Today we’d like to introduce you to Christian Snedeker.
Hi Christian, we appreciate you taking the time to share your story with us today. Where does your story begin?
My story starts in Southwest Florida. I was born in Naples to my parents, Andrew & Jeanne Snedeker, who are both professional musicians. My father is a professional Oboe and English Horn player with the Naples Philharmonic Orchestra, and my mother is a classically trained Mezzo-Soprano who sang professionally, taught theater and dance for 15 years, and now produces her music from their living room in her spare time. I have two older siblings (9 and 11 years older) who were my heroes when I was younger. They are both musical; my sister is a pianist/oboist/singer and published author, and my brother is a guitarist and one of the nation’s best collegiate trumpet players. College being in an artistic family, creativity was like a way of communicating with each other. It was my way of life, and I understood and embraced it from a young age.
As a young child, I was always very musical and creative (and loud), constantly banging on pots and pans and such. With my father being a professional orchestral musician, I was very blessed to be able to go and see a live symphony play at least once a week throughout my childhood. The first time I saw “The Nutcracker” with a full ballet company and everything, I wasn’t even 2 years old. I sat there silently the whole time, and when the curtain dropped at the end, my mother told me I clapped and said, “Again!” There was a very vivid moment when I knew I wanted to become a percussionist. I was in kindergarten, just turned 5 years old, and my brother, 9 years older than me, was in his first year of high school and playing trumpet in the marching band. We went to the first football game, and the moment I saw those drums and the drumline playing, it was love at first sight. I even remember the color of the drums and the manufacturer; I remember that moment very clearly and think about it often. Going through elementary school, I was obsessed with attending the high school football games and seeing my brother perform (and watching the drumline very closely). The band program was excellent and competitive then, so they performed regularly in state-wide competitions. After games, I would go home and learn the cadences that the drumline would play on my tiny blue kid’s drumset my parents got for me. I knew every cadence by heart by the time my brother graduated in 2011.
I started taking classical percussion lessons in 4th grade and drumset lessons in 5th grade. Once I got to middle school, I started auditioning for all-county and all-state bands and doing judged competitions like solo and ensemble at the district and state levels. Once I got to high school, I was set on my childhood dreams coming true: attending the same high school my siblings had participated in, auditioning, and making the drumline my first year. What was once a thriving and competitive band program filled with talented students and hard-working staff was now a program left in pieces. What made it worse was that two years into my high school music career, my band director was arrested for possessing child pornography and soliciting sex from a minor. However, I made my last two years as good as possible and entered my dream school to pursue my undergraduate degree in percussion: UCF.
Once I got to UCF, my first year was unusual. We were all required to wear face masks, socially distance, and take Zoom classes, and there were restrictions on practice time (which, if you know music majors, this is a nightmare). This year was challenging for me. I had made this huge transition and was very lonely and depressed because of the pandemic. However, I won the Principal Percussion spot my first semester and secured 1st place in a performing competition by the School of Performing Arts at UCF. After the first year, things returned to normal, and music school finally felt like a music school. I also made my childhood drumline dreams come true, securing a spot on the UCF Marching Knights Drumline and performing for tens of thousands of people on game days. I received 2 more Principal Percussion wins that year and played my first paid gigs in Orlando. I also forged a professional relationship with Constantine Cymbals and am now an endorsed artist. Once my third year hit, I was very motivated to gain professional experience and momentum in Orlando’s performing world and start my career now. People want to wait until they have a diploma to look for jobs, but I want to make my dreams happen as soon as possible. I started to play more and more freelance gigs, and I met my amazing girlfriend, playing a show with her, and we have now been together for almost a year. She is also a performer, and you can see her as a Singer and Actor all around Orlando, including Universal Studios. It is so special to share our passions for our crafts, and we can relate easily to one another on the grind it takes to be a professional performer.
At the end of my junior year, I secured a spot in the Walt Disney World Candlelight Orchestra, where you can see me perform this holiday season. I also won the Drumset category for the Yamaha Young Performing Artist Award, a nationally based award for collegiate musicians who come together to work with the Artist Relations Team at the Yamaha Corporation and put on a full concert for the Music for All Summer Symposium, one of the largest high school music camps in the country. My fellow winners and I arranged and put on the concert and featured Grace Kelly, an international touring and recording jazz artist who has performed with the Boston Pops, the Late Night Show with Stephen Colbert, and many more. There, I met many influential figures, role models, and some of the nicest, most genuine, and professional people I have ever met. The people at Yamaha are the best in the music business, and they lead everything they do with such warmth and care. I plan to work extensively with them as my career progresses. Most recently, I won an audition with the Ocala Symphony Orchestra to become a Substitute Percussion with the group.
I am in my final year at UCF and will officially graduate with my Bachelor of Music in Percussion Performance this May. My time at UCF and in Orlando has been everything I could have ever dreamed of, and the amount of professional experience I have gained as a student is incredibly motivating as I go into the next chapter of my life. I hope to pursue a Master’s Degree in Music Performance at a University, continue to play professionally in the orchestral and drumset worlds, and bring more of the best music and performing to the great city of Orlando. I am excited about my performing opportunities everywhere and hope to make some more personal projects come to fruition, including my jazz group, the 239 Quartet. My parents taught me from a very young age to be grateful, and the person I am most grateful for keeping that mindset going is my beautiful girlfriend, Lexi. I am incredibly grateful for the place I am in my life right now, professionally and personally, and for all the people who have helped me get here. Without my teachers, I would not be here: Lori Lyons, Jim Dallas, John Evans, Dan Miller, Dr. Thad Anderson, Jeff Moore, Kirk Gay, and Joe McCarthy, or without my amazing family and friends. I appreciate their constant effort to pour energy into me and want them always to know that I love them dearly. I am incredibly thankful to the Orlando Voyager for this opportunity to share a little bit of my story, and I hope that whoever sees this knows that you are in control of your future. If you want something, make it happen. Forge your path, think about who you want to be, and make decisions based on what they would do.
Would it have been a smooth road, and if not, what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
Every journey has bumps and challenges. For me, this goes way back to my high school music career. My school and county were not very supportive of the arts programs. What was once a thriving music program that would regularly compete in state-wide competitions was in pieces when I arrived. The worst thing to happen in high school was that at the end of my sophomore year, my band director was arrested for possessing child pornography and soliciting sex from a minor. This hurt our program even more. The end of high school saw the rise of the pandemic, and my first year of college was vastly different from what I expected. I was in music school, but it didn’t feel like a real school. We were all required to wear face masks and socially distance, and there were time restrictions on practicing in the practice rooms. Mentally, I was very depressed and lonely that first year.
I appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
I am a freelance percussionist from Orlando, Florida, and a Percussion Instructor at Horizon High School in Winter Garden. I am a nationally award-winning drumset player and a percussionist with the Walt Disney World Candlelight Orchestra Ocala Symphony Orchestra. I have played musicals and shows at Theater West End, TheaterUCF, New Generation Theatrical, Titusville Playhouse, and Cocoa Village Playhouse. I have performed with the Brevard Symphony Orchestra, Gulf Coast Symphony, Gulf Coast Chamber Orchestra, and New World Symphony Brass Ensemble. I have recorded for artists in Orlando, such as Jimmy Mura and Penguin Entertainment. I also lead my jazz group, the 239 Quartet, which performs in Orlando and Southwest Florida. I am honored to have shared the stage with artists such as Grace Kelly, Michael Cavanaugh, Dan Miller, Lew Delgatto, Chuck Findley, and Jay Miah. I proudly endorse Constantine Cymbals. I am a classically trained percussionist and drumset player, and my biggest career goal is to be the most complete artist I can be. I am most proud of where I imagine myself in 10 years. I am always looking to grow and evolve my craft, and I want to do so in a way that leads with gratitude and a genuine love for music.
Where we are in life is often partly because of others. Who/what else deserves credit for how your story turned out?
My private percussion teachers deserve huge credit: Lori Lyons, Jim Dallas, John Evans, Dan Miller, Joe McCarthy, and Clarence Penn. My UCF teachers, Dr. Thad Anderson, Kirk Gay, and Jeff Moore, have profoundly impacted me as a professional in this industry and as a human being. I am so thankful for them. Some of the biggest inspirations outside of my teachers include John Wittmann, Jalissa Gascho, my girlfriend Lexi DeLaRosa, and my family. I would only be the musician, teacher, composer, professional, or man with these people and the experiences that we have had together. I am so thankful for each one of them.
Contact Info:
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/christian.snedeker/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/christian.snedeker
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCdyBtM63VBc8oVgZu4RuSQw
- Other: https://www.constantinecymbals-usa.com/christian-snedeker
Image Credits
-Jolesch Photography, for Music for All and Yamaha. -Hannah Estes.
