He was orphaned at the age of eight and there is no record of him until twenty years later. Speer spent much of this time traveling throughout south eastern Europe gathering a great deal of information on practical aspects of music. This was to inform his later work. In service to Stuttgart and Tubingen he settled in Goppingen where he taught at the Latin school becoming Kantor after 1694. Speer's compositions were sacred in nature comprised of simple pieces as well as two voice chorales with continuo. His writings should be considered more important than his compositions. Writing a textbook on the practical approach to music, Speer addressed how Kantors should direct church music, included a keyboard instruction book, wrote about other instruments, and approached methods concerning the composition of vocal music. The keyboard tutor is most significant for it is one of the first manuals to include a complete system for amateurs learning to play the piano. ~ Keith Johnson