In recent years, the "Children's Prom" in all its guises – the Blue Peter Prom, the Doctor Who Prom – has fallen over itself to court the attention of young audiences. This year's Family Prom was a less self-conscious affair, with the BBC Philharmonic under the baton of Tecwyn Evans effectively playing a host of popular classics and hoping for the best.

As one might expect, the children here responded most readily to rhythm, noise and familiarity. Thus, Elgar's Pomp and Circumstance and Khachaturian's manic Sabre Dance were dramatic enough to catch the ear of even the most restless child. Richard Rodney Bennett's variations on Lilliburlero – the melody better known as "rockabye baby" – was familiar enough to interest young ears.

A new collaborative work by the Proms Family Orchestra – a noisy fusion of modal funk, Algerian rai, Gypsy jazz violin and Ian McMillan's poetry – might have sounded like a dog's dinner to many adults, but it brought out beaming smiles among the youngsters. Conversely, two short pieces by Holst and Saint-Saëns, both vehicles for the impressive 19-year-old violinist Jennifer Pike, enraptured the grown-ups but proved to be a hard slog for thousands of fidgety, wailing children.

While it's admirable that the Proms don't patronise young audiences, a little explanation before each piece wouldn't have gone amiss. What should children be looking out for? What might help them transform this from noise into music? From that vantage point, the performance was left slightly wanting.