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With his long black hair and tight leather pants, Mark Wood looks like a heavy metal refugee sent here in a time machine from 1985. But the Long Island native is a violinist, not a guitar player. On Saturday, young musicians from around the Washington area will have a chance to expand the boundaries of their instruments. After a day full of learning improvisational techniques and jamming at the Lutheran Church of St. Andrew in Silver Spring, the students will strut their stuff for an audience.

The event is being billed as "The Mark Wood Experience," which is an extension of Wood's "Electrify Your Strings" workshops. The programs are part of an electric violin empire. Wood operates Wood Violins out of his hometown, Fort Washington, N.Y., which produces instruments with names like Stingray, Viper and Cobra. When he's not developing or tweaking the designs of the violins, he's crisscrossing the country in support of his workshops. Wood hits two or three schools per week. He estimates that 50,000 string players will attend his classes this year.

"I felt it was time to give back," he says. "I don't see enough musicians giving back. I wanted to get right into the schools and these string programs that are struggling with budget cuts and the relevant culture. I get the same thrill working with Billy Joel as I do working with fifth-graders."

To Wood, the educational endeavors are part of a mission to keep kids interested in music. A position on the board of the American String Teachers Association has given him more sway in the battle to keep young people playing after they finish school.

"If you ask me how many of those 50,000 kids actually have classical music on their iPods, I'd say less than one percent," Wood says. "It's really like climbing Mount Everest for me at this point. It's an endless commitment of my time and energy."

Trade an iPod for a hi-fi, and Wood was one of those kids. Growing up a fan of Black Sabbath and Led Zeppelin, he yearned to bridge the gap between rock music and classical tradition. At 10, he fashioned his first electric violin. Wood attended Juilliard, but didn't last long.

"All the time that I'm listening to this unique new music called rock and roll, I was actually building instruments," he recalls. "But, of course, Juilliard was so conservative and uptight about classical music that I had to leave after two years. They were browbeating me, trying to bang the rock and roll out of me."

To reach a greater number of children, Wood enlightens adults, too. On Sunday, teachers will file into the church for their own lesson on the modern violin.

"Teachers are reaching out because when they go to school, they're not being taught the tools to teach improvisation and anything other than classical," Wood observes. "The clinics I do around the country are empowering teachers so they can teach what I am doing. It's very new. It's very revolutionary."

Wood does more than spread the gospel of electric violin; he practices it. As a founding member of the Trans-Siberian Orchestra, he has found a way to make Christmas and the classics rock. And then, there are the supporting gigs. Everyone from Celine Dion to Kanye West has requested his services. With brightly painted violins, Wood struts across the stage like a rock star.

"Classical music is so close to my heart, [but] the problem with it is performance. It's not a visual experience," he says. "I immediately knew when I left Juilliard that I need to work on my performance. You can't just stand there and play."

Bethesda's Potter Violin Company is presenting the weekend's events. The partnership continues a tradition of educational outreach.

"Our goal in bringing Mark to the area is to help students broaden their experience playing string instruments," says owner L. Dalton Potter. "He's good at breaking down these mental barriers that string players can have with regard to improvising and playing music without sitting in an orchestra section or having a music stand in front of them."

Although he has dedicated his life to perfecting the art of traditional string instruments, Potter is a huge advocate of the orchestral rock movement. Since meeting Wood 10 years ago, he has maintained an open mind.

"To musicians, music is fun to play whether it's pop or country or classical," he explains. "If you've ever been near somebody playing the Sibelius violin concerto, there isn't anything closer to rock and roll than that."

No official head count is final, but the sanctuary fits up to 300 people. If the workshops and Saturday night concert don't sell out, the audience should be sizeable. Wherever Mark Wood goes, people follow.

"It's a historical time where you've the Les Paul of the violin who has reinvented the violin, and you've got the Jimi Hendrix/Eddie Van Halen of the violin in the same person motivating and inspiring through the music and the technology," Wood says. "It's a very interesting moment for me that you've never seen in history."

See Mark Wood lead his students in a concert Saturday at 4:30 p.m. at the Lutheran Church of St. Andrew, 15300 New Hampshire Ave., Silver Spring. Tickets are $10. Registration for both workshops is still open. Call 800-317-9452 or visit http://pottersviolins.com.