About the Composer
Carolyn Short (Carlyrae) is a prolific composer whose music you can enjoy on her debut CD, "Soundtrack for an Invisible Movie" or by joining Carlyrae.com.
Although Carolyn's gift for music was evident from her early childhood, it wasn't until much later in life that she began to compose music herself . As a child she studied piano & organ, playing for church and school events. Later in life, Carolyn experienced a panic attack, which led her to abandon her music for a number of years.
Over time Carolyn began to feel the need to express herself musically and she knew there were others who needed to hear her music. Following a series of inner healings she began to once again play the piano. Slowly at first, laying one finger at a time onto the keys until the music began to "flow out of her fingers." "I always knew that there was beautiful, beautiful music inside me, but I just couldn't access it!" says Carolyn.
While browsing through a local music store, Carolyn's physician husband introduced her to the world of electronic keyboards. She discovered them to be a wonderful tool for creating new music. Having a huge palette of sounds available at her fingertips and the ability to layer the voices of several keyboards at the same time, Carolyn was finally able to release the beautiful sounds she had heard within her own soul as a young child. For hours at a time she would play while her husband would listen and encourage her to continue. The process of creating new music, has been instrumental in bringing healing to Carolyn.
In 1998, Carolyn began to work with producer/engineer Moses Kostamo. Together, Carolyn & Moses have been going over the hundreds of songs recorded, and selecting the best ones for further editing & mixing. Recently, Moses left Wichita, Kansas to go back to his hometown of Prince George, British Columbia. This long distance, however, has not stopped Carolyn from continuing to work on her music. Carolyn now sends her favorite new compositions to Moses at his studio in Canada, who then begins the mixing & editing process. Carolyn is "virtually" invloved in these mixing sessions by means of Apple's ichat video conferencing software.
Moses' wife, Mitra, an exceptional vocalist, has added her voice to a number of Carolyn's compositions. Carolyn will often hand an instrumental piece to Mitra, who will then listen to it and begin to hear the vocal part right there in the studio. All who have listened to the songs agree that the purity of Mitra's voice has added another dimension to Carolyn's music.
As Carolyn continues to express the music that had been locked away for so long, her wish is that it will be used to help others.
"...My hope is that I will be one of many people who help us to start to move out of 'me, me, me' and go to work and do something creative—We all have to go through that journey of self discovery, but we don't have to stay there for a lifetime. We need to get out and go to work!"
- Carolyn Short (From her interview with Carla Eckels.)