“It (neuroplasticity) refers to the physiological changes in the brain that happen as the result of our interactions with our environment. From the time the brain begins to develop in utero until the day we die, the connections among the cells in our brains reorganize in response to our changing needs. This dynamic process allows us to learn from and adapt to different experiences.” 
- Celeste Campbell (n.d.).

As late summer shifts into autumn, it is a time for gatherings and festivals.

Celtic Colours International Festival is one such event. It takes place across nine days in early October every year all across Cape Breton Island in the north of the province of Nova Scotia in Atlantic Canada.

We’ve all played it—the waiting game. The one where the toddler asks for a treat and the grown up says wait till after dinner. The one where the ten-year-old can’t wait to stay up past bedtime when no one can say otherwise. The one when you can’t wait to get to the next level of whatever because then you can do this other thing. Oddly enough, the waiting seems like forever in the moment—yet, if you talk to any adult, as they were once that young toddler, it truly seems like five minutes. 

Over the course of this series (seven years and counting at present), we have known we are in shifting times. We have known, too, that there are many ways music offers to navigate changes of all sorts.

I grew up on Long Island, New York. Summer was and is my favourite season. For as long as I can remember, summertime meant my summer camp second home, and the moment I could drive meant any spare time spent at the beach. The ocean and sand are so much a part of me that I moved to live beside them for a decade (and later flipped coasts to relish their brilliance all year long).