Jeff grew up in Rexburg, Idaho, and began playing horn in 6th grade. Because of some great experiences in high school, he decided to pursue music as a career and attended Ricks College and later BYU-Idaho and studied with Kendall Nielsen and graduated with a BM in Music Education. He later obtained a MM in Horn Performance at The University of Utah where he studied with Steve Proser. Jeff moved in and out of the public education space as a music teacher for a number of years in Idaho and Indiana before changing careers and now works in customer training for a software company in Lehi, UT. Jeff is married to Amanda Michaelis in the cello section and they have 6 kids. He enjoys cycling, hiking, rock climbing, and hanging out with the family.