美国钢琴和作曲人 Kori Linae Carothers 是一位富有个性的女子,不去模仿他人而是真实的用音乐表达着自己的内心。并非出身音乐世家的她,凭着对音乐的喜爱,断断续续的在生存之路上坚持着对音乐的追求,婚后的 Kori Linae Carothers 依然通过了英国皇家音乐学院的钢琴课,在音乐技巧、理论等方面得到提升。2003年在丈夫的鼓励下,一直坚持创作的她开始通过互联网公布她的音乐,在 2004年拥有第一张自己的个人专辑《The Road Less Traveled》后,2006年和2009年又出品了《The Journey》和《Trillium》。
Kori’s saga of her musical quest to share her soul stemmed from her childhood. She heard the Beatles on the radio and began to plunk out tunes on the piano and as she figured out the songs without any musical knowledge, Kori knew right then that she wanted to play the piano. She took piano lessons, listened to many varied artists, and, at age 14, began to compose music. Her parents did not know what to do with her talents. As far back as she could remember, music always painted imagery in her head. She was always listening to something on the record player in her homes in Minnesota and Texas.
Her favorites were Herb Alpert and the Tijuana Brass Band as well as many of her favorite classical composers. “I remember when I was little, sitting next to the record player and putting my head down to the speakers to hear everything going on,” says Kori.“I was amazed at the varied instrumentation that brought the songs I loved together so well.” Kori also had a tape player with headphones. “I would fall asleep listening to John Williams’ Star Wars Soundtrack.”
She hears music in her head all the time and composes when she feels like expressing herself. “Many people ask if I plan and write out my compositions, but I don’t do that,” says Kori. “Technically, I am not great at notation. When I feel like I need to say something musically, I sit down, work out a melody, and record everything I do.”
>br>At 16, Kori found a small recording studio in Texas and recorded two songs. “I loved doing that so much, I just knew this was something I wanted to do!” says Kori regarding her experience. At 18, she left home and went to college in Idaho, where she was classically trained in order to pursue her musical dream. But for financial reasons, she needed to put college on hold and go home to Texas. As she worked, she still believed in her dreams and continued to compose her own music. In 1991, Kori moved to San Diego, California where she met and married her husband and put aside her musical pursuits to begin a family. She gave up her dreams to be a performer, but continued to take piano lessons through the Associated Board of the Royal Schools of Music. “My teacher, Mrs. Jensen, told me I was concert pianist material and that I could achieve my dream!” With that knowledge, she continued to work on her skills in musical technique and theory. Five years ago Kori’s husband took her to see Yanni and she felt her old musical flame resurface. “My husband must have sensed my feelings,” she says, “because he asked me if I was interested in returning to my music. I laughed and asked him if it was a trick question! He told me that I should get a keyboard. I told him that “if I do get a keyboard it will NOT be a little tiny keyboard…it’s going to be a Korg.”
In 2003, Kori’s husband encouraged her to continue composing and actually release her music on the internet. So in 2004, she released her first album, The Road Less Traveled. Then, the following year, she released a blend of synthesized and organic instrumentation with her second recording, The Journey. Bill Binkleman of Wind and Wire comments “On her second album, pianist/keyboardist Kori Linae Carothers paints on a more dramatic canvas than on her debut CD, layering synths (mostly strings, chorals and washes) underneath her passionate piano melodies.”