Snyder's interest in the avant-garde art movement developed out his formal training in classical music. A native of Springfield, Ohio, Snyder attended The Cincinnati Conservatory of Music (now the College-Conservatory of Music of the University of Cincinnati) where he studied with noted pianist Robert Goldsand and the Austro-Hungarian pianist and composer Jenő Takács while earning both his bachelor's and master's degrees. He also took several classes in Cincinnati with the American musicologist and composer Charles Hamm, who subsequently wrote several piano pieces for Snyder. In 1960 Snyder accepted a position as music instructor at Newcomb College of Tulane University in New Orleans where he began an experimental new music series titled "You've never heard anything like it". The programs ranged from the twelve-tone compositions of Schoenberg to Fluxus happenings. One of these happenings in 1960 consisted of a performer crushing a light bulb into a frying pan. Snyder developed a reputation for bringing to his avant-garde performances the same seriousness and sensitivity to tone, timing and clarity that he did to traditional classical music.