Fiddle Workshop

Fiddle Workshop

A chance for intermediate and advanced string players to explore the world of folk music.

Matt Polson, Instructor

Matthew started playing violin in 1998, under the eye of Mark Mathias. He began private lessons the next year, and spent several hours at the JSO thereafter, participating in, and later co-teaching, Summer Strings. He also was a member of the Jr. Strings and JYSO. At the same time, he played in the orchestras at Parkside and Jackson High. When he was a H.S. senior, I was invited back to Parkside to guest solo with Kreisler’s Praeludium and Allegro.

While he was in these Jr. High and High School orchestras, he always dreamed of playing on the Potter Center stage. He never dreamed that one concert would include a bat flying around the auditorium, or that Maestro would return from that concert’s intermission with a tennis racket.

Jed Fritzemeier, Instructor

Since 2019, Jed has been the Director of the Community Music School and Director of Music Education for the Jackson Symphony Orchestra. A performing bassist, Jed plays with the orchestra in addition to free-lancing throughout the area. He was a public school orchestra teacher for 34 years finishing his career for the Chelsea School District, Chelsea, Mi. Jed was Teacher of the Year for the Michigan School Band and Orchestra Association and the Michigan American String Teachers Association in 2008. In addition to the Jackson Symphony Orchestra, his performance credits include the Michigan Opera Theater, Toledo Symphony, Ann Arbor Symphony, Racine Symphony, Racine, Wisconsin, South Dakota Symphony, Sioux Falls, South Dakota and various festival orchestras, jazz ensembles, rock bands, polka bands since he was 15 years old.