| Children at Concerts |
| Monday, 09 April 2007 | |
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You arrive at the concert hall in enough time to have a glass of wine (gotta have a nice buzz before sitting for that long) and to converse with your date. The chimes tell you that it’s time to take your seat. You sit down in your $85 seat and anticipate the serious Mahler symphony that will take up 2 good hours of concentration and a cooperative bladder. You’re excited because this is your favorite symphony that you remember performing in All-State way back when. 15 minutes into the performance, you feel a tap on the back of your seat.  I'm Bored! This is just one of the reasons that many concert halls disallow children under the age of 8 to attend concerts. They don’t turn away the parents from the door, mind you, but they certainly discourage children’s attendance at prime-time (8PM) concerts on the web sites. Why eight years old? Shouldn’t parents be allowed to take their children to concerts that will expose the child to classical music? Seven is considered the age of reason or discretion under common law (by the Roman Catholic Church). That is, by the time a child reaches seven-years-old, they should/are presume to possess the reasoning ability to understand that their conduct is in accordance with or violates the standards of acceptable community behavior. However, it is the parents’ responsibility to make sure that by the age of seven, children know when to do and say certain things. This is the age of final training. After seven, children are presumed to be able to think and understand that “sit down and stop talking” means do it now and don’t ask why. This takes a far amount of conditioning that starts in the home. As far as exposure is concerned, there are ways to expose your child to the music and the culture before taking an expensive trip to the concert hall for real life experience (and the ensuing intermission confrontation from an annoyed neighbor). One way is through Kindermusik. This curriculum, increasingly found in many community music schools, teaches children about music and musical instruments. The children and their parents bond over small instruments and singing. It’s a wonderful experience that may spark their interest in pursuing an instrument or simply becoming an arts advocate. Child development experts claim that exposure to music from birth is key. Speaking, singing… even nursery rhymes provide a fun way for your child to learn different rhythms. This is what Kindermusik offers to children in different stages of their development, at different ages until—you guessed it—seven. However, if you can’t find a Kindermusik class in your area, all of this exposure should be done before you and your child get to the concert stage. Because, really it’s really about respecting other people’s right to enjoy their concert-going experience. At least at night. And I don’t care if you think you can take your child up into the cheap nosebleed seats for a night-time concert. The sound carried in any good concert hall. You know your child’s attention span and it ain’t long. Are daytime concerts and Family Series concerts a different story? Both the audience and the musicians expect a reasonable amount of fidgeting, crying, and random clapping. The repertoire may also cater to kids. Last year, I went to the Civic Orchestra Halloween concert in Symphony Center (Chicago, IL) and had a ball! Not only was the orchestra good, they played fun scary music like Mussorsky’s ‘Night on Bald Mountain’ and Dukas’s ‘The Sorcerer's Apprentice,’ things I don’t typically get to hear live. And the organist for the Bach ‘Toccata in D minor’ was phenomenal. The orchestra limped out with ghoulish glowing face paint. Some had chains around their necks. The harp was strung up with fake cobwebs. The conductor was dressed as a vampire sporting a red-satin lined long black cape. And were those fangs? The kids (and a few parents) came dressed up in their Halloween costumes. So cute. It was probably the most fun I’d had at the Symphony since… ever. But look at what it was: a junior orchestra was performing kiddie-friendly music during kiddie-friendly hours and put on a theatrical (visually-stimulating) show. It was perfection in its simplicity and appropriateness. However, this music, I suppose, is not considered “serious” enough for a nighttime concert. Yes, many orchestras have embraced some visual aspects (Have you yet seen an opera at a movie theatre?) and gimmicks like Martini Mondays or whatever, but as far as repertoire is concerned you don’t really get a lot of “fun.” Unless of course, you were at the Chicago Sinfonietta concert in which Jubliant Sykes squeaked, squawked, mooed, and neighed while performing Copland's 'Bought Me a Cat' from the Three Shaker Songs. Wow. That was super special. But anyway, is that the answer to the age debacle? To condition children at home to listen quietly to the subtleties of concert music before they come into the concert hall? To have more concerts catered to children so that they get the exposure of being in the venue and learn the appropriate concert etiquette? Isn’t music supposed to be more interactive than that? Why should kids have to be so damned passive? I guess that’s just the nature of the concert hall beast. Or maybe not. On Saturday, the Harlem Symphony Orchestra will perform Britten’s ‘Young Person’s Guide to the Orchestra,’ a work that introduces each instrument and two different themes with narration. It’s really an exciting cacophony of sounds at the end, but it requires some concentration to listen for the instruments and to the often dry sounding speaker. Also, there’s nothing to watch, nothing that will captivate the 2PM, child-riddled audience. It also requires some discussion from the parents, more than “Which instrument did you like?” Whatever will they do?? The “suggested” age minimum for attendance is six years. Attending parents are known to smuggle in their cocktails in sippy cups… just kidding.
(Harlem Symphony Orchestra, Saturday, April 14 @ 2PM, Apollo Theater, NYC. Bring children after their lunch and nap time.)
Next week’s Hot Topic! Musicians: How do you keep what you do relevant to the general public?
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