Master of Music (Boston University)
Bachelor of Arts (Brandeis University)
Zoe Fong is a M.M. graduate of Boston University School of Music and B.A. graduate of Brandeis University, where she studied music education and music composition respectively. She is a viola, violin, and ukulele player and has performed (primarily as a violist) in Canada, the United States, Austria, Germany, Singapore, Hong Kong, Indonesia, and the Philippines. As a composition student at Brandeis, she focused on film scoring and minored in film studies, and additionally went abroad to Vienna, Austria for one semester to focus on viola performance. She loves musical theatre as well and has experience as a music director, conductor, performer, pit orchestra musician, and producer in various community and university productions.
While Zoe has found joy in many musical areas, she has found her true calling in music education. She has taught a range of ages and musical subjects including preschool music, elementary chorus, band, strings, and general music, middle school jazz band and strings, high school strings, chorus, and music theory, and private viola, violin, and composition lessons. There is nothing she loves more than sharing her passion for music and helping her students find their own passion and artistic voice.
Get to know Zoe…Beyond the Bio!
Hobbies: Teaching myself new instruments, dancing, reading
Musical influences: Kim Kashkashian, Lin-Manuel Miranda, Danny Elfman
Favourite food: Dumplings
Least favourite food: Broccoli
Favorite music: A little of everything!
Favourite song: Bohemian Rhapsody – Queen
Favourite movie: Ladybird
Favourite movie music: Edward Scissorhands – Danny Elfman
Favourite musical theatre/opera: Les Miserables, Hadestown, and Hamilton
Best quote from your teacher: “Don’t leave your baggage at the door. Bring it in and let’s make music with it.”
Favourite quote: “This will be our reply to violence: to make music more intensely, more beautifully, more devotedly than ever before.” – Leonard Bernstein
Favourite book: The Shadow of the Wind – Carlos Ruiz Zafon…and also Harry Potter by JK Rowling
Latest Homework from Zoe
Is Zoe Your Teacher?
Sign up now to get your weekly assignments delivered, and never lose your homework sheet again!
Weekly Homework Post – March 23/24, 2022
I hope everyone had a lovely March break!
Jaron – great work with the G Major 2-octave scale today!
– Recommended practice time: 15 min/day, 5 days/week
– Practice: G, D, and A Major scales (1 octave, doing our usual posture and bow hold check each time before playing), G Major scale (2 octaves, going up and down the scale and taking note of when our second finger is squeezed with our first or third finger), and Etude (first line, play through slowly and get familiar with the notes).
Olivia – good luck with the play!
– Recommended practice time: 30 min/day, 5 days/week (remember to make small achievable goals)
– Practice: review 2-octave Major and minor scales (try to memorise fingering pattern for each scale, and focus on E Major shift to fourth position), Go the Distance (play through whole song multiple times and watch out for when third finger is stretched, and make sure your hand isn’t slowly inching up the fingerboard), and Spring (first page, make sure second position shift isn’t too low and practice bowing for brook section in “2”).
Amaia – thank you for getting your violin tuned!
– Recommended practice time: 15 min/day, 5 days/week
– Practice: G, D, and A Major scales (1 octave, doing our usual posture and bow hold check each time before playing), and Long Long Ago (prepare for final play-through next week, playing through the whole song without stopping or slowing down).
Isabella – great work with adding the bow to your violin today!
– Recommended practice time: 15 min/day, 5 days/week
– Practice: practice holding violin under the chin with no hands and also with hand in plucking position (making sure the thumb is on the corner of the fingerboard while plucking), play first page of music in Violin Starter Packet with plucking (with focus on Les Toreador), and review how to hold the bow and have fun experimenting with bowing the open strings!
Thea – good luck with your schoolwork for the next few weeks!
– Recommended practice time: 30 min/day, 5 days/week
– Practice: G, D, and A Major scales (1 octave, doing our usual posture and bow hold check each time before playing), G and A Major scale (2 octaves), Concerning Hobbits (practice shifts and rhythms), Gavotte (try not to “linger” on some notes and practice playing the middle section with a faster tempo), and vibrato (anchor violin to wall and see if that helps, and practice all fingers if you have time!).
Grace – missed you today, hope you feel better soon! Keep on practicing those 2-octave Major and minor scales and Musette.
Hendry – have a good rest of your break!
– Recommended practice time: 30 min/day, 5 days/week
– Practice: C, D, E-flat, F, and G Major scales (2 octaves, doing our usual posture and bow hold check each time before playing), D minor scale (2 octaves: natural, harmonic, melodic), Gavotte (whole piece now – watch out for accidentals and play through ending section slowly and get familiar with the notes), and Catharsis (viola 2 part – beginning until m. 37, play through slowly and get familiar with the notes).
Thank you, stay safe, and happy playing!
