Testimonials
Video Testimonials
What our Student's said...!!!
Steven is a kind, patient, and inspirational voice teacher. Before I started lessons with him (which are virtual, so you can sing from anywhere in the world!), I was frustrated with my voice. I couldn’t access the power and tone I knew was there. Steven helped me relearn how to sing (starting with breathing, of course!) and helped me unlock the potential of my voice with healthy singing habits. Now I sing professionally!! I never would have achieved my singing dreams without his help.
On a personal note, I have a serious chronic illness, and Steven has offered so much care and compassion, modifying lessons as needed so even on my rougher health days, I can still find a way to sing.
Music is so important to my life, happiness, and health, and I cannot thank Steven enough for his guidance and expertise (and humor! We all need a good laugh, especially on the bad days). You won’t find a more talented, more caring, more healing voice teacher than Steven.
Elle Jones
Singer
I have been Steven's student since 2008. I initially came to him as an adult hobbyist, concerned that my vocal range was shrinking and my singing voice gradually weakening. Steve has continuously astonished me with his ability to recognize potential, troubleshoot and diagnose limitations, and use multiple methods to teach and explain proper technique. Under his tutelage my voice has grown increasingly versatile, rich and resonant helping me succeed at auditions and performances ranging from local community theater to professional stages, and even the Apollo in New York! I have recommended him to dozens of peers. If you are willing to invest energy applying what you learn and practicing on your own, Steve will help you make technique second nature. As a singer, nothing is more liberating than trusting my body and voice to produce the right sound, while I focus on delivering emotion and stories rather than "hitting the notes."
Meera Mohan
Professional Singer
Since I started training with Steve, what can I say? He quickly figured out what I was doing wrong and set about to fix the bad habits I had acquired after not performing for 2 years. He explains things in a way that makes complete sense. He is extremely passionate about bringing out the best in everyone and really cares deeply about the success of his students. He truly will do whatever he can to help you produce the best and most healthful voice you can. Steve is very honest and up front and tells you exactly what you need to know to make your vocal career long and successful. Steven's techniques WILL work as long as you are committed and practice. Along with Steven's proven techniques, he is also an amazing man. He has an incredible sense of humor, a lot of patience, and I really look forward to every lesson even just to hang out with him! Steven is a mentor, an incredible teacher, and I know will be a lifelong friend. No plain "thank you" will ever suffice! Love you Steven!
Over the past five years with Steven, my voice has blossomed into something that I never dreamed it could become. My range has improved, my notes are resonant, I've learned to breathe the right way, and I am so much more confident than when I began taking lessons. Steven has taught me proper technique and corrected my bad habits of harmful singing so that my voice may last for many years to come. You'd be hard pressed to find a teacher with a bigger heart than Steven. He is not only very helpful, but also very caring. I feel that Steven has taught me with care and compassion as if I were his own family. During a lesson, I am never afraid to take a risk on a song because I know that his only goal is to make me the best singer that I can be. He pushes me to sing to my full potential while never letting me "get away" with any careless mistakes. It has been a tremendous pleasure taking lessons with Steven and I have come so far as a performer since I nervously walked in to audition for him at thirteen years old. Steven helped me find and shape my voice and I cannot express how truly grateful I am for that. Thank you, Steven, for all of the guidance and encouragement over the years! Thanks to my favourite voice teacher, I am ready to take on college auditions next year and hopefully follow my dreams to someday be on Broadway.
Melissa Geerlof
Gifted Young Singer
Steven is an excellent teacher and also a great friend. I took lessons with him in 1993 before moving to New York, and I was lucky enough to run into him two years ago, after I returned to Princeton. I am very fortunate to have found him again, because Steven has made the dream of singing come true for me.
When teaching, he uses his good sense of humor to motivate me, and doesn't mind pushing/challenging me, amidst his ongoing encouragement, which he gives every lesson. He's also patient, and knows when to look past any of my uncertainty or resistance in reaching a new stage of ability. Overall, my singing has dramatically improved, and continues to. Thanks to Steve, I'm in two bands and am a member of Princeton Pro Musica, an excellent local choir.
With his Juilliard training, naturally, he's very knowledgeable about singing and music, and I trust -and am in awe of- his fantastic ear, and how it delves into a range of talents and techniques, and how he can then miraculously articulate what each singer is doing and what they are capable of, with perfect confidence.
Steven is a good, principled, warm-hearted guy, who's fun to work with, and it's easy to see that the art of singing is sacred for him. You'll know that you're learning from a real professional, who's blessed both as a singer and teacher. I recommend him highly.
Ned Higgins
Baritone
I worked with Steve Schnurman over an intensive 3 week summer festival in 2003 and then followed up with bi-monthly lessons over a 6 -8 month period in 2004/2005. Steven is committed to getting the best from his students and helping them to achieve results. As an experienced singer and having worked with teachers in Europe, Asia and the USA, I was most encouraged and impressed by his thorough attention to detail and dedication to technical excellence. Complementing Steven's giftedness as a teacher is his ability to encourage and support the development of a singer in his or her entirety, being acutely aware of the psychological and physiological development involved. My experience under Steven's tutoring has been inspiring and informative, reinforcing the fundamentals of singing and securing crucial technical aspects of my "craft".
Sandra Partridge
(B Mus Ed, Dip. Opera, Licentiate Singing) Professional Coloratura Soprano/Voice Teacher
Dear Steven, How can I thank you enough for all the singing and vocal technique training have given me over the years? I know that your techniques, patience and talent helped me to land the role of my dreams on Broadway as Gavroche in Les Miserables. I have taken your training and techniques with me to every audition and recording session. In the past, I have recommended you to fellow singers and actors and I plan to continue to do so in the future. Your students are blessed to have the benefit of your talent, wisdom, sense of humor and patience.
JD Daniels
Famous Stage/TV/Movie Actor
I have been singing professionally for 16 years. Steven really got me back to basics. There were so many things I was doing wrong, potentially hurting my voice, and he helped me correct my bad habits with his simple straight ahead techniques that work like magic. I never lose my voice and always feel in vocal control. Thanks to Steven, I have developed a much stronger vocal instrument. I feel very lucky to have gotten an opportunity to study with him and can't thank him enough.
I have been taking voice lessons with Steve for the last two years. Upon speaking to him for the first time on the telephone, I knew immediately that he fit all the criteria I was looking for in an instructor. I have had other voice teachers, but none who could compare to this man. Steve is an extremely gifted person who motivates his students to achieve their goals. He has helped me build certain aspects of my singing technique such as breathing correctly and learning how not to strain my voice. I feel that with Steven's techniques I will be more than ready to conquer the music world with a confidence that I never had before meeting him. Steve is not only an amazing voice teacher with endless experience and training, but he is also a very compassionate and kind-hearted person. I feel for Steve as I would feel for someone in my immediate family. He has become an extremely important aspect of my life not only musically, but personally as well.
Becca M.
Promising Young Pop Singer (Bridgewater, NJ)
I began studying with Steven Schnurman because of what I read of his training and reputation but I have remained a student because of the dedication he has to his craft and the love he has for what he does and the students he teaches.
When I began with Steven, I had zero confidence and had no idea what my potential was. But over time, he has taught and guided me to be a singer with strength and confidence. I have learned the importance of strong technique and he has helped me build my voice into an instrument I understand. Because of this understanding, I have been able to constantly grow and improve.
Steven is a wonderful teacher and an amazing person and I trust him completely with my training. He expects his students to aim for excellence but balances this with his warm personality and encouraging teaching style. He makes you want to be a great singer and he has the goods to help get you there.
Komal Kapoor
Opera/Musical Theater Singer in NYC
When I first came to study with Steve, I had very little proper vocal technique. It literally physically hurt me to sing through an entire aria. It was a rare occurrence that I could get to the high note without "crashing and burning" as they say! Steve brought me from an aria in shambles to successfully performing my first dramatic role in a full-length opera.
Don't get me wrong, there was hard work along the way. It takes pesistence and dedication to learn the skill of muscle isolation that he so carefully and clearly teaches. But Steve worked patiently with me through every step. He understood that it was hard work and he even encouraged me to be patient with myself and believe in myself. He cares not only about his students' voices, and how his students perform, but about them as a person. He will not be the driving task master that some voice teachers can tend to be. He will understand and be gentle with you and your voice, yet he will also know exactly what to say to push you to excellence!
Steve has an incredible ear! He could always hear exactly what my voice was doing, whether I was too tense, needed more breath support, less breath, whatever. I call him my voice doctor! I would go in weekly for my checkup, I would sing, he would listen and then give his diagnosis and tell me what to work on for the following week. Sometimes in the past, I have felt as if I came to a finishing point in my work with a teacher, and could learn no more from them. With Steve, I never felt like I stopped learning. Even when I got the hang of it, there was always more tweaking he could do with my voice.
Wendy Walden
Young Professional Operatic Soprano
It is difficult for me to describe the magnitude of the change I've experienced in the way I sing over these past months. When I decided to "try" to begin singing again after so many years of vocal neglect. I had strong doubts that anyone could help me in any significant way. In less than a month, I could tell I had found the right teacher in Steven. Over these past six months, I've made progress I hadn't dreamed possible. The years of training I had in the mid-west and in NYC, when I was younger, don't compare to the technique I've learned with Steven. I am more grounded and confident in the way I sing than at any other time in my life. I feel blessed. Not only have I found someone who has the knowledge and craft that I've been seeking, but one who is also gifted in teaching and sharing what he knows. Thank you, Steven!
Patricia Poisl Carney
Trained Classical Singer
Our daughter, Jenn Jacob began formal vocal training with Steve Schnurman when she was fourteen. Now, at eighteen, she's reaping the rewards of a beautifully developed voice, enjoying highlighted performances in local musicals, and has just been accepted to NYU as a musical theatre major for next year. We highly recommend Schnurman Voice Studios to anyone serious about singing. We are blessed that our daughter connected with Steve when she did ... he is a musical gem of a teacher. Thank you so much, Steve!
Steve is amazing. He is an extremely kind-hearted, great person and an excellent teacher who truly cares about his students. I came to him with some natural talent, but no technical foundation upon which that talent could flourish. He gave me the technique first, and soon after, he helped me master the art of expression. The voice can be so beautiful when technique and expression come together.
Before I came to Steve, I couldn't sing all the things that I wanted to. I would be in the middle of singing a song and loving the song, but I just couldn't figure out how to make it come out the way I wanted it to. Steve has honestly changed my life. We both actually got choked up one lesson thinking about what a wonderful gift he has given me. Singing and music are my life, and he has given me the tools to enjoy to them to the fullest. And gosh, does that mean a lot to me. I can be singing a song and feeling all sorts of emotion, and my technique stays solid. It happens naturally. I don't have to think about it. My throat doesn't close up like it used to if I would get too emotionally involved in a song. I used to have to harness my emotions during a performance because I was afraid of this happening. How can someone experience the power of the music fully if they are trying to harness their emotions? It is impossible. Now, I can emote freely while the voice stays beautiful, and because of this, I have the power to move myself and my audience.
The voice is such a difficult thing to teach because it is inside the body. You cannot touch it or see it. A teacher has to be extraordinarily skilled to able to get a student to understand and feel inside him or herself what the teacher is trying to convey. I don't know how to explain exactly how Steve does it, but he does, and I am thankful for it!
Kyrie London
Young Professional Pop Singer | B.M. Professional Music- Berklee College of Music, Boston, MA
Steven Schnurman is a master not only at the art of music but, the art of communication as well. He is a genius at explaining the often abstract concepts of the human voice. I have achieved more progress in six months under Steven's tutelage than all of my previous years of singing lessons in Manhattan combined. I am singing notes with ease that I couldn't even reach before. Steven's expertise, experience, passion for music and his love for teaching inspire me at every lesson. I feel blessed to have found a teacher who can show me how to reach my highest potential as a singer!
Maureen H.
Adult Music Student
Steve was not only my voice teacher for seven years but he was my mentor as well. I met Steve while I was still an undergraduate in voice at a fine school of music. At the time I was unable to connect with a teacher at the school. I had a lot of tension and for some reason, it seemed as if nobody was able to recognize what I was doing that was getting in the way of my singing freely. From the first day Steve heard me sing, he was able to define for me those things that I felt were giving me problems, and he had a technique which, over time, would begin to help me free up the tension and change many of the tension-filled habits that I had. That was the start of what has become a wonderful friendship. In addition to Steve being my teacher for many years, he gave me my first opportunity to teach private voice lessons. None of my teaching or performing opportunites would have been possible had Steve not been the mentor, teacher, and friend that he has been to me since 1997.
Jay Winston
Operatic Tenor/Voice Teacher
Steven has been an outstanding teacher. His groundbreaking technique can develop anyone's voice into a singing voice because he zones in on the actual instrument, the muscles which create and colour the sound, to give you a technique which develops the voice from the inside out. On a more personal level, he takes great care in giving his instruction to you as an individual. Though his instruction is very professional, his sense of humour and personality make anyone feel at home in his studios. I started taking lessons two years ago, and though I was shy with wavering confidence in my vocal ability, I have found my strength both physically and spiritually through the instruction and encouragement he has given me (with, of course, a few jokes thrown in.) So if you dream of becoming a great singer, or even just developing your voice, Steven will lead you to where you want to go. Training your vocal instrument is not just a path to great singing but a journey with great personal fulfilment. For anyone who truly wants to improve their voice, their confidence, and their sense of well-being, I would greatly recommend Steven's teaching.
Nobuko Hori
Operatic Soprano
Steven is an amazing, inspiring and compassionate teacher and always a joy to work with. He helped me find my singing voice! In a short period of time I became confident enough to sing professionally. When my students and colleagues express interest in studying voice, I always recommend Steven immediately. I can't thank him enough for what he has done for me.
John Bianculli
Professional Pianist, Composer, Bandleader And Teacher