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 – September 22/23, 2021
Jaron
– Recommended practice time: 15 min/day, 5 days/week
– Practice: window washer bow exercises (keeping bow hold curved and steady), G, D, and A Major scales (doing our usual posture and bow hold check each time before playing, try to keep pinky curved for at least one scale each), Perpetual Motion (try to play through without stopping and “exercise” pinky finger), and Allegretto (first line, play through slowly and get familiar with the notes).
Olivia
– Reminder: if you have any school music you want to work on together, make sure you scan it and upload it to the Google drive
– Recommended practice time: 30 min/day, 5 days/week
– Practice: review 2-octave Major and minor scales (try to memorise fingering pattern for each scale, and focus on new scales B and B-flat Major, and E minor natural and harmonic, make sure to shift high enough into fourth position), Mirror duet (play through without stopping or hesitating, and add in bowings), Go the Distance (ending section and shifting), and see if there’s anything you want to add to our Zero to Hero arrangement.
Amaia – I hope you and your family stay well!
– 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), Go Tell Aunt Rhody (play through without stopping or hesitating, and prepare for final play-through next time), and O Come Little Children (practice up-up bowings in between phrases).
Preet
– Reminder: purchase Suzuki Violin Book 1 in the next few weeks
– Recommended practice time: 15 min/day, 5 days/week
– Practice: window washer bow exercises, playing on open strings (especially on G string, watching the weight of the bow and where the bow is placed), and last 2 pages of Violin Starter Packet (mainly focus on switching between the bottom 3 strings).
Grace – hope you get your new E string soon!
– Recommended practice time: 20 min/day, 5 days/week
– Practice: G, A, B-flat, B, and C Major scales (2 octaves), and Happy Farmer (syncopated rhythms and bowings).
Hendry – your intonation for scales has greatly improved, great work!
– Recommended practice time: 30 min/day, 5 days/week
– Practice: C, D, E-flat, and F Major scales (doing our usual posture and bow hold check each time before playing, and still singing “do-re-mi-fa-sol-la-ti-do” in your head to make sure the intonation is there), Hunter’s Chorus (prepare for final play-through next time and make sure the accents are coming out), and Catharsis (watch out for high third finger and low first finger, and aim higher for the shift).
Thank you, stay safe, and happy playing!
