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 18/19, 2020
Jaron
– Recommended practice time: 15 min/day, 5 days/week
– Practice: G, D, and A Major scales (with a posture and bow hold check before playing), Song of the Wind (play through without hesitating, watch out for 1-3-3-1-0 patterns and the A-C#-E in the last line), and Go Tell Aunt Rhody (play through and get more comfortable with notes, practice last phrase and make sure to end on open A).
Olivia – congratulations on finishing your strings test!
– Recommended practice time: 30 min/day, 5 days/week
– Practice: review 2 octave Major and minor scales (especially those with shifting), Mozart Mirror duet (first half, play through and get more comfortable, with focus on slurs and bowing), and Avatar State (especially the eighth-note section, watch out for the switches from A-D to D-A).
Amaia – we’re almost finished learning your first song, how exciting!
– Recommended practice time: 15 min/day, 5 days/week
– Practice: plucking (pizz.) and bowing (arco) exercises in Violin Starter Packet, first line of Twinkle Twinkle Little Star (playing and also reading the notes), and keep on experimenting with sounds on your violin!
Hendry
– Reminder: Have your shoulder rest ready at the beginning of class!
– Recommended practice time: 20 min/day, 5 days/week
– Practice: C Major scale (2 octaves, with posture and bow hold check before playing), keep reviewing D, G, and C one octave Major scales, Andantino (prepare for final run-through, watch out for accents and half notes on the third line), Bohemian Folk Song (play through and get more comfortable with the notes, look out for when you play 1-2 and 2-3 finger patterns), Disillusion (m. 11-18 rhythms and watch for 1-2 pattern on D string for playing F natural), and Question (first page – practice intro chorus and rhythms in verses). We won’t be starting “Starting the Case” for a while, but feel free to look at it in your free time!
Thank you! Happy playing!
