Jeffrey Snedeker epitomizes service to the horn community and the IHS. He has served on the Advisory Council (2003-2010, 2016-2021), including terms as president (2006-2010, 2016-2018), edited The Horn Call (1998-2003), edited Music Reviews (2003-2016), curated the 2020 Virtual Workshop, and is editor of the 50th anniversary book on the history of the IHS (2021). On a regional level, he has been on the music faculty of Central Washington University in Ellensburg since 1991, co-founded the Northwest Horn Society, hosted the Northwest Horn Workshop several times and supported other hosts, and is engaged with regional performing ensembles, educational institutions, and community outreach.
Snedeker holds a BA from Heidelberg College (1980), MM in performance from the University of Michigan (1981), MA in music history from Ohio State University (1985), and a DMA from the University of Wisconsin-Madison (1991). He has published more than 50 articles, including entries in the New Grove Dictionary, and has released five solo CDs with music for natural horn and horn in jazz.
As a performer, Snedeker has received numerous honors, most notably First Place in the Natural Horn Division of the 1991 American Horn Competition. He currently serves as Principal Horn with the Yakima Symphony. He has been a featured artist, clinician, lecturer, conductor, and host of regional, national, and international conferences on six continents for the International Horn Society, Historic Brass Society, Northwest Horn Society, Washington Music Educators Association, among others, and given concerto appearances, traditional recitals, natural horn performances, and jazz gigs all over the US, and in Canada, Germany, France, Switzerland, England, Finland, Taiwan, South Africa, Australia, and Brazil. He has also organized and hosted a wide range of events, including early music, brass, and horn workshops. He has held positions and played extra horn with regional, metropolitan, and festival orchestras in Washington (including Seattle Symphony and Seattle Opera), Oregon (including the Oregon Symphony), Utah (including the Utah Symphony Orchestra), Wisconsin, Ohio, New Mexico, Virginia, and Michigan. He has also performed with Early Music Vancouver and the Pacific Baroque Orchestra of Vancouver, BC, and the Seattle Classical Players, among other period-instrument groups. Jeff has also performed on film and video game scores with Seattlemusic, Seattle Film Institute, and others, including Mirror, Mirror, Underworld: Awakening, World of Warcraft 6, and Arkham Origins.
Snedeker serves on the Board of Directors of the Historic Brass Society and the Washington Music Educators Association Advisory Board. Honors include the 2006 CWU Faculty Member of the Year, 2008 CWU Phi Kappa Phi Scholar of the Year, 2012 WMEA Higher Education Music Educator of the Year, CWU Distinguished University Faculty for Service, 2014 Washington State Representative Timm Ormsby Faculty Citizenship Award, the 2014 National Phi Kappa Phi Artist Award, and in 2018, induction into the WMEA Hall of Fame.
Snedeker was awarded the IHS Service Medal of Honor in 2020 and elected an Honorary Member in 2026.
