YOU CAN DO BETTER..

Last weekend, my littlest son was among the many ambitious future guitarist who get to perform at his music school’s mini concert. My littlest son has started his guitar lesson sejak umur 8 tahun lagi. 2017 marks his 6^th year of learning how to play the classical guitar. Sepanjang tempoh 6 tahun he pursues his lessons, selame itu jugak si adik has been performing at his school’s mini concerts.  Dan selame itu jugak I’ve been observing the attitude of audiences and spectators of his mini concerts. I’ve been meaning to write about this since then tapi saya selalu assume begini; mungkin bukan budaya kita to cheer and applaud for strangers or people we don’t know.

Kali ini saya tak boleh nak berdiam lagi because the recent incident has greatly affected my boy’s spirit and motivation. Right after the concert, when we arrived home my boy announced that he is no longer keen on learning the classical guitar. Bile ditanye kenapa tak minat, “people don’t really understand or listen to what I played”. Macam saya cakap tadi, saya perhati je karenah penonton (yang terdiri dari ibubapa pelajar lain dan cikgu-cikgu muzik mereka) and I noticed once a student performed, the applauses were faint. Kebanyakan parents hanya tepuk tangan bile giliran anak mereka jer. Kenapa susah sangat untuk give the same round of applause to all performers regardless whether you know them or not? Bayangkan kite di tempat mereka. After weeks and many hours of practices they finally get to showcase their music pieces to us. Don’t they deserve the biggest and loudest applause from all for their struggle and hard work?  Apa agaknya perasaan these kids melihatkan the response they get? Next time you’re invited to be audiences of musicians (be it beginner, amateur, or professional), remember this; tepukan anda means so much to them. Tepukan anda adalah penguat semangat mereka untuk meneruskan usaha mereka. Your cold response will slowly kill their motivation.