The Karen Riefer Voice Studio

I’m another voice teacher and I wanted to stop by and give you my impression as a colleague. Karen is a very gifted person, she is unbeLIEVABLY supportive. Of course, I’ve never taken a lesson from her but just her personality is very well suited for teaching. She is so positive-​minded and supportive, even of her friends.
One of the things that I think you should pay attention to with Karen is that she has had a lot of Alexander Technique — as in she went into their teacher training and has like 7 years of taking this discipline which is a very important thing for singers. In my opinion, you should always look for a teacher with Alexander Technique experience because your sound is simply better with it.
I highly recommend Karen and do send people to her, such is my respect for her. You should give it a shot and see if it’s a good fit for you!
Sincerely,
Ellie

I went to Karen for help with my voice and she was absolutely wonderful. She is so personable and puts you right at ease. She gave me many exercises to work on outside of our sessions. She customized our sessions to meet my exact needs. She’s passionate about her work, tremendously experienced in her field, a true people person who’s a joy to be around. Highly recommended.

Two years ago when I began pursuing singing, I went with the first instruction I could easily locate in my area of the city, After that didn’t work out, I did a fairly serious search, trying out a number of different music schools and private teachers in the city. During that period and since, I’ve had at least a trial lesson or workshop with over a dozen different providers, many of whom are wonderful teachers. However, I can can say unequivocally that Karen is the best fit that I found for my needs as student; here’s why she’s the teacher that I’ve stuck with:
The criteria that I’ve found to be most important for my instructor are:
— be skilled and knowledgeable in appropriate singing basics and technique for a variety of styles
— be effective in transferring that knowledge to me the student in a warmly supportive manner. For me at least, developing as a singer has been as much about building confidence in myself and my technique as about the technique itself.
— be professional and reliable. I’ve found the hard way that otherwise awesome music people can be «flaky», which wastes my time and ultimately undermines the trust between student and teacher.
Karen outperforms in all the above areas. In addition, she brings a very special passion for sharing the art of singing with her students that makes every lesson a joy. Through her playful style, she’s shown me by example that there’s a difference between approaching ones art seriously and taking oneself (too) seriously. Singing technique has a lot of mechanical aspects that are challenging to teach because they’re embedded in your body and thus largely invisible; I value Karen’s creativity in consistently being to find new exercises and approaches to get across concepts and practices that I’m struggling with.
I’d encourage anyone looking for singing instruction to try out different teachers to find a good fit; finding Karen has made a huge difference for me and my singing.

My husband and I have taken voice lessons from Karen together, as well as each individually for years. Karen is a rare gem in that she has heart, deep skills and is a thoughtful teacher. Karen worked with us to meet our specific goals, providing extensive information, support and insight. She is an intuitive, caring and knowledgable teacher. If you are looking to learn more about your voice, to find places and sounds you did not know you were capable of, or just to have fun singing, we highly recommend working with Karen.

Karen blends an extensive knowledge of music with a kindness and appreciation for creativity. She is willing to work on all types of music and offers a full support rare in music teachers.
Regardless of if I’m working on a cover for my band or a song I’ve written myself, she takes the time to ensure I am using my practice time to its full potential.
I wouldn’t hesitate to recommend Karen to someone looking to grow as an artist and a musician. She truly cares about helping each student reach and exceed their goals.