FLOYD -- Age is nothing but a number for Coriander Woodruff.

At just 11, Cori is already a musician, actress and, with the release of her first electronica album, "Spirit Webs," a bona fide recording artist.

Christina O'Connor | The Roanoke Times Coriander Woodruff Coriander Woodruff, 11, is a musician and art teacher who recently released her first CD. Hear three of her selections and more from other New River Valley musicians.

She counts the Eurythmics and Wall of Voodoo among her favorite professional musicians and exudes a self-assured, sometimes shy and wise-beyond-her-years vibe.

Oh, and don't forget that she's an art teacher with two years of experience under her belt.

Cori's course on the construction of "faery houses," small gazebos created from natural materials such as twigs, moss and dried flowers, was such a hit with her young students at the Blue Mountain School and the Jacksonville Center for the Arts in Floyd that she will teach the class for adults starting this month.

Cori -- who is home schooled by her mother, Pat Woodruff, in a special curriculum called "child-led learning" -- doesn't mind having a less-structured schedule during the day.

"It gives me more time to make messes," she said with an impish grin.

Although Cori and her family, which includes equally artistically inclined older brother, Cameron, have only been in Floyd for a little more than two years, they are already recognizable fixtures in the town's art scene.

In fact, Floyd's thriving artist population was the exact reason Pat Woodruff, who primarily works with watercolors, chose to bring her family from Pennsylvania. She spent months researching the town before making her move.

She's gotten what she was looking for.

"We're all a big, happy family," Woodruff said of the close-knit Floyd community.

"You walk into Oddfella's or NoteBooks and everyone already knows everyone else."

Case in point is the Black Water Loft, a coffee shop and live music venue where Cori had her compact disc release party, complete with chocolate, popcorn and an enticing light show, on Dec. 23.

Every person who streams through the doors of the Loft waves and greets the Woodruffs as they sit at the bar. Cori happily sips hot chocolate made just the way she likes it by Rose McCutchan, owner of the Loft and the director of the Young Actors' Project at the Jacksonville Center.

Cori's role as Amy March in a recent production of "Little Women" for McCutchan's program was a highlight of the play, according to the director.

"She was absolutely fantastic. She stole the show," said McCutchan, whose mother, Avis, owns NoteBooks, the music and art store below Black Water Loft where Cori's CD is on sale.

"Spirit Webs," one of four CDs Cori has been working on for the past two years, has a sound that she describes as invoking feelings of flying and connection with different aspects of life.

Possible titles for Cori's other CDs include "Egress," for the graceful, long-limbed bird, and "Silly Sugar and Spice," which has a more self-reflexive meaning.

"My mom sometimes says that I'm all spice and no sugar," she said, making a nod to the name she shares with the herb that can lend its flavor to both spicy curry sauces and sweeter treats.

For Cori, the process of recording her music  using a program called Garage Band on her Macintosh computer  comes easily.

"All you need is a good sense of rhythm. You can't have spots with stripes," she said. "I normally start with a strong beat, maybe something sort of shrill, then I add the bass and other things to make it fun."

"It's a bit like making a collage. You can just paste things together," Pat Woodruff explained of her daughter's work.

Rhythm has never been an issue for Cori, who got her first djembe, an African drum, when she was 5.

And she already knows the importance of letting her talent come to her naturally, without trying to force herself to work when she isn't inspired.

"When I'm not in the mood to make anything, I just won't do it," she said.

"Being in the moment is mainly what I go by."

She's working on finishing up the other projects she was tackling while simultaneously working on "Spirit Webs," one of them being a CD of relaxing and soothing music for people who have difficulty sleeping.

Her love of helping others is something she said compels most of her artistic projects.

"I really think I might want to be a psychiatrist," Cori said of her long-range plans. "I like helping people."