Karin Buer holds a doctorate in Piano Performance from the University of Northern Colorado. She also earned degrees in Music Theory (M.M.) and Piano Performance (M.M., B.M.) from the University of Colorado Boulder and St. Olaf College. She teaches courses in music theory and aural skills at the University of Colorado Boulder, and she teaches piano privately to students of all ages. She also serves as pianist for Westview Presbyterian Church in Longmont, Colorado.
Buer is active as a performer and particularly enjoys working with other musicians. In both her undergraduate and doctoral degrees, she completed concentrations in collaborative piano. She has served as staff accompanist for choral programs at the University of Idaho and St. Olaf College, and she has appeared as guest artist with the Cascade String Quartet. She has also performed as a soloist with the Great Falls Symphony and the St. Olaf Orchestra.
Her current research interests include semiotics, performance and analysis, theory pedagogy, and the music of Brahms and the Schumanns. She has presented at national and regional conferences on topics including intertextuality in Clara Schumann’s piano variations and incorporating Schenkerian analysis into the private piano studio.