In April she moved to Campbell, traveling with her prized possession—a Steinway & Sons grand piano—that now sits front and center in the living room. Horton runs her finger over the keys with ease and said sweetly, "This is my baby."

Just as the grand piano is the focal point of her home, music has been the center of Horton's life for as long as she can remember. When Horton speaks about music, it is more than cord progressions or ceaseless plunking. She inhales the magic of each cadence like life itself, an energy that she has thrived on since childhood.

Growing up in Lawton, Okla., musical influence surrounded the girl. Both her mother, Martha, and grandmother, Bessie Cook, played piano and sang. Her father, Theodore, an architect, played timpani in his spare time with the Lawton Philharmonic Orchestra. Music also filled her world as a member of the First Baptist Church.

When Horton was 8 years old, she began taking piano lessons. But it wasn't until she was in the sixth grade, at her first recital using a piano pedal, that she fell in love with making music.

It was as if, during the performance, she had crossed a threshold as a musician, she said. She had moved from simply learning the notes and counting to something greater.

"I felt something when I played and I knew then I was making music," Horton said.

As a teacher, Horton recognizes this rite of passage that every student must pass, and revels in helping each students reach that goal.

By the time Horton was a senior in high school, she decided to major in piano in college. But she lacked the theory training needed for acceptance into the program at the University of Oklahoma. To develop her music theory side, Horton trained after school at a junior college under a professor using the Edith McIntosh Theory and Musicianship books, which she still uses to teach her students. This helped her later be enter the university. And her background is not limited to classical. She has also been influenced by acoustic sounds of musicians like Cat Stevens and Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young.

Once she graduated, Horton had an opportunity to dabble in country rock, while teaching piano to nearly 30 students in Norman, Okla. Then a local band that palyed at her church—The John Arnold Band—recognized her musical talent and asked her to play keyboard on its upcoming record. Horton agreed.

The success of the John Arnold Band exploded. The group won the local competition, which qualified them for a state competition in Tulsa, Okla. The band won the state competition and went on to win the Wrangler Country Showdown national competition in Nashville, Tenn.

In 1983 the classical pianist turned country rock keyboardist. The band toured the country covering more than 40,000 miles, and Horton fell in love with the band's drummer, Jimmy Herbst. Her son, Justin, was born in 1987.

Having a child changed life for the two musicians, who had relocated to Florida after the economy sank in both Oklahoma and Texas. "When you have a baby, things like health insurance become important."

Return to music

Horton settled down in Florida with her baby boy and Herbst, and turned to the business world for stability. She became a property manager for Naples Community Hospital.

At the time, teaching and performing music got pushed to the backburner. By 1992, her marriage to Herbst ended. And in 1997 Horton remarried and moved to Hillsborough with her second husband Don Campbell. It was here in the Bay Area that Horton not only returned to music, but became a composer as well.

Following her move to Hillsborough, her ex-husband and fellow musician Herbst died of complications from pancreatitis. He was only 47.

"There was a lot going on in my heart," Horton said. "And the music just came."

The process, said 47-year-old, was cathartic. Sometimes, she would sit at her piano with a tape recorder and play endlessly. Later, she would listen back to her music, and relearn what she created on the fly.

Horton produced her debut album, a gift from janie, under her own record label, Metaxy. On the inside sleeve, she printed a poem she wrote for Herbst.

"This is a lot about Janie coming back to Janie on this record," she said, about her first album, which was produced under her married name, Janie Campbell. Since her divorce in 2002 to Campbell, she's adopted her maiden name, Horton.

She describes the music as quiet and introspective, scattered with melodic pieces throughout the album. Joined by a guitarist, violinist and cellist, the album ranked 13 on New Age Voice's album chart in 2001.

With the Mountain View Center for the Performing Arts, Horton's a gift from janie also became the score for a dance performance in 2000.

Although Horton has traveled internationally to perform, some of the projects that resonate most with her are right here in the Bay Area. She often performs for nonprofit organizations she deems are in "the heart business" such as The Center for Living with Dying, and Hospice of the Valley.

Recently, Horton released a second album, Heavenly Whispers. The music she creates, is a gift she gives away to anyone who might want it, passing out CDs at Campbell Chamber of Commerce events, or sending CDs to people who come across her website. And Horton music has touched many, receiving fan mail from Santiago, Chile to Conyers, Ga. thanking her for the CDs and saying the music helped lead them through difficult times.

While composing is her passion, piano instruction is her livelihood.

Yet all of these elements made Horton an appealing choice for students. One of those is Alan Sund, a 42-year-old director at Sony who picked up the piano as a creative outlet from his high-pressure career.

Sund likes that Horton can teach both children and adults on their own level, is involved in philanthropic enterprises, is a composer and has the flexibility to teach him. Because of his schedule, the two meet only twice a month.

When Sund first bought a piano, he tried to teach himself using books. "I was plunking on my own and learning to play 'Mary Had a Little Lamb' and 'Jingle Bells.'" He sought out a professional that could help him in a structured way, and that could bring piano up to his level. "Now I'm playing Bach and Mendelson."

But the best part of playing, Sund said, is that the music requires him to concentrate on the piano, not on work. "It forces you to let go of your daily pressures," he said. In the future, he would like to play one of Horton's compositions.

For Horton, playing piano and teaching piano are intertwined. While her music is personal and selfless, teaching helps students learn to make music on their own, she said.

"I receive so much joy from both," Horton said. "I'm blessed for being able to have this in my life."

Janie Horton can be reached at 408. 369.9370 or visit her website at www. metaxy.org.