Meet the authors of the award-winning Fiddle, Viola, and Cello Time books for young string players

1,779 views · Published 27 February 2015 · 4:56 · Indexed 24 October 2026

Channel: Oxford Academic (Oxford University Press) · 2015 · Education

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Have you ever wondered how you go about writing an award-winning series of books for beginner string players which has become the UK’s most popular string series? Kathy and David Blackwell, the husband and wife team behind Fiddle Time, chat about how and why they wrote their very first tunes for young string players. Find out how they work, who does what, why they chose a sporting theme for their books, and how every project starts with the needs of the student. www.oup.com/uk/music/stringtime
Visit David and Kathy’s website: http://www.kathyanddavidblackwell.co.uk/

Kathy Blackwell
Kathy Blackwell, B. Mus. (Hons.), LTCL, LGSM, studied music at Edinburgh University and continued with post-graduate studies in music at the University of Oxford. Kathy is a string teacher with many years’ experience of teaching violin and viola. She developed her teaching ideas at the coalface in both Music Services and in private practice, working with groups large and small and in one-to-one lessons. She was a strings consultant for the ABRSM Music Medals initiative, a new assessment specifically designed for students taught in groups, and a contributor to the accompanying book All together! Teaching Music in Groups (ABRSM, 2004). Her teaching experience has led her to co-author Fiddle, Viola, and Cello Time, published by Oxford University Press, with her husband, David. Kathy and David have presented workshops in the UK, Australia, Hong Kong, and Singapore.

David Blackwell
David Blackwell studied music at Edinburgh University, after which he pursued a career in music publishing, first at ABRSM and then at Oxford University Press. He is co-editor of OUP's In the Mood: 17 Jazz Classics for Choirs and Carols for Choirs 5, and has published a number of single choral arrangements. He is co-writer with his wife Kathy of OUP's award-winning string series, Fiddle, Viola, Cello Time, and String Time, which have twice won the MIA award for Best Educational Publication. He now works as a freelance music editor, composer and arranger.

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