NGUYỄN THỊ MINH CHÂU 

The article indicates weaknesses and shortcomings
 in Vietnamese music theory and criticism today.

Keyword: Nguyễn Thị Minh Châu, New music,
Criticize  self-criticize

Humans would rather decry and judge other people than self-criticize. I literally admire people who are able to criticize and joke about themselves, since they must have been very confident and sure about their weaknesses to speak about them. By criticizing themselves, they actually become even stronger.

Bearing in mind that self-criticism helps to strengthen and fix our weaknesses, we critics are not afraid of making a confession that music criticism was supposedly poor in the past and it actually remains unchanged at present. We do not hesitate to “examine” our shortcomings, to mention the “already-known” reasons in a number of specialized conferences. As the chief of the Board of Music Theory of the Vietnam Musicians’ Association, on behalf of music theory critics, I want to self-criticize that we are weak due to the deficiencies of many things. Here are some serious things we lack.

The lack of music criticism training

Up to now, there has still been no subject of music criticism in the schools. The music theory students who graduated from academies and conservatories of music mostly choose to become researchers or lecturers. The National Academy of Music has recently formed the subject of criticism, and it is too early to assess its mission to graduate qualified critics with all necessary skills. There is also a serious lack of books and curriculum of music criticism for students or self-learners.

The poor quality of music criticism:
in both academic issues and arts

The achievement obsession is presently threatening the quality of writings and long term projects. People write newspaper articles just to gain more credits. They often copy and piece the cut from various documents or even ask someone else to write them. There are always a number of write-for-grades articles in the journal Music Studies (of the Vietnamese Institute for Musicology – National Academy of Music). Consequently, the Editorial Board gives space on the Readers’ page for must-be-published writings of future masters of arts, doctors of philosophy, associate professors and professors.

There seems to be a barrier between writings of music studies and the social life which is extremely hard to go over. Frankly, the academic literary style of professional critics does not attract readers and critics often talk about fairly uninteresting musical topics to the public. It is quite difficult to popularize academic issues to the public, especially young people who mostly like entertaining music.

The lack of room for music criticism:
both the forum and the environment for criticism

The lack of forum for criticism:

We have definitely no newspaper specializing in music criticism. The press just concentrates on news about upcoming events and ignores criticism articles afterwards. No news agencies want to publish these reviews, and the last hope for critical thinkers of music is publication in specialized music journals, which are hardly purchased. 

The lack of environment for criticism:

The willingness to criticize and to have appropriate reactions to the criticism is essential for the growth of the environment for criticism. The shortage of this give-and-take process creates a crisis that disadvantaging the development of music criticism.

Music critics are, unfortunately, non-professional. Some newspaper articles which are supposed to analyze music actually exploit only non-music details, such as the setting of the performance or who was in attendance, or gossip about the performer or the composer. More sadly, some writers disrespect interviewees, since they unhesitatingly the interviewees in sensitive questions and distort the stories to make them more sensational and thrilling.

In such a chaotic status of criticism, we professional theoreticians just try to avoid trouble for the common peace!  It’s better that we keep  from criticizing, especially if the criticism is of state officials, especially to the state officials The rare brave writers are not appreciated and supported. We are asked at the last minute to remove an article which criticizes a state official for literary plagiarism.

The lack of cooperation and interaction:

Maybe because music theoreticians are accustomed to work quietly, we mostly hesitate to become noticed. People, even those trying their hardest, cannot work most efficiently without cooperation. Coordination among music theorists is insufficient, and the cooperation between music critics the journalists is even worse. We are willing to let unprofessional writers take the role of music critics in the media and sometimes relieve ourselves with the thought that there is “no need to use a butcher’s knife to kill a chicken”. The Music and Press club of Vietnam Musicians’ Association is basically a one-way portal for journalists to exploit, not the true bridge to connect the critics and the journalists who both write about music.

The inconsiderable effects on the society:

All of the deficiencies mentioned above lead to the ineffectiveness of music criticism on the society.

To keep peace and secure themselves, many theoreticians are afraid of criticizing and choose to do macro and in-depth academic research on specific subjects. Consequently, we can only accept the fact that we are writing enormous books which reach few people, akin to wearing a fancy brocade tunic going out at midnight when no one is awake to see.

In fact, critics have never done more voluminous works than in the early twenty-first century. They have finished many projects of theory and criticism. Many critics got formal training, and there are now more professional critics than in the previous century.

However, training does not meet the needs of the society, and readers are still distant from the professional researchers and their critical works. We the theoreticians who specialize in “cultivating the words” are not good at advertising our works. Due to the extremely poor advertising, specialized music books, newspapers, and even the supposedly “research and critical works of the century” ultimately archived and wait hopelessly for that wonderful day when someone will read them.

Efforts of the Board of Music Theory and the website of Vietnam Musicians’ Association attempted from 2010 to 2015 to “socialize” theoretical criticism but did not bring the hoped-for results, due to the lack of financial support. This determining element is so crucial that it should be of greatest priority.

Because the budget does not allow for regular meetings, the Board of Music prioritizes online activities. Members of the Board first must sign up and supply an email address, and it is more convenient if they have a social network account. As in other fields, theoretical criticism apparently has no future if it fails to involve young people. Using websites and social networks to touch them is probably the best choice. Overwhelmingly prioritizing online activities and connection to young people distracts us from working with elderly members who are not on the internet. We receive complaints for organizing too few conferences in Hanoi, although we hold many workshops in places where festivals are held.

Because of the limited budget, to keep costs low, we must contract out the running of the website hoinhacsi.org to a technical manager and an administrator from a state-owned enterprise. This literally affects our members’ and the public’s access. Because we cannot afford to offer appropriate payments for regular writings directly affects the content quality. We have neither succeeded to create the collaborator network in localities to tightly connect the Association’s members nor does it spread music ideas to the public as hoped.

“Companion - Empathy - Orientation - Adjustment - Motivation – Fight” is the “6 Đ” principle which the Central Council of theoretical criticism is trying to follow. We honestly give it much effort but are still far from meeting its principles. We may frequently understand and support composers but not always follow the same paths. Regarding the orientation, adjustment and fight in music creation and enjoyment, we admit that there are many shortcomings.

I have given some words about the deficiencies that we are trying to fulfill and problems which cannot be individually handled. It is just to show the important role of the Association in gathering people who share a love for music – an unconditional love.

Ultimately, though it costs nothing to dream, I have just a humble dream that someday professional theoretical critics will not have to be concerned by these “already-known” matters any longer.