Linda Mantooth's Profile
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Born in
Linda
began formal piano lessons at the age of eight and continued for the next six
years. Although she practiced her pieces
like a good little piano student, her heart was not totally in it. “I felt restricted and restrained by the
notes on the page,” she says. “I spent a
lot of my practice time simply playing songs by ear -- things I had heard on
the stereo or at church -- or just playing simple creations of my own.”
Piano
lessons stopped in eighth grade after Linda’s parents realized she was playing
her own compositions rather than her piano assignments. “I finally felt free to do what I wanted at
the piano…no notes to have to follow…complete freedom…. just me and the
piano. Eighty-eight keys…the
possibilities seemed endless. Of course,
I am thankful for those six years of lessons since that gave me a good music
foundation,” she says.
For
years and years, Linda continued playing the piano, still focusing on playing
by ear, all in the comfort and safety of her living room. In 1999, she purchased a Yamaha Clavinova digital piano.
This was a turning point for Linda, since the piano could record her
music and help keep track of her work.
This is when she really began seriously composing piano pieces and
spending many hours each day at the piano.
After a year of doing this, she was starting to get restless and felt a
desire to “do something more” with her music.
In
August of 2000, Linda investigated a songwriting class at a local college. She met Keith Hays, the professor who taught
the class, and she decided to see what that class could teach her about writing
music. After completing the class, Linda
began working with Mr. Hays to learn about refining her music. Mr. Hays set a goal for Linda to take her
works of art and put them on a CD so everyone could enjoy the music.
In 2002,
Linda established her own record label, Piano Portraits Music. Linda’s first CD, Fruit of the Spirit, was released on
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