Georgia has always aspired to be a musician—even before she started playing the piano at the age of five. Later in life, the famous Yossi Zivoni described her as a “born violinist.” She studied at the Junior Royal Northern College of Music with Rudolf Botta, then Wells Cathedral School, Guildhall School of Music & Drama and the Utrecht School of the Arts, where her teachers included Yfrah Neaman, Jack Glickman and Keiko Wataya. She also had some private lessons with Simon Fischer. And has performed with numerous orchestras and groups. Her career includes tours with Glyndebourne Opera, two years with Phantom of the Opera in Holland, and a year with the Dutch Radio Chamber Orchestra. She has also performed for the late Queen, then Prince Charles, Neil Kinnock, and others. Georgia plays violins and violas crafted by her father, Robert Vale, who passed away in 1996. In 1998, for health reasons, she took a break from music and earned a degree in Chinese from Oxford University. A few years later, in 2003, she returned to music by teaching violin, viola, piano, and theory, as well as running ensembles such as Bromsgrove Amateur Strings. With fresh eyes, and the experience that comes from benig an examiner for the ABRSM, she began writing materials for her pupils giving rise to the Hey Presto! Series which was followed several years later by Top Ten. She has loved writing these series and particularly enjoys creating the audio tracks for the tutor books, as well as arranging music for various combinations of instruments. Other interests include gadgets, languages (she holds a degree in Chinese and has a working knowledge of several other languages), and dogs (she is the proud owner of a gorgeous border collie named Bonnie). She also enjoys walks in the Shropshire hills where she now lives, jigsaw puzzles, the colour turquoise, and dark chocolate.
A Little Jazz Suite was composed in February 2023 and is aimed at young bassists of all ages, from eight to eighty. Written in First Position …and playable pizzicato or arco, each piece includes a small number of keys, notes and rhythms, and there are no dynamic markings allowing each bassist to create their own unique interpretation. Some pieces are lively and upbeat, others more reflective, and they can be performed as a suite or individually.
“Young bassists enjoy playing ‘jazz’ and these new pieces use a limited number of notes and rhythmic patterns, with repetition added to develop technical skills, and I hope they will be useful for teachers and students alike. I really enjoyed writing each piece, trying to think what a young bassist is able to play, and hope that I have got it right.
There are many performance and study possibilities with these pieces. They can be played as a solo or with the addition of percussion (drum or bass), also as a duet with the music shared equally between the bassists and bass percussion added between the solo sections. Bassists are nothing if not inventive, and I am certain they can come up with many ideas and initiatives.
Arnold Schoenberg once said that “there is still plenty of good music to be written in C major” and I think 1st position is the same. Young bassists need plenty of new, Repertoire, in a wealth of different styles and idioms, and I hope ‘A Little Jazz Suite’ adds to the mix.” [David Heyes]
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