Rhythm is Key

Rhythm and melody are both essential to music; however, rhythm almost always comes before the melody. Yes, in a sense the two complement each other, but when one depicts a song or a tune of some sort, the rhythm is the foundation of it all. If one was to take out the rhythm to a tune, all that would be left is the abundance of notes (the melody). When looking at a piece of music with only the notes, it is hard find the rhythm. What are the beat and the tempo of the arrangement without knowing the rhythm? How would one know where to start to place those notes? To turn the tables, what if the melody was taken out of a song and all that was left was the rhythm? Well, with the rhythm, at least there is a beat to work with and whichever notes are desired can fall into place because the rhythm is there to act as a guideline for the melody. For example, the James Bond theme song has a very repetitive beat to it. It has a musical pattern and is a very simple piece to place notes into it. One can form any type of musical piece as long as they provide a tempo and a beat (rhythm) to it first. The rhythm lets people know the emotion to the song before the melody comes into play. As an example, if the song is faster paced, it is probably a happier song; if it is at a slower pace, one can most likely guess it is a sadder song. An example of a song with a faster rhythm could be I Don't Want This Night to End by Luke Bryan and a slower paced rhythm song could be Teardrops on My Guitar by Taylor Swift. All in all, rhythm is more important than melody.