Rhythm

Movement or procedure

Pattern

Cadence

Distribution and combination

Procedure

Regular or Irregular--such as pulses in music

Flow

Recurrence

Cycles

Phases

Melodic

Harmonic

Intervals

Meter

System of motion

System of action

System of function, as of the beat of the heart

Occurrence of strong and weak elements and the distribution and combination

Beats or accents

Uniform or patterned recurrence of a beat, accent, or the like.

Particular form

Metrical

A patterned repetition of a motif, formal element

Modified form

The Essence of Rhythm
Alfred North Whitehead defined [rhythm] in the Principles of Natural Knowledge in the following way: "The essence of rhythm is the fusion of sameness and novelty; so that the whole never loses the essential unity of the pattern, while the parts exhibit the contrast arising from the novelty of their detail. A mere recurrence kills rhythm as surely as does a mere confusion of difference. A crystal lacks rhythm from excessive pattern, while a fog is unrhythmic in that it exhibits a patternless confusion of detail."

Whitehead held that rhythms were characteristic of life in some ultimate philosophical sense. Without attempting to follow him into such deep water, I think that there is no doubt that rhythms are very characteristic of many of the objects made by living things. [p. 23]

Waddington, C. H. "The Modular Principle and Biological Form." In Module, Proportion, Symmetry, Rhythm. Vision and Value series. Gyorgy Kepes, ed. New York: George Braziller, 1966.

Rhythm - Accented repetition
Unlike mere sequence, consists of directional movement created by patterns of strong and weak pulsations. The rhythmical configurations of music are of course music itself. The rhythmical configurations of art and architecture, although of great importance, are of a different order. They consist of implied or "frozen" rhythms. Rhythm, instead of being a constituent of time and movement, as in music, is recast and represented all at once. It lies in wait for the eager, attentive observer. It may lie modestly on the surface as embellishment, or it may inform the whole design to a depth that is beyond simple analysis. Its influence is felt by those who have learned to participate imaginatively, intuitively, in great paintings, sculptures, and architectural creations. [pg. 24] [Harlan, Calvin. Vision & Invention, An Introduction to Art Fundamentals. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall, 1986.]

Rythmically Altered Structure
Structural Individuality
Applies to structures that are not divisible, as the word individual denotes. We frequently use the word to describe someone who stands out from others because of some distinct trait. The more individual, the more eccentric or complex a person is, the less likely is he or she to be part of the crowd. Design motifs share the same characteristics:

They are self-contained units of definite measure or extension, of unique structure. Nothing can be added or subtracted without changing them. Yet they may submit to repetition, they may give over to a larger, more universal ground plan, as in Islamic tile designs.

A structure that is nonrhythmic, different in every part, may resist any manner of repetition. This is not the type we refer to here as motif. [pg. 27] [Paul Klee Used the Terms Dividuality & Individuality].

Rhythmically Altered Structure - dividual to individual A brief return to the discussion of gradients.... will refresh our understanding of what occurs perceptually when we pass from a construct, a design, in flat projection (a simple hoizontal-vertical lattice formation) to the same design at a tilt, drawn in vanishing -point perspective, with some or all of its parts out of alignment with the vertical and the horizontal, or warped or bent out of shape. The slanting lines, curving lines, or oblique parallelograms contain more than one "gradient of location," a gradual increase or decrease of some perceptual quality in space, in relation to the implied vertical and horizontal axes of the ground, the paper. So, then, the eye very cleverly "reads" these deviant elements in depth, and the result is a rhythmically altered structure with movements apparently in space and time and one that has gone from being dividual to one that is now individual . . . .

[Harlan, Calvin. Vision & Invention, An Introduction to Art Fundamentals. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall, 1986.]

R  E  F  E  R  E  N  C  E  S 

A patterned repetition of a motif, formal element, etc. at a regular or irregular intervals in the same or a modified form; Procedure marked by the regular recurrence of particular elements, phases. In a system of motion; and of action or function, as of the beat of the heart, cycles.