Life is not just Disney

Here's the highlight of my week: armed with an old jacket, I headed to Valletta and sat in a corner on St Barbara Bastions listening to notes of music floating up from the Jazz Festival down below at Ta' Liesse.

And as the music soared, I took in the amazing surroundings: the marvel that is our Grand Harbour, the moonlight beaming on the boats, and the pleasant little chatter of the people surrounding me. I just muttered and sighed: this is the life. In fact, July in Malta is full of these soulful moments.

What are, say, your plans for next Saturday? If you still have nothing pencilled in, let me organise it for you on a low-cost budget. Grab that old jacket and this time head to the Granaries for Joseph Calleja's pop-meets-jazz-meets-classical concert.

There is no real need to be within stage-sight and standing tickets are cheap. Last year, being the last-minute-buyer that I am, I squatted comfortably among the standing crowds and had the time of my life: you don't need to see anything, all you need is your ears to take you on a trip to the land of enchantment and back.

I like listening to classical music, especially in the car. Have you ever put on La donna è mobile, full on, when stuck in tunnel traffic? Phoawar. Sheer class, I tell you. It's as if you're attending a private concerto. In fact, I think if classical music were obligatory in cars, we would solve the road rage problem in Malta.

I don't have particular knowledgeable expertise. I either love a piece or I don't. The great thing about music is that everyone can experience the power of that mystery everyday, whether they play or not. All you have to do is listen to it.

But unfortunately there is still the myth that anything to do with the appreciation of classic music is for the bourgeois.

Will Self, the British author says: "For me, the theatre audience is the main problem with theatre." And the same can be said in this case. It is sad that these two top music events on the island will not have attracted the same young audiences that the Isle of MTV concert attracted a couple of weeks ago.

In Malta, classical music is an exclusive, lah-di-dah, members-only club, exclusive to those who pretend to know when to clap, talk, cough or even breathe.

It saddens me that the beautiful, thrilling works of great masters - who actually wrote for the general public and not for a niche of experts - are tarred with this hoity-toity attitude.

Because of this and because of serious lack of music exposure in our education system, I think there is a huge cultural appreciation gap which spans down from my generation down to today's teens. (I have hope for the little ones - from what I can see, they are more exposed and they seem to know their piccolos from their flutes.)

What are we doing about this? How much money is pumped in the severely dilapidated School of Music, for example? It's only the enthusiasm of the teachers that keeps it going. And the same goes for the staff at St James Cavalier, who perform outreach miracles, but are stretched, to say the least.

The government forks out (of our taxes, it must be said) more than a million euros to organise the above-mentioned MTV concert. According to professional concert organisers, it would only take a mere quarter of that to put up something similar to the family proms organised in the UK.

With €200,000 we could have a professional big outdoor concert - roping in the likes of Calleja, who, incidentally, takes part in the BBC Proms, the National Philharmonic Orchestra and a vast array of brilliant local talent. All in the name of celebrating the beauty, joys and fun of classical music.

The idea of the British BBC Proms Family Orchestra is to give family members - whether mums, dads, brothers, sisters, aunts, uncles or grandparents - the chance to play music together.

Everyone is welcome, from keen amateurs to those who've never picked up an instrument before. Young and old audiences have a go at jazzy rhythms and melodies, learn new folk songs, and sit in the grass listening to a live orchestra playing popular musical themes like Doctor Who.

I say, enough of those outdoor family events where the only highlights are those boring plastic bouncy castles. Let's stretch our children's imagination through music. Let's show them that life is not just Disney. Let's invest in having more cultural savvy generations.

If as a population, we become more appreciative of beauty, that's an investment far wiser than any Isle of MTV show.