Rachel brings out the best in other songwriters. She provides a supportive and collaborative environment, and encourages her students to reach beyond their habitual approaches to writing music and lyrics. She provides a master’s view of the songwriting craft – the history, the theory, the aesthetic sensibilities. She has a unique talent for coaching songwriters of all genres and levels of experience and her workshop critiques are non-judgmental, and always provide a path to truer expression and creative alternatives. —Jay Clemens, Hillsborough, CA

I began working with Rachel in 2017 at the California Jazz Conservatory as a complete beginner to songwriting.  This year (2020) I released my first album of original songs, produced by Rachel.  All of the songs were workshopped and revised under her caring and thoughtful mentoring.  Rachel has never run out of new and interesting topics to explore to deepen and broaden the songwriter’s palette, and I believe it’s because she never stops questioning, exploring, and developing her own skills.  She believes in each person she works with and listens deeply to find the gem hiding in the rough draft of each song, to help shape and polish it until it gleams.  I have grown so much as a songwriter in these three years working with Rachel and I feel lucky to have found her. —Alison Gant, Cambridge, MA

Rachel is an excellent songwriting teacher. There are so many factors that contribute to making a good song and she is an expert at all of them. I have received so much valuable feedback from her and she has assisted me in developing many of my songs to be so much stronger than when I first presented them. I am a prolific writer and I came to her class to learn how to go about taking my raw songs and crafting them to make them better. I got that and so much more. My entire world of songwriting has been broadened and changed forever in a wonderful way. I am so grateful I decided to take her class, it’s one of the best investments I’ve made in my career as a singer songwriter. —Bekah Barnett, Concord, CA

I am delighted and grateful to say that Rachel Efron has been the midwife of many of my songs. In the several years I have had the pleasure and honor of working with her, both the quality of my music and my understanding of its construction have improved dramatically. Warm, empathetic, patient, creative, and brilliant, she is without a doubt one of the finest teachers I have ever had! —Patricia Stamm, Novato, CA

It’s easy to describe my satisfaction with the musical education Rachel has provided me. I’ve benefited greatly from her formal class instruction at the California Jazz Conservatory and from private lessons at her studio. My original goal was to dig down deep into the craft of songwriting and, yes, I composed three really great tunes under her guidance. Yet she gave me something much more valuable. Rachel retrained my ear. By showing me how to translate traditional music theory from the keyboard to my guitar fretboard we “deconstructed” some very well-known popular songs, measure by measure. And that’s where the magic started. I am clearly a better songwriter, guitarist, and musician because of it. —James Sant’Andrea, Berkeley CA

Rachel’s class is one of the most enjoyable and inspiring classes I’ve attended in quite a while. I marveled at her ability to teach and guide musicians of different backgrounds and with different styles - from classical to jazz to popular. I appreciated her well thought-out framework for the class, beginning with the analysis of different types of songs, to creating one’s own songs, and culminating in the workshopping of student’s songs. Songwriting is an intimate process and Rachel established a friendly and supportive environment where students had the freedom to express themselves creatively. The class ended up being the highlight of my week: I not only enjoyed exploring my own creativity, but was inspired by the creative output of the other students. This is a rare and wonderful experience! —Margot Murtaugh, Berkeley, CA

I received so much invaluable feedback on my songs and learned many techniques that I will continue to carry with me!  —Arden Hilal, Berkeley, CA 

Rachel has such a great teaching style, and she is extremely knowledgable and talented.  —Tala Newell, Berkeley CA 

In her songwriting classes, Rachel fosters an encouraging space, free of judgment, in which her students are comfortable sharing often vulnerable work. She ensures that each and every one of her students can grow by listening to their questions and needs, adapting lectures, and providing song feedback accordingly. Personally, I started my songwriting journey with Rachel and have been able to write songs I am incredibly proud of. —Juliette Hainline, New York City, NY

Anyone who has written a song knows how personal song writing can be. Huge dry spells, then inspiration suddenly comes (maybe!)  So can anything about this be taught?  I think so - and Rachel is really, really good at it.  Certainly she has produced some beautiful work herself, but she has also carefully studied the process. In the classes I took, Rachel spent more time with each student, and went deeper than I had seen in other song writing classes.  Does it work?  Well, I know I came away with some new songs that I was very pleased with.  Thank you Rachel! —John Higham, Menlo Park, CA

I first met Rachel when I took her class on songwriting at the California Jazz Conservatory. It was like I had been standing around the kitchen for a few years really, really hoping to cook and create something musically, and Rachel welcomed me in, lent me some spoons and knives and showed me how to chop. In the three years since, I’ve worked with her frequently at the Salon and defrosting the piano lessons of my youth. We had a weekly phone meeting for over a year to keep me on track to create my demos and bring this project into the world, as well as comb over all my seven potential songs in pre-production. Precise, compassionate, empowering, and rife with hilarious visual metaphors, Rachel is a master teacher and a jewel of an editor. Who else would say, “There’s too much weather in that verse – it’s too Jane Eyre,” and know I would understand, exactly? —Melanie Chopko, Berkeley, CA

Rachel is great.  She is a talented musician, songwriter, performer and producer who is also able to call up her powers of intuition, vision and musicality when helping shepherd a song and songwriter to their destination. I found Rachel through West Coast Songwriters. I knew within the first fifteen minutes of her course that day that I wanted to work with her one on one. She is a lot of fun in the coaching sessions and is deftly respectful.  I am grateful to her for the way she helps me see outside of my normal viewpoint, which is invaluable to me as a musician/songwriter. —Raleigh Duncan, Berkeley, CA

I came to Rachel purely as a tunesmith who thought he had no gift for writing lyrics. Within months she had me writing not only better music but lyrics I’m proud of, and I’ve seen similar improvement in other Efron disciples. Well-versed in styles ranging from cabaret to rock, Rachel, never attempting to force a songwriter into a mold, begins her coaching by asking what a song’s message is and what, if anything, should be changed to strengthen it. She might suggest surgery (say, the deletion or addition of a bridge or a shift to from major to minor to improve the compatibility of sprightly melody and somber words) or merely a small reduction in number of syllables or a change of one or two chords. (Rachel has cured my habit of piling on show-off chromatic harmony at the expense of emotional honesty and gotten three-chord folk-rockers to add harmonic excitement by venturing into secondary dominants and augmented chords.) A superb song doctor, Rachel is also a guide to freeing the imagination. I’ve gotten past creative blocks via such Efron recommendations as scribbling free-associatively in a notebook or leaving the piano bench I’ve been squirming on for a mind-clearing jog in the streets.—Joe Kornfeld, Berkeley, CA

Rachel's insights have helped to take my songwriting to the next level. She is a fantastic songwriting coach and an inspiration. —Brian Lawley, Los Gatos, CA

Having been in a time and headspace that feels so isolated and lacking in creative motivation, the songwriting workshops have given me a chance to dive back into what I love doing most in the world, especially in encouraging me to have confidence in my own voice. I'm so thankful for having the opportunity to meet so many amazing songwriters, and feeling so reassured in a hobby I hold really close to my heart. —Leilani Zaragoza, San Francisco, CA

Rachel created a safe and accountable space for creativity and growth. Not only did the salon help me start to break down my self-built barriers to creativity, but also it shifted the way I think about storytelling in song. Plus, Rachel's expertise and feedback was incredibly insightful.  —Shannon Boerner, New York City, NY