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 – September 15/16, 2021
I hope everyone had a lovely first week back at school!
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 do window washer bow exercises to strengthen your bow hand), Perpetual Motion (play through slowly and re-familiarise yourself with the notes, and make sure to stretch pinky finger), and review notation exercises on musictheory.net if you have time!
Olivia
– Reminder: if you have music from school you want to go over together, make sure to scan and put it in the Google drive
– 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, especially E string patterns for C and D Major), Mirror duet (play through slowly and add in slurs), Go the Distance (ending section rhythms), and see if there’s anything you want to add to our Zero to Hero arrangement.
Amaia
– Reminder: ask your parents to save the Google drive link I sent you
– 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 (make sure to add short-short rhythms to the notes), and O Come Little Children (just the first line, playing through it slowly, and look ahead if you wish).
Preet – thanks for purchasing your own shoulder rest and getting your violin tuned!
– Reminder: purchase Suzuki Violin Book 1 sometime in the next few weeks (no rush)
– Recommended practice time: 15 min/day, 5 days/week
– Practice: window washer bow exercises, down-up-down-up bowing on all the strings, first page of exercises in the starter packet with both plucking and bowing, and feel free to just experiment with the sounds of your violin!
Grace – thanks for purchasing Suzuki Violin Book 2, and congratulations on finishing Minuet 3!
– Recommended practice time: 20 min/day, 5 days/week
– Practice: G, A, B-flat, B, and C Major scales (with focus on B Major – try to have a B drone as you play the scale so you don’t accidentally revert back to B-flat), and Happy Farmer (watch out for syncopated hooked bows and bowings, make sure upbeat of phrases always start with an up bow).
Hendry – I missed you today, hope to see you next week!
– Recommended practice time: 30 min/day, 5 days/week
– Practice: C, D, E-flat, and F Major scales (2 octaves, doing our usual posture and bow hold check each time before playing), Hunter’s Chorus, and Catharsis.
Thank you, stay safe, and happy playing!
