Fiddlepalooza! 2024 fiddling fun for fiddlers, violinists, violists, cellists and bassists
Join us for a fun-filled afternoon of music-making! If you play fiddle, violin, viola, cello or bass and are age three to thirty-something, you will enjoy this workshop. Everyone will have a Texas-style fiddling class with award-winning champion fiddlers Sherry McKenzie and Ridge Roberts, an ‘alternative styles’ class with Katherine Sullivan who will bring her “looper” to teach some 21st century technology, and a Suzuki repertoire/technique class with Danette Warren, for that classical blast from the past! We will finish up the afternoon with a toe-tapping old-style fiddle jam session.
Date, Time, Location:
- Saturday, March 23, 2024
- 1:00-4:00pm
- Christ Church Sugar Land
- 3300 Austin Parkway, Sugar Land, TX 77479 (across the street from First Colony Middle School)
- In the Family Life Center (the separate building to the left of the church as you face the building from the street)
Class Schedule:
- All students will attend one Suzuki class, one Fiddle Class and one “Looper” (alternative styles technique) Class and the Fiddle Jam session.
12:30-1:00pm – check in
1:00-1:40pm – Class 1
1:45-2:25pm – Class 2
2:30-3:10pm- Class 3
3:15-4:00pm – Fiddle Jam Session
Eligibility and Fees:
- Open to fiddlers, violinists, violists, cellists and bassists of all ages and levels.
- $95.00 per participant.
- Tuition may be paid by credit/debit card, ApplePay, Venmo, PayPal, or ACH bank transfer.
- Online registration will open in 2024.
- Check back for a printable registration form in 2024.
Music and Materials:
- We will send sheet music for the fiddle tunes after both registration and payment have been received.
- It is assumed that Suzuki students will have their repertoire reviewed and memorized for the Suzuki class.
Illness:
- Please do not attend the workshop when ill. Students and parents attending in-person lessons when ill will be sent home immediately. This decision will be at the discretion of the clinicians and workshop staff. No refunds or makeups will be given in this situation. Please remember, learning does not happen when you or your child is sick, and it is not a good experience for your child. Please do not pass on contagious illnesses to us and all the other students and families in the Academy. Everyone’s health and safety is of primary importance.
COVID-19:
- Masks will be optional for those attending in-person. We still encourage good hand washing and sanitizing procedures.
- Our most current Covid-19 safety protocols are published online – click here.
Parent Attendance:
- Parents and family members are welcome and encouraged to attend.
- In-person participants under the age of 18 must have one parent or adult caregiver with the student at all times, in the room, during all in-person classes for the entire time they are in attendance. You may not drop off your child or leave the room or the building. (the only exception is for students who are of driving age and drive by themselves to the workshop.)
Check back for registration links and forms in 2024:
- Online registration available in 2024.
- Click here for a printable/downloadable .pdf registration form in 2024.
Questions? Exceptions?:
- Contact us! We will be happy to help answer your questions. Text or call 713-542-5428 or click here to email us.
Our Faculty

Fiddling Faculty: Sherry McKenzie
When eleven years old, Sherry experienced fiddle music for the first time. “I saw a fiddle player on TV,” she recalls, “and thought it looked really, really fun. My parents got me an instrument, and I started playing in the sixth grade orchestra in my hometown of Idaho Falls, Idaho and I just fell in love with the music. Sherry essentially learned to play Texas-style completely by ear. “My parents would get me a record, like Benny Thomasson or Kenny Baker, and I would try to put those licks in the old-time songs I was playing. I met Mike Parsons and Roberta Pearce at a state fiddle contest and began taking lessons from them, learning this exciting style of fiddling, and the next year I got first place in the Junior Junior Division.” After this first win, Sherry headed of to the national contest in Weiser, a few miles down the road. That year Sherry met Herman along with Benny Thomasson and Dick Barrett. These three fiddlers would deeply influence her playing over the next few years. After these encounters, Sherry recalls, “I would spend hundreds of hours with a record, slowing it down and listening over and over. And I spent hours watching great fiddle players, trying to figure out how they bowed certain songs.” Sherry has completed Suzuki Violin Unit 1 at Texas Christian University and has incorporated the pedagogical ideas of the method into her teaching. “I believe there are more similarities than differences with the Suzuki method and a systematic approach to learning traditional fiddling.” Sherry enjoys working with Suzuki students in an Enrichment role to supplement their existing studies and with intermediate level students of all ages. She is a sought after instructor at workshops and institutes across the country.

Fiddling Faculty: Ridge Roberts
Ridge Roberts is an eighteen-year-old Texas native who breathes fiddling. When he was seven, his dad, John, taught him the basics until Ridge surpassed him. In 2013, at just 10 years old, Ridge entered his first fiddle contest, the Johnson County Old Settlers Reunion in Alvarado, Texas. It was there he started on a fiddle journey under the guidance and instruction of Sherry and Joey McKenzie. Since then, he has gone on to compete in and win many more contests, with several notable championship titles. He has shared his music with the community at nursing homes and senior centers as well as playing in a country band, collecting smiles everywhere he goes. Since 2019, he has been the fiddler for the Western swing/traditional country band, The Western Flyers. Ridge also plays guitar, sings, writes songs, and composes. He continues to hone his musical gifts with plans to continue his musical career after graduating. Ridge has three brothers and is the second son of John and Cindy Roberts. He enjoys reading, writing, and hanging out with friends. He loves all things vintage, especially Country music. Since his introduction to fiddling, Ridge has been and will always be a life-long student of music and its history.

Alternative Styles Faculty: Katherine Sullivan
Katherine Sullivan is a professional violinist and educator originally from New York and now based in Houston. She and her husband, Ed Harper, run H-Town Strings, a Suzuki violin and cello studio in central Houston. She started playing the violin at age 4 and went on to study at the Manhattan School of Music pre-college division. She holds a Bachelor of Music degree from DePaul University School of Music in Chicago, a Master of Performance degree in Orchestral Performance from the Royal College of Music in London and a Master of Arts in Education from the University of Nottingham.
Katherine has taught internationally at Stamford American International School in Singapore where she specialized in early years education and established a comprehensive Suzuki Strings program for students ages three to five. She also founded Elementary and Secondary Strings orchestras, arranging music for both ensembles and conducting them in performances and showcases. Katherine integrated the Suzuki Philosophy and the International Baccalaureate Primary Years Program (IB PYP) Framework and served as Interim Head of Music. The philosophy of the Suzuki method, centered on positive education and inclusivity, forms the basis of Katherine’s teaching methodology. Katherine most enjoys the long term impact and relationship that instrumental study offers the student, and creating a unique program of study to best fulfill the student’s potential.

Suzuki Faculty: Danette Warren
Danette Warren is the Director of Dolce Music Academy, home of Dolce Strings and Dolce Babies, where she teaches violin, viola and Suzuki Early Childhood classes. She also co-directs the Dolce Strings Touring Ensemble. She is an SAA Registered SECE Teacher Trainer. As one of the teachers who taught SECE classes at the 16th World Convention in Japan, she also had the privilege of speaking and presenting the SECE curriculum in depth. She is also the Director of the new Houston Suzuki Institute. A sought-after clinician at institutes, workshops, festivals and schools, she has been teaching for over 40 years, and has held positions such as President of the Houston Area Suzuki Strings Association (now Southeast Texas Suzuki Association), and state board member of Texas Music Teachers Association. She has received the Houston Music Teachers Association President’s “Bravo” award and was also awarded “Teacher of the Year”. She has been published in the American Suzuki Journal, contributed a video to Parents and Partners Online, and has presented at numerous SAA Conferences and Leadership Retreats. She holds a Bachelor of Music degree with honors from Indiana University, where she studied violin with Tadeusz Wronski and Josef Gingold. She has had the great privilege of studying SECE with the creators of the curriculum, Dorothy Jones and Sharon Jones. She also co-directs McKenzie’s Fiddle and Suzuki Workshop, performs with the Möbius Chamber Ensemble and as a freelance violinist and violist in the greater Houston area.