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 9/10, 2021
Wednesday folks, just a reminder that you have TWO more lessons until your summer break! Thursday folks, you just have ONE more lesson until your summer break!
Jaron
– 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), Perpetual Motion (make sure to stretch your pinky finger to reach that “E” and keep on playing through without stopping), and Allegretto (first line, play through slowly and get familiar with the notes).
Olivia
– Reminder: if you don’t want a lesson on your birthday, make sure to call the office and cancel the lesson officially!
– Recommended practice time: 30 min/day, 5 days/week
– Practice: review 2-octave major and minor scales (with focus on B-flat Major and continue trying to memorise all fingering patterns), Go the Distance (watch out for intonation, your hand tends to slide toward your face and make everything too sharp), and Mirror duet (play through whole piece without stopping, so we can try playing together all the way through next week!).
Amaia
– 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 bow is staying in between the bridge and fingerboard), Song of the Wind (play through from beginning to end several times without stopping and with a faster tempo), and Go Tell Aunt Rhody (we’ve now learned the whole thing, so try playing through slowly from beginning to end without stopping).
Crosby – missed you this week, see you next week!
Hendry
– Recommended practice time: 20 min/day, 5 days/week
– Practice: C, E-flat, D, and F Major scales (2 octaves, with our usual posture and bow hold check each time before playing, and keep listening for intonation), Gavotte (practice sixteenth note patterns to make them smoother and faster), and Kishi Ou no Hokori (remember to use fourth finger instead of open string for certain grace notes, and watch out for low first finger for E-flat!).
Grace
– Recommended practice time: 20 min/day, 5 days/week
– Practice: G, A, and C Major scales (2 octaves, with focus on C Major shifting on the E string), and Minuet 1 (make sure to save bow on down-up-up bowing and try to have more contrast between soft and loud dynamics). Look ahead at Minuet 2 if you wish, otherwise we will look at it together next time!
Thank you, stay safe, and happy playing!
