engaging Virtuously…
It will not surprise you that I was a big fan of the early Woody Allen. His wry ability to engage the world around him by turning everything on its head has guided my life; some might say, not in a good way 😉 One of his earliest observations was about God’s advice to a man having trouble selling his shirts, and he prayed for guidance. “Sew an alligator over the pocket”. The puzzled believer asked, “An Alligator??” “Yes”… and there was much rejoicing as the shirts sold off the shelf 😉 He wrote this long before our era in which logos, symbols, and signals mean so much… or do they? What exactly is Virtue?
As with all things, it depends… and is way more complex than I thought 😉 The simple definition of Virtue is “behavior showing high moral standards” coming from the Latin Virtus. Words such as “goodness” and “righteous” are synonyms… and then it starts down a long path. That means his week will likely have many twists and turns worth thinking about. So what music is the most “virtuous?” And, what music haven’t I written about in a long time, forcing me out of my comfort zone (is that a virtue??) Classical – probably one of the largest bodies of music and one I have very little depth in. So, this week, I will try to focus on one of the foundational authors of the Virtuous genre, Johann Sebastian Bach.
… in the “modern” world…
I will kick off the week with one of the only pieces of classical music I own. It was given to me on 8-track for my 14th birthday, along with a matching stereo. I have tried to write about this music before, and now remember why I didn’t – it is almost impossible to find anywhere – YouTube, Apple Music, whatever. Many people offer their versions of it, but finding recordings of that 8-track readily available is difficult. I suspect that Columbia’s lawyers are actively finding people who post it for “free use” and convince them that it is not a Virtue they want to support. The author was Walter/Wendy Carlos, who, as a young person, showed an early interest in music, compositions, and computers. Working at the Columbia-Princeton Electronic Music Laboratory, this work grew out of engaging with Robert Moog – yes, of the Moog Synthesizer...
The concept was simple – musical tones are, in the end, simple sine waves that can be produced with a “simple” electronic circuit – a tuned oscillator. As with any string, pair a resistor and a capacitor together and the circuit will have a “natural” frequency. Vary either, and you can change that. On that basis, Moog and Carlos partnered to produce the first Synthesizer and an album that made it easy for listeners to marvel at the “new” sounds. Our brain loves anything new and different. These notes were “pure,” taking hours to produce just one. They would record, dub on others, repeat, repeat. It took long hours of Virtuous work in the studio, but it launched an entire genre of music. Much of what we hear now is “synthetic” and was one of the few Classical albums to go Gold.
… which needs it…
Virtue is a frequent companion in the work of leaders. Most don’t engage purposefully to do the “wrong” thing… most have some internal compass, their interpretation of Virtue. Often when viewed by others, whose values and Virtues are different, they can be viewed as “wrong.” Particularly lately, that has led to some people and conversations being “cancelled.” As we start the week listening to “pure” notes, consider what are your Virtue’s , and how they impact your daily effort with teams and friends. And specifically, how do you handle notes that are “different” than your own? Do they lack Virtue, or are they simply a different approach that could be used harmoniously? Our soundtrack, also selected as the first musical piece for Voyager’s Golden Record – V’gr for those Star Trek fans out there 😉 Bach’s Third Brandenberg Concerto.
