There is a café I still think about, years after I sat in it. I could not tell you what I ordered. I could not draw you a map of the street. But I remember the sound. Someone behind the counter was playing old records, the kind with a little crackle under the melody, and the whole room seemed to move at the speed of that music. People lingered. Nobody checked their phone. I stayed far longer than I meant to, and when I finally left, the song came with me.

Late spring and early summer: a time of graduations, engagements, weddings, relocations, and other sorts of moves.

Musicians sometimes address these changes directly, and at other times they choose indirect ways to go about it.

As times continue to shift, as ways continue to change, the power of community, connection, and friendship can continue, too, as a source of hope and possibility. Friendships old and new, brief connections as you go about your day to day life, friends at distance and close by, long conversations and occasional messages: all those nurture connection. They are reminders of ways to keep balance and focus as world events and personal ones fill the world with change.

Here are several ways artists have explored connection in their music.

Seasons are changing just now: winter to spring in the northern hemisphere, summer to autumn in the southern part of the globe.

Climate change brings unexpected happenings to these seasons of change. There are constants and unexpected changes in world order and in personal lives, too.  

Music for shifting times is what we decided to call this series back when we began with it. As times continue to shift in unexpected ways, there is music to illuminate, to inspire, and to walk alongside us through these times.

Changing and shifting times, indeed.

As we often remind you on this series, community and connection can be sources of strength in such times.

Music can be a reminder of community and connection. It can at times offer a gateway into ideas about these things, too, or a reminder of connection and shared ideas and values even across distance and time.

Winter.

Holiday season.

Grey skies, maybe snow or rain.

A lot to do as the year draws to a close.

Maybe you find this part of the year too busy, too cold, or too isolating.

Perhaps, on the other hand, you greet this time of year with anticipation and joy.

Maybe there is time and place for a bit of all these things.

Autumn into winter, changes in the angles of sunlight, continuing political and social changes of all sorts, the ongoing changes and challenges we each face in our personal lives: that’s just a bit of the way things continue to shift.

Autumn in to winter: a season of change, a season of reflection, a season of preparation.

That reflection might include  ways to focus and refocus on what matters, what’s important, what is of value as the next challenges and opportunities present themselves.

In shifting times, it can be helpful to think about community.

Communities can exist in person and at distance, online and face to face. They may be made up of those who are family near and far, work colleagues near and far, people you see in the course of everyday events such as a trip to grocers, a stop at the library, a regular visit to a favorite cafe.

This music could offer you ideas to spark reflection on the ways community works through these shifting times.