Winter meditation

Winter is a time when dark comes early. We light the lamps and fires to bring light inside, and go outside to reflect on the stars in the night sky, and perhaps, the fall of snowflakes. It is a time for remembering and sharing well loved stories, and singing songs handed down across time. A time for gathering, and a time for solitude, winter is also a time for appreciating and reflecting on the roads traveled the changes made, the friendships which last, the lessons learned, the winter season is as much a time for mediation and planning and dreaming of what’s to come as well as recalling what’s past and enjoying what’s present. Whether you make resolutions at the turning of the year ot at some other time, or not at all, music is a fine companion for the reflective aspects of winter.

Music to go along with these ideas

note: clicking on text links and album cover images will take you to places where you may read more about the music and/or hear bits of it. photographs above are by Kerry Dexter and are copyrighted. thank you for respecting this.

Matt and Shannon Heaton offer Shannon’s song Fine Winter's Night which evokes the clear winter skies, cold nights, and the warmth of connection and music which also mark the season, as the tile track for their seasonal album Fine Winter's Night

It might seem touch unusual to suggest an album called Summer's End for winter meditation, but I think you’ll find Therese Honey recording of original and traditional Celtic music on the harp a good choice, as well.

Al Petteway and Amy White employ guitar dulcimer, keyboard and other instruments as they explore the Appalachian side of winter in Winter Tidings.

Gretchen Peters does a fine job of working with a song of Appalachia too, I Wonder As I Wander. It is on her album Northern Lights. which contains fine traditional and original music of the lights and shadows of winter.

Hanneke Cassel is a fiddle player and composer who has a number of albums that go well with winter reflection. The music of Scotland is her inspiration but in both interpretation and composition, her music is all her own. At this season, I’d suggest Some Melodious Sonnet

and from Carrie Newcomer, a musician whose work you’ve met before here along the music road -- a song inspired by a drive home on a winter's night

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Advent reflections and music

The second week in Advent is a time for settling in, for reflection, for learning and remembering . Used to be, when I was growing up, the readings for the second Sunday in Advent had to do with reading the Scriptures, considering them, reflecting, taking in the meanings they may have.

Along the way, and especially through walking this music road, I have learned that God speaks through other things -- through anything we will allow. A fall of light, a line in a play -- or a poem, the work of an actor in a television show, the quiet voice of rain, a story from the past, the color of a turning leaf, the fall of snow, the words of a friend or a stranger -- the words of a song, the notes of a tune...

Music to go along with these ideas Al Petteway and Amy White share the reflective spirit of the mountain in winter with harp, guitar, bouzouki, dulcimer, and voice on original and traditional pieces including Gabriel’s Message, People Look East, Into the Light, and Breaking Up Christmas on their album Winter Tidings: An Appalachian Christmas

Karen Mal and Will Taylor join up on mandolin and guitar for classy and thoughtful interpretations of The Coventry Carol, The Frist Noel, and other seasonal classics A Mandolin Christmas

If music to do with Christmas is not your interest at present, I think you will still enjoy theses recordings. For another choice, though, you may want to listen to Mala Fama in which fiddle player Sarah-Jane Summers, guitarist Juhani Silvola, and bassist Morten Kvam offer music with flavors Summers’ native Highlands of Scotland landscapes, as well as ideas of travel, laughter, and reflection.

photographs are by Kerry Dexter and are copyrighted. thank you for respecting this

You may also wish to see
first week in Advent: candle in the window
Cherish the Ladies: storytellers in music
Perceptive Travel: wreaths, music, legend

-->Your support for Music Road is welcome and needed. If you are able to chip in, here is a way to do that, through PayPal. Note that you do not have to have a PayPal account to do this. Thank you.