Criticism vs. Pride

During my stay in Yogyakarta (and I'll be flying back to Jakarta this Thursday), I heard many interesting stories from my mentor, Asep Hidayat. Quite a quirky fellow whose passion for music remains undiluted. He told me of a story about how he was playing first chair cello in a fairly well-known orchestra in Jakarta. During one of the rehearsals, he was constantly distracted by the conductor's audible foot-tapping.

I prefer my ictus clean-cut (oddquartet.com)

Now, I shall leave the question of whether foot-tapping is integral with the music itself up to my fellow reader. I have always heard that it is traditionally frowned-upon, and that it is important for both the conductor and performer to learn how to internalize the beats without making unnecessary physical motion, which may cause distraction in performance. But I digress. After a few rehearsals, and Asep losing patience fast, he came up to the conductor during break and made an admittedly snarky suggestion:

A: Hey, did you just get a new pair of shoes?
Conductor: No, why did you ask?
A: Because they sound unusually louder today /smiles/

And since that day, Asep was blacklisted and no longer performs for said orchestra. Knowing Asep, I don't believe it was said in a malicious manner, even though many might see him as abrasive upon first impression. Nonetheless, his suggestion does serve as a critic, but when honest criticism leads to being black-listed, then you know there is an unhealthy power struggle at play. 

I think cellists have stronger arms than conductors (patsymcarthur.com)

Now, let's take a step back and see things from a wider perspective. We have many big-name artists, conductors, performers, and teachers in Indonesia, especially in the capital city of Jakarta. Every time I open up Facebook and riffle through notifications on my news feed, I always see posts that send congratulatory message to one of these big-names for [insert achievement here]. To be clear, I have no problem with this; when a good of friend of mine wins a major competition, I'd personally congratulate her too. But when these messages become obsessive, almost borderline idolatry, we inadvertently elevate the status of the person in question to unreachable heights.

Many revere these big-names as the masters of their craft. So if they are truly masters, then there is really no need to criticize them--obviously they know what they are doing, right? Well, that does seem to be the case in Indonesia. Never have I ever seen or read a critical review of a performance in any given media (this includes blogs, op-ed piece in a magazine or newspaper, etc.), and all I see is enthusiastic praises and compliments that solely talk about the greatness of "the man" instead of the greatness of the music.

There were times where I attended well-publicized and high-profile performances in the city but left the hall feeling uninspired and empty. Then the next day, I read the newspaper and saw nothing but compliments after compliments after compliments. Are we, as Indonesians, too afraid to criticize? I don't mean those thoughtless, vapid opinions made by Youtube commenters without solid and convincing evidence. I mean, critical analysis of a performance by someone who is very well-versed in the craft.

It's not the end of the world... (csaravg.files.wordpress.com)

Not only that I encourage people to be more honest with their opinion, I also encourage those big-names to readily accept criticism with class and not with ill-will. Even though we are known to be nice and welcoming people, to my detriment we are also known for holding long and hard grudges. We have an old saying in Indonesia that goes: seperti padi, kian berisi kian merunduk (literal meaning: like the paddy, the more it contains, the more it bows down). With greater knowledge, we should always remain humble. I honestly think we are slowly forgetting that message.

Criticism is an exercise of exploration and intellectual engagement, and its purpose is not to maliciously attack, but to offer constructive suggestion as to how the subject in question can better themselves. I was chatting to a friend yesterday about how criticisms can lead to forging new enemies, but knowing how politically-charged the (classical) music world is, I'd say, it doesn't really matter what they think. What matters is the music, and nothing else.

And on that note, have a good evening! I'm going to have composition lessons with Royke Koapaha later at 7. This should be exciting :)

Hazim Suhadi