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 – March 10/11, 2021
Just a reminder to everyone that ABC is keeping March break next week so we will NOT have lessons next week! I will see you all the week after, in 2 weeks! :)
Jaron – great work with the notation exercises today!
– Reminder: If you can, please purchase Suzuki Violin Book 1
– Recommended practice time: 15 min/day, 5 days/week
– Practice: G, D, and A Major scales (doing a posture and bow hold check each time before playing and making sure your second and third fingers are squeezed together), May Song (review dotted-quarter note rhythm in the first and third lines), and Long Long Ago (play through slowly and get familiar with the notes, with focus on the new note “E” first finger on the D string).
Olivia – congratulations on finishing our first play-through of the Mirror duet together!
– Recommended practice time: 30 min/day, 5 days/week
– Practice: review 2-octave major and minor scales (try to memorise fingering patterns and play in front of a mirror to watch posture) and Mirror Duet (second section rhythms and try playing the whole thing in full without stopping).
Amaia – congratulations on learning the first line of Lightly Row!
– Reminder: Your A and E strings are still out of tune, so if you can and if you have time, please see if you can visit a music store like Long & McQuade to get it tuned. I understand even with shops open now it can still be difficult, so no need to stress about it and please let me know if you have any questions or concerns!
– Recommended practice time: 15 min/day, 5 days/week
– Practice: G, D, and A Major scales (doing a posture and bow hold check each time before playing), Twinkle (theme and variations – with focus on variation B “bacon and”), and Lightly Row (play through the first line slowly and get familiar with the notes, and look ahead if you’d like!).
Crosby
– Reminder: Your D, A, and E strings are still out of tune, so if you can and if you have time, please see if you can visit a music store like Long & McQuade to get it tuned. I understand even with shops open now it can still be difficult, so no need to stress about it and please let me know if you have any questions or concerns!
– Recommended practice time: 15 min/day, 5 days/week
– Practice: down-up-down-up bowing on all open strings, 0-1-2-3-2-1-0 fingering pattern on all strings (make sure your fingers are on the right tapes we discussed in our lesson), and Twinkle Twinkle Little Star (first line, and look ahead if you’d like, especially since you’ve played this before and it may be familiar!).
Hendry
– Reminder: if you have any more Lord of the Rings music you want to go over in our lesson, make sure to take a picture or scan the music so I can see it.
– Recommended practice time: 20 min/day, 5 days/week
– Practice: G, D, and C Major scales (1 octave), C Major scale (2 octaves, and keep doing a posture and bow hold check each time before playing), Minuet 2 (focus on rhythms and difference between long and short notes, and look out for G# in second section), Question (we’re not playing this as consistently but still try to practice it once in a while), and Starting the Case (focus on second section and E-flat Major, watch out for low-ones!).
Grace – congratulations on finishing Lightly Row!
– Reminder: if you can, please purchase Suzuki Violin Book 1
– Recommended practice time: 15 min/day, 5 days/week
– Practice: G, D and A Major scales (doing a posture and bow hold check each time before playing, and adding in long bows), Song of the Wind (practice the retake and last phrase, counting the eighth notes), and Go Tell Aunt Rhody (slowly play through and get familiar with the notes).
Thank you and happy playing! See you all in 2 weeks!
