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 – December 16, 2020
This was our last week of lessons and we will resume our lessons in the first week of January! I hope everyone has a wonderful winter break and happy holidays!
Jaron
– 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), Go Tell Aunt Rhody (practice string crossing from E (open string) to D (third finger) in last phrase of piece, and remember to have a difference between long and short notes), and O Come Little Children (remember to start each phrase with an up bow and focus on the last line).
Olivia – good luck with your Christmas performance!
– Reminder: try to get your E string tuned by yourself, from your school music teacher, or Long and McQuade
– Recommended practice time: 30 min/day, 5 days/week
– Practice: 2 octave major and minor scales (especially those with shifting), Avatar State (eighth-note section counting and run-through), and Mirror Duet (review first section and focus especially on the second section, and watch out for bowings and slurs).
Amaia
– Recommended practice time: 15 min/day, 5 days/week
– Practice: pluck and bow open strings, practice 0-1-2-3-2-1-0 fingering pattern on all 4 strings, A Major scale going up and going back down on both A and E string (try singing the scale first before playing!), and play through Twinkle (try to keep up good posture and bow hold while playing, and have the bow in the middle of the bridge and fingerboard).
Thank you and happy playing!
