Karaoke and Joyful Noise

    I’ve kidded people with my observation that the word “karaoke” was Japanese for the phrase “can’t carry a tune in a bucket.” Recently I’ve decided that karaoke is the response to Psalm 100 which exhorts us to “Make a joyful noise…”

    Initially I expected that the joyful aspect would have been for the recipient hearing the sounds; but, seeing the “joy” in the behavior of some of the participants it seems they are the ones doing the enjoying.

    And then, after the performance, there’s the almost unanimous applause from the crowd -- for some of the performers, the applause is for a good performance. For other performers (who confirm my original assessment of not being able to carry a tune in a bucket) the applause is because their noise was not joyful and they are now finished.

    I enjoy participating because I love music. And karaoke, being neither glee club nor church choir, has no obligatory practice nights or public concerts and I can choose to go or not go according to my mood.

    Karaoke is an unusual blend of those who can sing, those who could sing at one time in their life and those who can’t sing and never could. But, a good time is had by all.