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
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Weekly Homework Post – February 16/17, 2022
I hope everyone has a fabulous long weekend ahead!
Jaron – amazing work with both notation reading and playing today!
– Recommended practice time: 15 min/day, 5 days/week
– Practice: G, D, and A Major scales (doing our usual posture and bow hold check each time before playing, keeping an eye especially on our curved right thumb), and Andantino (watch out for the short-short-long rhythms and differentiating between 3-2-1-0 on D and A strings).
Olivia – so happy to see you again today!
– Recommended practice time: 30 min/day, 5 days/week
– Practice: review 2-octave Major and minor scales (try to memorise fingering patterns for each scale, and make sure your hand is moved a little closer to your face to avoid flat notes), For the Stars (watch out for syncopated rhythms with dotted quarter notes), and Go the Distance (review full song and shifting sections).
Amaia – missed you again today! Keep on practicing your scales and Long Long Ago!
Grace – hope you continue to be on the mend!
– Recommended practice time: 30 min/day, 5 days/week
– Practice: 2-octave Major and minor scales (make sure spacing between shifts in higher positions is smaller and try C Major scale all in second position), and Musette (watch out for smooth, even bowing during longer four-note slurs, and keep an eye on when to use an open string or fourth finger).
Hendry – great work with intonation today!
– Recommended practice time: 15 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, and keeping an eye out on intonation especially on the A string when playing F Major), D minor scale (2 octaves natural, 1 octave harmonic and melodic), Witches Dance (keep watching out for high third and fourth finger, and for the bowing down-down at the ending section), and Catharsis (keep playing through with consistent tempo to prepare for playing together, especially counting the rests).
Thank you, stay safe, and happy playing!
