About the Program
The fiddling program at Blair School of Music, first started by legendary American fiddler Mark O'Connor, has been run by internationally-renowned champion fiddler Crystal Plohman Wiegman, Senior Artist Teacher of Fiddling and Suzuki Violin, since 1994. Students from both the undergraduate and pre-college programs participate in lessons where they learned old-time, bluegrass, Irish, Scottish, Texas swing, and other world styles. In addition to lessons, pre-college students in the Blair Academy participate in the Fiddle Frenzy performance group, which has performed all over the Nashville area as well as in Scotland. In 2019, Meghan Perdue, Adjunct Artist Teacher of Fiddling, joined the faculty at Blair to teach alongside Wiegman in the fiddling program.
About the Teachers
Crystal Plohman WiegmanCrystal Plohman is no stranger to the wide world of fiddling styles or to the Suzuki Method. As a performer, clinician, pedagogue, composer, and inspiration to thousands of young players, she has dedicated the past 25 years to sharing her knowledge across the fiddling spectrum. She is currently Senior Artist Teacher of Suzuki Violin and Fiddling at the Blair School.
Raised in the Suzuki program as one of the first students of the late Alison Rhyles and the Brandon University Suzuki program, Plohman went on to follow in her father’s footsteps as champion Canadian fiddler. She won her first national championship at age 12, and went on to win various other titles, including provincial and state titles, as well Grand North American Champion. She is the only person to place as a top finalist (Top 4) in both the Canadian and American Grand Masters Championships, as well as the Canadian Open Fiddling Championships. After successfully competing for 15 years across Canada and the U.S., Plohman moved to Nashville in 1994 after an invitation from Mark O’Connor to teach at his first fiddle camp and to be his assistant in his fiddle program at Vanderbilt University. After teaching and aiding in the organization for the first 11 O’Connor Fiddle Camps, Plohman later went on to serve as director of the fiddling program and created the summer International Fiddle School. Plohman performed regularly with Chet Atkins, and has shared the stage with other country greats including Patty Loveless, Vince Gill and Clint Black. She has performed and presented workshops around the world including Ireland, Belgium, Japan and China. She has performed as fiddle soloist with several symphony and chamber orchestras across the country. Plohman is most widely known for her work with children and teachers in her clinic program, "Connecting the Strings," sponsored by Knilling String instruments, which has been presented at hundreds of schools and educator conferences across the country since its development in 2000. She has served on the ASTA alternative styles committee and presented at ASTA national conferences as fiddle clinician and master class instructor, as well as featured presenter at the Music Educators National Conference and various state educator conferences. She has served as fiddle instructor and is a regular at many weekend workshops, fiddle camps and summer Suzuki institutes including Chicago, Atlanta, Memphis, Maryland, Florida and Colorado and Manitoba. Her compositions and fiddle arrangements have been published through Mel Bay and Alfred Publishing. Plohman currently resides in Brentwood, Tenn., with her husband and two young children. |
Meghan PerdueMeghan Perdue, a native of Maryland, is an internationally sought-after performer, recording musician, and teacher. She holds her Bachelor of Music degree from Belmont University in commercial violin performance, a Master of Music degree also from Belmont in commercial violin performance with a focus on string pedagogy, and an Ed.D. in Learning Organizations and Strategic Change from Lipscomb University.
Perdue has studied with world-renowned pedagogues including Alasdair Fraser, Tammy Rogers-King, Hanneke Cassel, Tracy Silverman, Buddy Spicher, Darol Anger, and Harald Haugaard, among many others. She is fluent in a broad range of styles, including classical, Celtic, Scandinavian, jazz, and more. Perdue's performance abilities have garnered respect from music professionals around the globe. In the words of Celtic-American fiddler Hanneke Cassel, “I’ve been especially excited to see Meghan start finding her own voice since we met in 2006. She is a captivating, soulful performer who is extremely talented and hard-working.” As a performer, Meghan has appeared in iconic performance venues across the U.S. and abroad in Scotland, Germany, Spain, South Africa, Botswana, and New Zealand, including Carnegie Hall, the Kennedy Center, the Grand Ole Opry House, the Schermerhorn Symphony Center, and numerous specials aired on PBS. She has performed with such artists such as Ricky Skaggs, Hailey Whitters, the Trans-Siberian Orchestra, Michael W. Smith, Jason Crabb, Denyse Graves, Alasdair Fraser and Natalie Haas, Hanneke Cassel, Darol Anger, Bruce Molsky, and others. Additionally, she has recorded on dozens of full-length albums, EPs, artist singles, video game soundtracks, music videos, and documentary soundtracks for a wide range of artists and composers. In addition to her performance career, Perdue has become an accomplished pedagogue since she began teaching in 2007. Through working with students ranging in age from 4 years old to adults in private lessons, classes, and at music camps and workshops, Perdue has discovered her passion to help others find the joy and value of music in their lives. She desires to someday mentor and educate teachers at the collegiate level. Perdue is currently on faculty at Vanderbilt University's Blair School of Music, where she teaches fiddle and classical violin lessons and co-teaches the performance group Fiddle Frenzy with senior artist teacher Crystal Plohman Wiegman. She is also on faculty at Belmont University's school of music. |
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