Schieferdecker was born as a son of a choirmaster and organist in Teuchern. After the visit of the Leipzig Thomas' school he studied at the Leipzig university. His friend Reinhard Keiser who also came from Teuchern got him in 1702 as a harpsichord player to the Hamburg opera-house in the ‘goose's market’ where he also composed. Already two years later he became, first a pupil, then assistant with Dietrich Buxtehude in the Lübeck Marien's church. When Buxtehude died in 1707, Schieferdecker became his successor. In this connection he had to marry Anna Margareta Buxtehude, one of the daughters of his predecessor. Johann Mattheson reported that this condition had kept him himself, scuffle and Johann Sebastian Bach from taking care of Buxtehudes succession. Slater's successor became Johann Paul Kunzen.
 
From Schieferdecker surely extensive work is received very little. Is certain that he continued firmly established cycle of public concerts, the ‘Abendmusiken’ from Franz Tunder begun and from Buxtehude in the Lübeck’s Marien's church. Nevertheless, from his for it to composed works like Der geduldige Creutz-Träger Hiob (1720) or Der feurige Untergang Sodoms und Gomorrae (1721) merely the librettos exist for the performances of the years from 1714 to 1729. From 1707-1714 the lawyer and writer Andreas Lange was their librettist.