"Have you ever peed in your pants?"

I have been thinking many times what is the best way to do culture for children. I'm not going to give the answer, because I do not know it. But however, this question should be asked once again. Years ago I was discussing about children’s classical music concerts with a concert musician. He said that he can’t understand why there always has to be funny clowns or musician dressed as animals when we do music for children. He said it underestimates the ability of children to understand and enjoy music at itself. That musician said the children’s concerts should be as “the adult’s concerts”, not so long though. I agree on that children should not be excluded from any kind of music only because they are kids.


On the other hand… Are that kind of concerts funny? I would not call Brahms or Bach very hilarious. Enjoyable maybe yes, but not very LOL. I enjoy different kind of culture and music. Sometimes I want to watch art films, sometimes comedy.



Last weekend we were watching children’s play and listening to the children’s concert. On the play Pinocchio asked Jiminy Cricket has he ever peed in his pants. Everybody started laughing. I saw my 6-year-old and dozens other kids enjoying the play. They were having a blast. Maybe the story told something important about honesty, but most of all it was funny.



Then on Sunday we went to the free children’s concert at Hämeenpuisto park in Tampere. And yes, there was a cow, pig, horse, cat and a man dressed up as a farmer on the stage. And chicken puppets. The musicians sang, played and did all the animal noises. I have to say that this band called Ammuu (as the cow says in Finnish) does really good music, they all are professional musicians and it really can be heard. So do these animal costumes do any harm? I don’t think so.


If we come back to the classical music, I really think jumping clowns are not needed there, not every time at least. I like crossover arts, but there should also be concerts for kids where they can concentrate purely on music. They do not need any clowns for that.  But sometimes clowns and slapstick are great fun for adults too.