Get on up: What the Godfather of Soul knew about rhythm

What is it about the rhythms of some music that makes us want to get up and dance? Oxford University researchers believe they may have found part of the answer in a new study. They say that an ideal balance of rhythmic predictability and complexity explains why James Brown will get most people up and grooving, while many of us struggle to tap our feet along with experimental jazz. The researchers from Oxford University and the University of Aarhus in Denmark were interested in understanding how the structure of the music affects our desire to dance. They set up an online survey to investigate the role of rhythm in generating pleasure and body movement. 'Many people find themselves unable to resist moving their bodies to the beat of hip-hop, electronic, or funk music, but may feel less desire to dance when listening to a highly syncopated type of music, like free jazz,' says Dr Maria Witek, who carried out the study as part of her DPhil studies at Oxford University, along with neuroscientist Professor Morten Kringelbach and Professor of Music Eric Clarke. She is now at Aarhus University in Denmark. Their study in the journal PLOS ONE found that a balance of predictability and complexity in the rhythm of the music made people want to dance most.