Positive Psychology: Glenn Gould talks about So You Want to Write a Fugue

Thursday, March 3, 2011

Glenn Gould talks about So You Want to Write a Fugue

Uploaded by p0lyph0ny on Jul 6, 2008

Glenn Gould watches, conducts, and discusses the CBC recording of his composition 'So You Want to Write a Fugue' (and fugue writing in general). With Bruno Monsaingeon.

The full video of So You Want to Write a Fugue can be found here:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_1ain4qftoM Note that there are many subtle musical references in this piece -- for example, after the "just ignore the rules and try" line, the bass and tenor blatantly do just that by singing in parallel fifths, and after the line "John Sebastian must have been a very personable guy" (and before the "never be clever for the sake of being clever" verse) the string quartet cleverly plays a brief quodlibet of JS Bach melodies.

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Positive Psychology given credence by Academia:

Positive psychology is the scientific study of the strengths and virtues that enable individuals and communities to thrive.

Commentators on the subject Martin Seligman and Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, note that:

"The field of positive psychology at the subjective level is about valued subjective experiences: well-being, contentment, and satisfaction (in the past); hope and optimism (for the future); and flow and happiness (in the present).

At the individual level, it is about positive individual traits: the capacity for love and vocation, courage, interpersonal skill, aesthetic sensibility, perseverance, forgiveness, originality, future mindedness, spirituality, high talent, and wisdom.

At the group level, it is about the civic virtues and the institutions that move individuals toward better citizenship: responsibility, nurturance, altruism, civility, moderation,tolerance, and work ethic."