In his stint as the fiddler for Frank O'Brian's Spare Change Ensemble, he got the opportunity to perform for an audience of about 600 people at the Folk Life festival in Seattle this past Memorial Day weekend.

In high school, Jostrom branched out to classical music as well by joining his school's orchestra. This was not a painless introduction to classical music.

"I had never learned to read music, so I would try and figure out the songs by ear," he says. "It didn't work so well. Often times, I would end up playing my own part."

But as a fiddler, Jostrom had not taken the typical course to learning his instrument. He would pick up most music by ear, listening to both records and fiddle players he met.

The competitions offered some of the best opportunities to learn new music, he says. The fiddling contest scene is very popular in mid-west. "If I saw somebody playing a song that I liked, I would just go up to them and ask them to show it to me," he says.

The biggest of the contests--the annual weeklong National Old Time Fiddlers' Contest--allowed Jostrom to learn from the professionals.

At the festival, 20,000 spectators converge on Weezer, Idaho. During the day, fiddlers are graded based on their performance of strictly ordered contest tunes. But, it is after the sun sets that the fun begins, Jostrom says.