Crystal D. Plohman

Senior Artist Teacher of Suzuki Violin
Senior Artist Teacher of Fiddling

Crystal 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.