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 – June 23/24, 2021
Wednesday folks, make sure to check your emails and schedules to see if you have a make-up lesson next week! If not, I’ll see you for either summer lessons or in September!
Jaron – great work sight-reading the last two lines of Allegretto!
– Recommended practice time: 15 min/day, 5 days/week
– Practice: G, D, and A Major scales (with our usual posture and bow hold check each time before playing, and make sure you squeeze your middle and ring fingers together on the fingerboard), Perpetual Motion (try to play through without stopping, and make sure third ring finger is not stretched too high), and Allegretto (play through whole thing slowly, especially last two lines, and get used to the notes).
Olivia – congratulations on finishing the right-side-up of the Mirror duet!
– Reminder: discuss with your mom whether or not you want a lesson on your birthday
– Recommended practice time: 30 min/day, 5 days/week
– Practice: review 2-octave major and minor scales (try to memorise fingering patterns for all of them, and focus on new scales B-flat and B Major), Mirror duet (upside down part now, play through first few lines slowly and get used to the notes), and Go the Distance (I promise we’ll look at this again next week! Keep on focusing on the shifting sections).
Amaia – congratulations on finishing Song of the Wind!
– Recommended practice time: 15 min/day, 5 days/week
– Practice: G, D, and A Major scales (with our usual posture and bow hold check each time before playing, and make sure your thumb and pinky fingers are curved on the bow), and Go Tell Aunt Rhody (try to play through without pausing in the middle).
Crosby – great work on Song of the Wind today, thank you for practicing during these few weeks of break!
– Recommended practice time: 15 min/day, 5 days/week
– Practice: 0-1-2-3-2-1-0 fingering patterns on each string (warm-up), G, D, and A Major scales (with our usual posture and bow hold check each time before playing), and Song of the Wind (work on retakes/bow circles and try to play through with a steady beat and without stopping).
Thank you, happy playing, and have a wonderful summer!
