music

Music for a Winter Afternoon

by Kerry Dexter /
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Dec 21, 2020 / 0 comments

In the northern hemisphere, it is winter. Winter has many faces and facets. As you travel through winter, you may well experience all of them. I have always enjoyed winter's aspects of quiet and the season's call to reflection; you may experience this time of year differently. There are holidays and holy days of most faiths; there are secular celebrations; there is the turning of the year. This music will help with the journey.

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Scotland's Top Musicians Share Christmas Song and Story

It's become a cherished part of the festive season in Scotland: for the last fourteen years, Phil Cunningham's Christmas Songbook has brought together some of the country's top musicians in a festive celebration series of concerts that has toured across Scotland in the weeks leading up to Christmas.

Phil Cunningham. From Scotland's Top Musicians Share Christmas Song and Story

Music for Peace, Understanding, and Connection

by Kerry Dexter /
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Nov 16, 2020 / 0 comments

Sun and moon, stars and sky are constants, wherever you might be in the world, and wherever you may be in your thinking about the shifts and changes that have been happening. So, too, is the desire for peace, for understanding, for connection.

Music offers ways to think about all these things.

Music for Peace, Understanding, and Connection

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Read This: The Musician's Lifeline

If you love books you can dip in and out of for nuggets of information, inspiration, and conversation, The Musician's Lifeline could be your book.

Read This: The Musician's Lifeline

Music for Autumn's Quiet

by Kerry Dexter /
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Oct 22, 2020 / 0 comments

Autumn: it is a time of turning, a time of change, a time for reflection, a time for preparation. It is also a time for telling and hearing stories. The music here, and the stories told through it, will work in many situations and seasons. They are especially relevant to all the turns and changes and quiet reflection needed to navigate which come with autumn. Each of the pieces has to do with journeys of one sort or another, as well.

Music for honoring and nurturing connection

by Kerry Dexter /
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Sep 21, 2020 / 0 comments

Connection: sharing ideas, sharing stories, sharing time with friends and family is a powerful and lasting aspect of life. Connection with acquaintances and people less well known also has its place in creating and sharing community.

In challenging and shifting times, honoring and nurturing connection, in whatever ways might be safe and available, are healing and grounding things to do.

Passages: Music for Rough Times and Calmer Spaces

by Kerry Dexter /
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Aug 18, 2020 / 0 comments

The saying that walking on uneven ground is good for improving balance strikes me as a metaphor for parts of the shifting times we are in at present. Music to help you think about that here, from rough seas to calmer waters, from quiet walks to a  tale holding wisdom from older times.

Passages: Music for Rough Times and Calmer Spaces

Music: Intention and Invitation

by Kerry Dexter /
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Jul 23, 2020 / 0 comments

Shifting times: when we chose the name for this series, four years ago now, we did not know quite how many areas of life would be shifitng, and how continually and at what depths. There were already many important issues needing attention then. Now, there have been so many deep calls for attention in just the last four months at this writing, not to mention the last four years. Making one's way through all this with courage, grace, and impact requires focused intention. How to focus intention, and on what, will vary.

Music of Hope and Peace

by Kerry Dexter /
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Jun 15, 2020 / 0 comments

In times  of turmoil, of anger, of pain, songs of protest have their place. In times of protest, of turmoil, of pain, there is also time for seeking peace, need for solace, for reflection and connection, even when --perhaps especially when --circumstances seem bleak and dangerous.

That's how the music in this episode of Music For Shifting Times is meant to work. There is hope in the midst of turmoil, ways to find rest and seek connection in the midst of upheaval. May this music help you find and share these things.

Music for Connection and Contemplation

by Kerry Dexter /
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May 19, 2020 / 0 comments

Music can invite and encourage contemplation and connection, solitude and community.  Participating in arts of all sorts allows, invites, and encourages perspective and reflection.

At times, this also makes space for a place of rest.

With those ideas in mind, take a listen to the differing ways these musicians invite you into all of this.

Music for Connection and Contemplation

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