Yesterday, the boys and I had a “dance party” in the living room.
We used to do this with some regularity, especially during the year I homeschooled Urban for kindergarten. But we hadn’t had one in ages, so it seemed like a fun way to kick off our summer.
Charlie loves to dance. Probably we could put that kid in some class at the dance studio down at the round-about and he’d do great (other than being the only boy). He loves to jump and spin and twirl. I’m not saying he’s the next Mikhail Baryshnikov, but if he decided to pursue dancing someday, he just may well be pretty good at it.
Levi is 2, so his dancing is rather babyish—very cute.
And I love to dance. I think I always have. I love it, love it, love it. I can dance to pretty much anything.
And then there’s Urban.
The rest of us were dancing, and he was just running around the room bashing into us, pulling on our hands, flailing around on the floor….
Not dancing.
I finally figured out what it is: The kid’s got no rhythm. Seriously.
How can this be, that a child of mine cannot dance? Cannot clap to the beat of the music? I mean, nothing. Not even the simplest way of keeping time to the music works for him.
I tried everything I could think of to help him catch the rhythm, to feel the music in his bones.
We tried every music channel on cable (except the “uncensored” Rap/R&B station). The only music he seemed able to connect with on any level was bluegrass. He plays a mean air banjo. But he still couldn’t dance.
I despaired. How will he ever learn to play an instrument or sing, if he can’t catch a beat?
When Brian got home, I informed him of the tragedy: Our son’s got no rhythm!
And then Brian informed me of something that surprised me a great deal. He said, “Well, he can’t be any worse than I was when I was his age.”
I had no idea!
Brian loves music. He sings (off-key) all the time—though he does sound pretty good in church, when accompanied by the organ or piano and singing hymns. I’ve even seen him dance a time or two. He’s not the greatest dancer, but he seems to “get it.”
He told me he overcame his lack of rhythm simply by practicing. He learned to play the clarinet, and that helped a lot. He said singing hymns helped too (which maybe explains why he can sing so nicely in church but not so well when he tries to sing anything else).
So I guess there is hope.
But this is something I find so incredibly hard to understand. How could a person listen to music and not want to at least bop his/her head a little bit in time to the rhythm? How could a person listen to the best radio tunes and not want to get up and dance?
It’s beyond my comprehension.
My poor boy!
