Matilda Krulder - Singer/Songwriter

18-year old singer, student, and aspiring diplomat Matilda Krulder sat down with us today to discuss her experiences in music, art, and life.

Originally from Chico, California, Matilda is currently an undergraduate student at UC Santa Cruz, studying Art and Politics.

“I have loved music ever since I was little. I got started in musical theater and then I was able to study opera for 6 years. I really got into opera, and I went to the San Francisco Opera Summer Youth Conservatory, and then I went to the one in Lenox, Massachusetts. I was really into it but I ended up having problems with my vocal chords, but I continued to sing jazz.

I was studying jazz at the same time as I was studying opera, so there was a bit of an overlap. I think I discovered jazz just because my family would listen to a lot of records and I remember at one point listening to Blue Skies by Ella Fitzgerald and her scat (wordless vocal improvisation that mimics instruments!) solo. I would try to imitate these exact notes, and that’s how I learned to scat. Just improvising my own styles and stuff like that. When I was younger I used to go to these jazz jams in Sacramento where I was lucky enough to learn how to play with big bands. A lot of people took me under their wing. So jazz is still something I really love doing today—I’ve been writing my own music now for about two years and kind of teaching myself guitar.”

I find that I really like the freedom that comes with composing my own work. I miss opera a lot but I still love hearing it. It’s such a strong, emotional and even volatile type of experience. And even though I can’t sing it anymore, you know, I miss feeling it in my body. What I learned through all that training is still helping me with what I’m doing now. [My training] was a lot about technique and vocal stamina. I had to learn how to control my breath, and it helps my phrasing and which words I chose to break off of and how long I chose to hold a note.

Now, I’m focusing more not on my technique, but all on my writing and on composing my songs. It’s just me and a guitar, but it’s important to focus on letting the chord progression, and the melody and the lyrics all work together, and allowing yourself to open up through your music and that takes a lot of work of itself.

Personally, just with writing my songs, it’s helpful as a way of reflection and expression. Everybody needs to express themselves in one form or another. And I believe deeply that music, and all arts, are forms of communication, whether that’s communication with yourself, inner communication, or communication with others in a community, or it can even be on an international scale. That’s why I’m interested in politics as well because I’m interested in the international relations side of politics and diplomacy, and that’s communication as well.”

What made you want to start singing? What sparked your interest in art?

"Who knows? (laughs) Honestly, from my earliest memory, I remember I’ve always been singing, I’ve always been humming. I just loved it ever since I can remember, so I just kept going with it. With art, on the other hand, painting and sketching, that’s something I discovered two years ago really. In Germany, I took my first art class because I was like ‘Oh well, you know, I kinda have space and freedom right now in school because I’m in another country. Why don’t I just do something fun?’ And then I discovered that I actually really enjoy it, even though I’m not as good as in music. It’s still something that I can experiment with and there are so many different forms of arts. So it’s really fun and it’s something that I like. I should do something that I like. You know, if I’m working on something for hours and hours, I want it to be something that I’m passionate about and that I have fun with."

Who motivates you?

"My vocal coach, she’s the one who taught me opera. She’s like a grandmother to me. She used to run the opera program at Chico State when there was one and she’s still really active in the community. She helped me really get into music and she was always very encouraging. She actually learned a lot of languages when she was younger. She ended up touring around the world, singing opera. She played lead roles in the San Francisco Opera House. Not only that, now she’s around 86 years old and she’s still one of the most energetic people I know (laughs). She’s always up and doing things, she’s always caring about other people, she’s always bringing people together and she puts on fundraisers, and she volunteers at hospices. She just exudes brightness and optimism and joy. So I always think about her as someone I wanna be—someone who is always active and spreading joy."

How does your art make you feel?

It can vary. There is some level of frustration that can arrive. When it comes to writing music though, there are times that I’m doing it because I need to practice and I want to get something out of it. But there are also times when I’m writing music where—and a lot of my songs come this way—a melody just pops into my head, a certain phrase. Or I’ll be feeling this feeling about any certain situation that I’m in, and finally I’ll be able to vocalize that. Like literally vocalize it (laughs). That can be a really great feeling and it ends up being super empowering, when you turn this abstract type of feeling/emotions into something more concrete, relatable and understandable. And then when it comes to my art, I feel invigorated when I find something new, when I’m working with some new technique and figure out ‘Wow! This works with this, and I can do this’. But of course there are moments when I’m like ‘Ugh… This is not working’ and that’s really frustrating. It’s something that I have to push through, but those moments when you push through lead to the other moments when it feels great."

What advice would you give to someone aspiring to become a singer/songwriter?

"It’s about being able to use art as an expression and communication. It requires a level of comfortability to some extent with what you’re doing, which is not immediate. Like if you start playing a sort of instrument, let’s say you pick up a violin, there’s going to be those hours and hours when you’re not really feeling like you’re expressing yourself. What you’re hearing is just a bunch of notes and squeaks but after that works comes a sort of comfortability. And it’s not comfortability that is stagnant. It’s still moving, it’s still adapting. But then on that leg of your journey, that’s when I feel that you gain that expression. But it takes work first.

If you wanna do it, and you find that it makes you happy, then do it (laughs). You only have so much time in the day but so does everybody. You spend time on what’s important to you, so if you say ‘Oh I wanna do music but I don’t have enough time’, it’s like… you have the same amount of time as everybody else. If you want to do it, you make time for it. And I would say go for it. There’s a huge community, there are so many resources. One thing I LOVE about musicians and artists is that they thrive on community. They enjoy communities, they build communities with each other because that’s part of what art is. Just start going to open mics every week, you’ll find so many friendly people that are so excited that you’re into what they’re into, that you’re starting something new. So start with that. If you’re kind of nervous, start getting up on stage. There are many communities out there so it’s fairly easy to do it."

Who are your role models?

"I have a few role models. Yo-Yo Ma, he made the silk road project, where he takes musicians who are masters at a certain instrument and brings them together. They tour all over the world and they mix music from different ethnicities to create new sounds. And that’s really beautiful. Then I also like Idan Raichel who is Israeli. Basically in Israel, there’s a lot of different cultures and some of them have a lot of conflict with each other, but he takes all these different types of music and he brings them together to create a kind of unity and peace within that. So that’s utilizing music for diplomacy. There are quite a few projects out there already that are really inspiring to me. I’ll be figuring it out as I go."

What are your plans for the future? What are you hoping to do next?

"I have a pretty ambitious goal. I really wanna become a foreign diplomat. We’ll see how that happens, but in some way, I want to strive to connect different cultures with art and music, and use art and music as communication so that people understand each other more on an international scale. So I think I can do that through diplomacy, maybe becoming an ambassador. Because I really enjoy learning about other cultures, and I want to learn more languages and travel, and discover new music scenes. But we’ll see (laughs). I’m still in my freshman year of college. I’m going to try to get some internships, but most likely study and take the opportunities that come my way."

To find out more about Matilda, go check out her music on Instagram, or listen to one of her perfomances on Youtube.