Kristilyn Robertson
429 plays
6,172 views
6,172 views
A girl and a piano. What else is new?
Well that would be Kristilyn Robertson.
Born and raised in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, Kristilyn has been honing her craft for the last 8 years. Not claiming to be a piano prodigy, Kristilyn started to play piano when she was in Grade 11 after hearing by Tori Amos: "I always loved her energy and her wit onstage. She truly is a remarkable performer."
While in university, Kristilyn recorded her very first album, entitled , which tells stories of a girl and her sound, Superman, and ill-fitted movie stars. She was lucky to have the opportunity to recruit many other university students to play on the album - alas, it is their horns, strings, and guitars that helped the overall sound: "I originally thought about recording a piano and voice album, but I also wanted to see how well my own arrangements for instruments would come into play on the CD."
The album was a big hit on campus. Originally it was going to be just a small album, for her music capstone, but Kristilyn wanted to take it a step further. So, she stepped out on stage and, for the last 2 and a half years, has been playing live and promoting her album both live and online.Band/artist history
Born and raised outside of Edmonton, Alberta, Kristilyn Robertson, 24, is not one of those piano-songwriters who has been playing since she was young: "I'd like to say that I was a prodigy, playing and writing since I was out of the womb, but that's not the case." It wasn't until the tender age of 17, while a senior in high school, that she finally got the bug to create music: "I first heard Tori [Amos] in 1995 and I wanted to do what she did. I thought it was so cool that someone could be so passionate about something" (This Week, 2002).
For 2 years, Kristilyn trudged her way through Royal Conservatory exams, playing the classical repertoire of Bach, Beethoven, Mozart, and Brahms. After high school, she was accepted to the International Music Academy at the Alberta College Conservatory of Music, in Edmonton, where she studied piano, voice, harmony, and music history, with such professors as Henry Mokken, Geraldine Hawthorne, ad Miriam Mahood. While attending, she began to write music (a former poet, her words eventually lent themselves to melody). "I was such a prolific writer at first. Everything got recorded in my basement through my karaoke machine. I never really thought that I would ever go onstage or into a studio to record."
In 2000, Kristilyn began an undergraduate degree at Concordia University of Alberta. Still taking piano lessons, and later handbells, she continued to focus her talents on music theory and history, and also took classes in piano pedagogy and elementary music, choral methods, music arrangement, and composition. During her stay at Concordia University, the performance and recording aspects had made themselves reality: Kristilyn recorded a CD of original music, entitled The Uncut Version, for her music capstone project with local studio man Tim Senger. The CD came out in early April of 2003 and Kristilyn was kept busy with performances around campus to promote the disc: "This project has been such a huge task, but in the end it'll definitely be worth it. It's my little creation and I can't wait to share it with the world." (March, 2003)
In her fourth year of university, Kristilyn began to take private composition lessons with Dr. John Hooper. Within that year, Kristilyn composed several pieces, including a composition entitled Rondo, for handbells, which was immediately performed by the Concordia Ringers on their spring tour and, later, at the music department's year-end ensembles concert. The piece also won first place in ALGEHR Handbell Writing Competition in 2004.
She is currently working on her next album.Have you performed in front of an audience?I love to play live. I find that I can connect with my fans more readily when I play live and I love the feedback, the laughs, the smiles, and how encouraging they are to me. One memorable moment was when my band and I were practicing in the Baptist church, and there was a punk band waiting out in the lobby for us to finish so that they could use the space. Well the band and I dove into a waltzy number of mine, , and the punk band was moshing to it. They came running inside and thrashed around and ended up saying how great a song it is.
Your musical influences
Everything I hear. Specifically, Tori Amos, Sarah Slean, Hawksley Workman, Ben Folds Five, Charlotte Martin, Radiohead, Joni Mitchell, Elly K., Sarah Harmer, etc.Anything else?
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429 plays
6,173 views
6,173 views
Admin
kristilyn
@kristilyn
Hello, working my way through some new tunes. Stumbled here and enjoyed. Happy New Year John