions are repeated over time; as well as (3) the variations and discontinuities which affect their evolution by revealing the singularity of these ways of flowing. Similarly, rhythmic intelligence implies a deliberate, strategic and critical capacity for adaptation and problem-solving, based on the ability to influence the evolution of patterns, periodicities and movements that characterize the observed or experienced ways of feeling, behaviour, speech, gestures, traces or interactions. In doing so, the exercise of rhythmic intelligence may contribute to the development of privileged relationships within a given environment, founded on the capacity to reinforce resonance phenomena involving the (re)organization of the relationships established between the patterns, periodicities and movements characteristic of the ways of flowing, observed or experienced.
References
Alhadeff-Jones, M. (2017). Time and the rhythms of emancipatory education. Rethinking the temporal complexity of self and society. London: Routledge.
Alhadeff-Jones, M. (2018a). Concevoir les rythmes de la formation : entre fluidité, répétition et discontinuité. In P. Maubant, C. Biasin & P. Roquet (Eds.) Les Temps heureux des apprentissages (pp.17-44). Nîmes, France: Champ Social.
Alhadeff-Jones, M. (2018b). Pour une approche rythmologique de la formation. Education Permanente, 217, 21-32.
Michon, P. (2005). Rythmes, pouvoir, mondialisation. Paris : Presses Universitaires de France.
Michon, P. (2017). Elements of rhythmology (Vol. 1 & 2). Paris: Rhuthmos.
Sauvanet, P. (1999). Le rythme grec d’Héraclite à Aristote. Paris : Presses Universitaires de France.
Sauvanet, P. (2000). Le rythme et la raison (2 vol.) Paris : Kimé.
Cite this article: Alhadeff-Jones, M. (2021, March 8). Rhythmological approach and rhythmic intelligence. Rhythmic Intelligence. http://www.rhythmicintelligence.org/blog/2021/3/8/rhythmological-approach-and-rhythmic-intelligence