PRAISE AND CRITICISM TO PARISH CHOIR

As I have written before, Parish Choir (Koor Paroki) got praise from our bishop Mgr Michael Cosmas Angkur on Thursday 23 October 2008. Some church figures also said that our Parish Choir had done the great thing. In this case, praise and glory belong to God. We accepted the praise on behalf of God and returned it to him because without him, we could not do anything.

Here I would like to write about some criticisms and mockery which Parish Choir has got. I did not hear most of them directly as most people have been reluctant to tell me the truth. However, some friends and “some spirits with their sixth or seventh senses” helped me to hear them.

Well, I have been familiar with some people coming to me and saying, “Wah, Pak, koornya bagus… nyanyinya luar biasa…” Deep in my heart I always say, “God, if it were true, such things belonged to you.” The fact is I never trust them 100%. I know that sometimes some of them are honest, but sometimes some of them are complete liars or hypocrite: they do not any courage to tell me that my choir or the way I conduct the choir is bad or far from their expectation.

Well, I would rather they tell the truth… To some people who try to give me good and constructive criticism, I will accept it without doubt although the criticism sometimes sounds harsh and rude. Sometimes, however, some critics are just people who do not want to see the objectivity. They criticize us not because they want to help us to be better but they just show their dislike against us. In short, they do not criticize; they mock us. To my surprise, the latter is the common comment that I often hear.

In line with our Parish Choir, I have heard some comments given by some people, including some pastors and conductors, who are competent people, or at least consider they are competent, and some others who are not competent at all. Some criticisms sound silly, while others sound harsh: 1. Nyanyinya kok njerit-njerit? 2. Nyanyinya kok tidak pakai perasaan, tidak ada ekspresi. 3. Dirigen tidak ada ekspresinya. 4. Suara koornya kurang padu, ada suara yang lebih menonjol daripada yang lain. 5. Suara sopran (it seems like the personnel of sopranos) sepertinya kurang.

It is up to all Parish Choir members and conductors to evaluate the comments and criticism. There is no use to find out who said this and that. However, let us find the essence of their criticism. I write some outlines below.

First, it is easer to give comments than to do it. For example, Indonesia has a lot of football observers and commentators, but they just talk (NATO = No Action, Talk Only). It is impossible to ask them to go to the field and score a goal. Meanwhile, there are a lot of economy observers and commentators, but they just talk… and they have different views which they claim to be the best. No wonder that one critic said, “When economists get together, there is no solution.” In choir cases, some people also talk and talk and talk … and criticize … but that is what they can only do. They do not give contribution or do not want to participate. Where were they when we needed them? Would their comments make the past events better? Will they be willing to bear the burden that we have carried so far? No! NATO!

Second, many choir critics do not understand the process. They expect the results only. They forget that there is a long and difficult phase that a choir has to go through. When they criticize, they also forget that they might have got similar experiences in the past or in other time. Despite their shortcoming in their past, they feel that they are better that the choir they talk about.

With the two outlines above, I want to say that criticism and bad comments are common things. Listen to the criticism or comments and still be cool and calm. Do not panic or get stressed because the comments can be good ones, true and constructive things, but they can also be nonsense, meaningless sentences, just a form of hostile expression, or an expression of their incompetence. Accept all comments as they will make your love to Jesus even stronger.

The other lesson is that when you criticize or give comments to other choirs say the constructive things only, never try to hurt other choirs and their existence. Instead of talking about them, why don’t you join them and help them to be better? Being one of them for a long time will reduce your superiority complex.

Viva Parish Choir. Viva Exultate.