It is no surprise that you take rhythm for granted, because it is everywhere in a mother\'s heartbeat heard in the womb, in your footsteps as you walk, in ocean waves, and in a subway clattering by. Some people think they are unmusical, yet they can dance like angels, clap to the beat of every song, or play ping pong. A carpenter hammers in rhythm and the garbage truck comes at the same time each week whether or not you\'ve remembered to put out the trash. You can learn rhythm because it is already in you and you can practice and get better at it just like anything else. Beat out a rhythm as steady as your pulse thump, thump, thump, thump, thump, thump, thump, thump. Now stop that infernal racket and let me get some sleep! Start over and make the first beat louder, then the fifth, and so on every fourth beat THUMP, thump, thump, thump, THUMP, thump, thump, thump, THUMP, thump, thump, thump. You just started playing hand drums.

The louder thump is an accent, or stress, or emphasis. Music and language are similar in this way. When you speak you use different sounds, or words, to convey your meaning. If you stress one word in a sentence \"I\'M having fun,\" it means something slightly different from \"I\'m having FUN.\" I\'m secretly brainwashing you into thinking you are having fun. But there is another aspect to how you speak the pace at which you utter the words and the sentence, the pauses, emphasis, and accents also add meaning. If you pause between each word \"I\'m having fun\" it lends one sense to the words. If each word is said in a clipped, curt fashion, the sentence takes on another meaning, while whispering \"I\'m having fun\" in someones ear suggests something else again.

Of course, if you keep muttering \"I\'m having fun,\" people will begin to edge away from you. Someone may hand you some spare change. So let\'s make up some rhythms. Tap your foot steadily, about one tap per second, saying \"doo\" with each tap, so that you are saying \"doo, doo, doo, doo.\" Now say two \"doos\" for each foot tap, so they are coming twice as fast. Now say one \"doo\" in between each foot tap, and none on the tap. You can make up an endless combination of rhythms this way. Maybe you don\'t like doo and you\'d rather say \"bop.\" Whatever you do or bop, that\'s improvising rhythm, which is music just as much as melody. When you combine the rhythms with melody and harmony, you are composing you are organizing sound in time. That\'s making music.

Don\'t be afraid of making funny sounds or noises. Kids on playgrounds have been inventing rhythmic cadences for jump rope and circle games for as far back as anyone knows. You were a kid once remember? Get out some old pots and pans and wooden spoons make some noise, have some fun. They just want to join the fun! Call up your boss and tell her what you really think! Have an ice cream cone, if you want. The point is to have fun you, not someone else. I bet you haven\'t played around enough lately. So do this. Start playing your harmonica, or banging on those pots and pans, or both. Make a fabulous, silly symphony of clings and clangs. Pretend you\'re Ringo Starr or Art Blakey or some other famous percussionist. Have fun you deserve it.


By Alex Wess harmonica teacher with over 30 years of experience.