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 – November 17/18, 2021
Jaron
– 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, and watching for intonation on 3-2-1-0 coming down the scale), and Allegretto (watch out for leaps in phrases, such as 3-1-0, 1-3-2, 0-3-, etc.).
Olivia
– Reminder: send me audio of the Pirates arrangement, or have it on your phone ready to listen to together next time!
– 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 focus on fourth position shift for E-Major, and we will look more into F Major next time), Pirates arrangement (watch out for accidentals and count closely for the rests – it’s faster than you think).
Amaia
– 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, and watch out for the space between your first and second finger – the space can be a little bit bigger), O Come Little Children (prepare for final play-through next class – try to play through the song without stopping and without mistakes), and May Song (make sure to hold out half notes for two beats).
Thea
– 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 Major scales (2 octaves), Gavotte (watch out for fourth finger notes, practice the passage with the sixteenth notes and make sure you’re not slowing down too much at the quarter notes), and Concerning Hobbits (practice saving the bow and setting yourself up for success by having the bow at the tip or frog).
Grace – hope you feel better soon!
– Recommended practice time: 20 min/day, 5 days/week
– Practice: 2 octave Major scales (with focus on new scale F Major – second position to fifth position shift), and Gavotte (experiment with contrasting short and long bows, staccato and legato, and look out for bowings at the end and accidentally doing down-down on big string crossings).
Hendry
– 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, with focus on intonation and listening while playing), D minor scale (1 octave, natural, harmonic, and new minor scale melodic – sixth and seventh notes raised going up B and C#, and back down going back down B-flat and C-natural), Bouree (now that you have the pitches, focus on the rhythms and make sure the quarter and half notes sound longer and different than the eighth notes), and Catharsis (make sure to shift higher to third position in the sections we talked about, and keep focusing on high third finger for C# in the D Major sections).
Thank you, stay safe, and happy playing!
