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 10/11, 2021
Jaron
– Recommended practice time: 15 min/day, 5 days/week
– Practice: G, D, and A Major scales (doing our usual bow hold and posture check each time before playing and making sure your pinky finger is perched on top of the bow, and make sure 3-2-1-0 going down the scale is in tune by not stretching your fingers as much), and Allegretto (stay consistent with using 4th finger and try to include short and long rhythms when playing through the song).
Olivia
– Reminder: if you want to work on that new strings class piece next week, remember to bring it to our lesson!
– 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 E Major fourth position shift), and see if there’s anything you want to add to our Zero to Hero arrangement.
Amaia
– Recommended practice time: 15 min/day, 5 days/week
– Practice: G, D, and A Major scales (doing our usual bow hold and posture check each time before playing), O Come Little Children (make short notes shorter and long notes longer so that the rhythms are more obvious, and watch out out for intonation of second finger C# and third finger A – try to stretch fingers a little bit higher), and May Song (same as O Come Little Children – watch out for second finger C# and third finger A).
Grace
– Recommended practice time: 20 min/day, 5 days/week
– Practice: 2-octave Major scales ( with focus on E Major shift to fourth position, make sure to do the shift on A string and not E string to keep the finger patterns consistent), and Gavotte (watch out for bowing in the second section and experiment with staccato and legato styles for the first section).
Hendry – enjoy your long weekend!
– Recommended practice time: 30 min/day, 5 days/week
– Practice: C, D, E-flat, F, and G Major (2 octaves, doing our usual bow hold and posture check each time before playing, and try to keep spaces between your fingers smaller as you shift higher in G Major), D minor (1 octave, natural and harmonic – natural = “normal” and harmonic = seventh note C# raised), Bouree (watch out for modulations and accidentals, and keep second finger in a low-2 position), and Catharsis (watch out for D and A open string notes and whether they are sharp or flat and whether they need to be fourth or first fingers, and practice shift to third position at the very end).
Thank you, stay safe, and happy playing!
