Georgia Vale 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.

After taking a break to study Chinese at Oxford University, she returned to music in 2003, teaching violin, viola and piano and playing with various ensembles. She worked as an ABRSM examiner for 7 years and up until 2022 ran Bromsgrove Amateur Strings. As well as writing the Top Ten and Hey Presto! series of tutor and theory books for string players, Georgia enjoys arranging music.

Hi. I’ve always wanted to be a musician, from before I even started the piano at the age of 5, and later in life the famous Yossi Zivoni described me as a “born violinist”! I’ve studied at several of Europe’s music schools & conservatoires, including the RNCM, GSMD and the Utrecht School of the Arts, and played with many orchestras and other groups, including tours with Glyndebourne Opera, 2 years with Phantom of the Opera in Holland, and a year with the Dutch Radio Chamber Orchestra. I’ve also performed for the late Queen, (then) Prince Charles, Neil Kinnock and others!

I play violins & violas made by my father, Robert Vale, who died in 1996.

In 1998, for health reasons, I decided to take a break from music and gained a degree in Chinese from Oxford University. Then a few years later I returned to music, teaching violin, viola, piano, theory and running ensembles. With fresh eyes I began to write materials for my pupils – and the Hey Presto! series was born, followed some years later by Top Ten. I’ve loved writing these series and particularly enjoy creating the audio tracks for the tutor books, as well as arranging music for various combinations of instruments.

Other things I love? Gadgets, languages – I have a degree in Chinese and a smattering of several other languages – dogs, (I have a gorgeous border collie, Bonnie), walks in the Shropshire hills where I live now, jigsaw puzzles, the colour turquoise, dark chocolate..!

Scales & Arpeggios in the Hey Presto series of teaching material equivalent to ABRSM Grade 2 for cello. TEACHERS: at last, clear, easy to understand… scale and arpeggio sheets that your pupils can buy! Everything they need is shown: all keys, the number of octaves, slurring, rhythms, finger positions. The charts have sections to mark their progress – tick off when they know a scale, or put a sticker in the box! Plenty of white space too, so you can write on your comments. STUDENTS: scale charts for YOU – with everything you need! All scales are listed: how many octaves, whether they’re slurred or not and their rhythms! Easy to see where your fingers go – just look at the colour-coded finger charts! And you can chart your progress too – with stickers, ticks / crosses or whatever you like! NB: for practical reasons, melodic minor note charts are not included. All fingerings are suggestions only. Please note that these are not the official ABRSM books!