Jeff Neitzke is currently adjunct percussion instructor at both Ashland University and The University of Mount Union.  He is also the artistic director of the Canton Symphony Steel Drum and Percussion programs, a series of community and after-school programs sponsored by the Canton Symphony Orchestra. 

Along with his many teaching responsibilities, Jeff is also an active performer.  He has been a member of such steel bands as Hamilton Street Pan Groove and I-Pan Steel Groove, and is currently a member of both the 7-Mile Isle Steel Band and the Akron Pan Collective.  In 2002 Jeff traveled to Trinidad and performed with Phase II Pan Groove in the Trinidad National Steel Band Finals during Trinidad’s Panorama Competition.  In 2006 he traveled to New York to perform as a guest artist for the NYU Steel Band Concert.  In 2008 Jeff was a performer on the PASIC focus day, performing the steel drum duet “We Shall Overcome,” by David Macbride with fellow pan player Murray Mast.  Jeff is also active in music outside the steel drum realm.  He has played for such symphonies as The Illinois Symphony, Sinfonia Da Camera, The Champaign-Urbana Symphony, The Akron Symphony, and is currently Principal Timpanist of the Ashland Symphony Orchestra. Jeff has also performed with such chamber music groups as the Northcoast Percussion Ensemble, The Music on The Edge ensemble, and is a founding member of the Akros Percussion Collective, a contemporary percussion sextet based in the Akron, OH area. 

Jeff received a Bachelor’s degree in percussion performance from the University of Illinois under Fred Fairchild, Tom Siwe and William Moersch. He received a Masters in Music Performance from the University of Akron under Dr. Larry Snider.