Is rhythm the most important part of music? Rhythm — the Most Important Element. Rhythm is the essential ingredient in all music. You can mix together any sounds you want, but if there is no underlying rhythm to the sounds, there is no music.

There is a huge variety of rhythmic patterns that musicians employ. Common notation has a way of notating all of them, or virtually all of them, and it can seem confusing at first. Once you get a handle on the way rhythm is notated, however, and once you build it into your practice of reading the page, it will begin to flow naturally.