Why does rock music/jazz/pop/rhythm music make people move? What special power does it have to do that?
Many elements work together to make this happen.
One element of music which helps cause immoral movement of the body is the element of avoidance.
Avoidance of what?
Avoidance of the strong beats.
When the music consistently skips over, drops out, or comes in slightly before or slightly after the main beats in the measure, the body (when the mind allows it to) will tend to move. This may be a physical response to try to fill in the gaps.
Very complex things are happening in the brain as tiny electric impulses are transferred from the ear and its mechanisms of sound processing to other parts of the brain involved in the auditory system. For now, however, we will just look at the simplicity of what avoidance is.
First of all, I need to explain that "avoidance" is a word I use to describe what I'm seeing/hearing in the musical structure, but it is not a word found in music theory textbooks. It is just a word to help me clearly describe what is happening in the music. The more commonly used term in the world of music is the term "syncopation." This means that the pillar beats or strong beats or down beats are being de-emphasized and the weak beats or off-beats are being emphasized. The problem is, syncopation is not always avoidance. But avoidance has to be some form of syncopation.
Next, we need to have a clear idea of what the strong beats are. They can be pictured as "pillar beats." In 4/4 time, for example, the strong beats are 1 and 3.
Changing the value of the notes but keeping the pillar beats in place doesn't affect the stability of the rhythm:
Even adding syncopation doesn't badly affect the stability if the pillar beats are left in place:
Clap this rhythm: does it feel stable?
De-emphasizing the strong beats and emphasizing the weak beats is a defining feature of pop music:
The effect of avoidance is especially magnified when the pillar beats are avoided by the value of an eighth note or less before or after. This a common - in fact, almost universal technique used in pop music. In 4/4 time, the third beat will almost always be dropped:
What are the effects of avoidance?
- It helps the body move in ways it shouldn't move in public.
Often, children's ministries use children's songs that use avoidance, thinking they are cute or peppy. Then, if the church is a conservative church, the leaders have to instruct the children not to dance. But why are they dancing? Because that is what the music is telling them to do, even without drums.
- In the context of church music, it takes singing away from the congregations and puts it squarely in the hands of performance groups.
It is hard for the congregation to sing avoidance melodies together. If they have never heard the songs before, the notation is confusing the follow. Avoidance music deemphasizes congregational singing and boosts the power and influence of performance groups (worship teams), simply because of the mechanics of the moving rhythms.
- Avoidance is not the best tool for carrying deep theological lyrics.
The rhythm of the melody line tends to break up the wording and train of thought, forcing the lyrics to be lighter in meaning and lighter in substance.