During the past week I’ve been excited by my favorite band releasing a new album. It was a wonderful surprise and I couldn’t have been happier. Their last album was over three years ago and music is a powerful thing. They’ve been a part of my life for well over a decade. Strangely enough, they have a part in the story of our son’s life too. When our son was in utero and breech we were given a variety of things to try in order to coax him into the right position. For a while my wife spent time upside down in a public pool. She spent some time during the day inverted on an ironing board. I talked to our son to try to get him to follow my voice. The other thing we did was play music.
My wife did most of the work and suffered most of the discomfort during this period. Since we were using a midwife it was important that he not be breech for the birth. So, in addition to all of the other things we were doing, we played music. While my wife largely played a mixture of “classical” and top 40, my favorite band made the cut and our son did spend some time listening to them. Ever since his birth he’s been fascinated by sound. Music was always an activity that involved moving to the rhythm. I imagine most children are like this — but I must never have noticed it. Our son loves dancing. He used to dance in utero too.
At any rate, the new album came out and we played it. He danced like a maniac. He loved it. I learned some pieces from the album on guitar and he started trying to sing the tones. Not the words, mind, but the tones. I’m a very proud father. Proud to have a musical child. Even prouder to share a new album from a favorite band with the little guy. If only he played drums…