I find it almost always helps to clap (or tap, or stomp, etc.) on 2 and 4 rather than on 1 and 3. I'm sure Jerry knows what I'm talking about, like anyone who knows Black Gospel music.

Emphasizing that "downbeat" is generally considered characteristic of the African element of our musical heritage, but I don't find it to be all that foreign to *any* music with a steady 4/4 beat, even the most purely European. It is true that the typical mostly-white audience, when moved to participate by hand-clapping, will generally start off hitting that pedestrian old one-and-three -- but if just one person [guess who] can be heard clapping on two and four, the whole crowd will usually follow suit, with markedly increased enjoyment and enthusiasm. Why? I dunno; probably because "it don't mean a thing if it ain't got that swing."

Last summer, late in the final evening of my trip to Ireland, I was in that bastion of traditional Irish music, Gus O'Connor's Pub in Doolin, County Clare. A group of six or seven (fiddles, whistles, a bodhran and a bass) were playing some very lively, uptempo instrumental tunes, and as I got more and more into the spirit (and as more spirits got into me), I found myself starting to clap, hard and loud, coming down heavy (as is my habit) on that two-and-four.

I was conscious that I *might* be violating some kind of arcane trad-music rule or custom, and was ready to stifle myself if I found myself all alone out there on the downbeat -- but no. The crowd picked right up on it, a couple of the musicians caught my eye and smiled as they began to play with just a bit more intensity, and there was even a lessening of the underlying hum of conversation as the whole pub seemed to start bouncing along with the beat. Didn't last forever, of course, but it was lots of fun for 10-15 minutes, and (to me, at least) quite enlightening.

I believe there's something deep in everyone's subconscious (or is it unconscious?) awareness that responds to rhythm and syncopation. We can't explain it, and can't analyze or even describe it satisfactorily, but it is definitely there, and we can share our enjoyment of it by playing and listening to each other's music.