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 – November 25/26, 2020
I hope everyone is staying warm at this time of year!
Jaron
– Reminder: If you can, please purchase Suzuki Violin Book 1
– Recommended practice time: 15 min/day, 5 days/week
– Practice: A, D, and G Major scales (with posture and bow hold check before playing, while making sure your left hand does not slide up the fingerboard), Song of the Wind (full run-through with consistent tempo, no pauses, and smooth playing), Go Tell Aunt Rhody (focus on eighth note and quarter note rhythms and m. 3-4 phrase), and O Come Little Children (look ahead if you’d like!)
Olivia
– Recommended practice time: 30 min/day, 5 days/week
– Practice: Review 2 octave major and minor scales (especially those with shifting), Mirror duet (first section bowings and play through middle section and slowly get more comfortable with the notes, we can add bowing later), and Avatar State (second page eighth note section and ending chord).
Amaia – Congratulations on learning your first full song!
– Recommended practice time: 15 min/day, 5 days/week
– Practice: Violin Starter packet pizzicato and bowing exercises, fingerings 0-1-2-3-3-2-1-0 on all strings while plucking and bowing, and play through Twinkle Twinkle Little Start, getting a bit more comfortable with the notes!
Hendry – Congratulations on finishing Andantino and Disillusion!
– Reminder: Put away phone and other distractions before the lesson!
– Recommended practice time: 20 min/day, 5 days/week
– Practice: C Major scale (2 octaves, with posture and bow hold check before playing), Bohemian Folk Song (watch out for 1-2 pattern and half note rhythms), Etude (slowly play through all the notes and get comfortable with the notes, watch out for repeat), Question (first page rhythms and stretch fourth finger), and if you feel comfortable, look ahead at Starting the Case!
Thank you and happy playing!
