About Karlyn

Karlyn brings over twenty years of rich experience as an artist and educator. Her approach to music and music education is rooted in a belief that individual creativity is an empowering and healing force. She writes songs, records, and tours under the name K Clarence (previously under the name Karlyn DeSteno).

Karlyn studied viola performance at the University of Minnesota; North Indian classical viola and voice at the Ali Akbar College of Music in San Rafael, California; composition and modern improvisation on viola at Mills College, where she was a recipient of the presidential viola performance scholarship; and baroque viola performance at UC Berkeley, where she was the recipient of a research fellowship for her work on musicology and law. Following her formal musical studies, she spent many years traveling and performing original music and organizing multi-disciplinary performance series in San Francisco and elsewhere.

In addition to her activity in the arts, Karlyn has worked as an end-of-life caregiver, crisis hotline worker, lay minister performing memorial services in San Francisco’s Tenderloin, and community organizer in San Francisco’s North Beach. Her approach to working with humans and music is influenced by each of these life experiences. She is also influenced by her years of experience teaching music in and collaborating with Waldorf and Montessori schools.