Local school children crowded into the gymnasium of Our Lady of Mercy Catholic school on Apr. 24 to enjoy a production of Fiddlefire by award-winning Canadian violinist Chris McKhool.

During the performance McKhool delighted the students with several genres of music including jazz, blues, rock, classical, folk, and even Flamenco, and taught them about the difference between the fiddle and the violin (it all depends on what genre you play), and the three building blocks of music.

The Bancroft School Arts Committee organized the event, with students from Coe Hill, Hermon, Maynooth, Our Lady of Mercy and St. Martin's schools attending the morning performance, and students from Birds Creek and York River schools at the afternoon performance.

In total, about 600 kids attended. School Arts Committee member Jim Brockley explained that all the presentations organized by the committee, which is made up of representatives from each school, tie in with the students' curriculum.

Over the past 10 years, McKhool, who was nominated for a Juno Award in 2009, has toured all across Canada, performing for almost one million children.

He has appeared on screen on Mr. Dressup, YTV's Treehouse, TVOntario's Crawlspace and the CBC. McKhool has also performed in the U.S, England, Cuba, Guatemala, and in Tibetan schools across the Indian Himalayas,

"It's fabulous to be back in Bancroft," said McKhool, who played for an adult audience at the Village Playhouse last summer with his world-jazz-flamenco band Sultans of String. He has been playing violin since he was eight years old and had some good advice for youngsters interested in music.

"Save up your nickels and dimes and buy a recorder at the dollar store, or a ukulele at a garage sale," McKhool told the students, explaining that anything they learn now on one instrument can be applied to other instruments later on.

He revealed that as a kid, after studying the violin for a while, he suddenly realized he could figure out how to play the guitar.

"If you learn three or four chords on a guitar you can play almost any song you hear on the radio," he divulged to his enthralled audience.

But he's no expert, he says.

Even though he has won multiple awards, and has a successful career as a musician, he says he is always learning new things.

"There's always more to learn, but it's fun all along the way."

And it certainly was fun for the students.

Several had the opportunity to get up with McKhool and his guitarist Kevin Laliberté (who is also a part of Sultans of String) to jam.

They played various percussion instruments from all over the world, from an African djembe to a Canadian cardboard box.

The audience jammed along, clapping their hands and snapping their fingers. They boogied extra hard whenever McKhool and Laliberté broke into a jazz riff, and were especially excited to clap along to a timeless rendition of the Spiderman theme.