Christopher Hull is a percussionist and ethnomusicologist whose work focuses on tensions between tradition and innovation in contemporary music. As a passionate performer of solo, chamber, and orchestral percussion, he seeks to ground his work in his classical training while simultaneously transcending the conventions of the conservatory. With classical percussion degrees from Wilfrid Laurier University and University of Alaska Fairbanks, a performing arts certificate from the Arts Institute of Indonesia Denpasar, and his current studies in ethnomusicology at the University of Toronto, Christopher’s genre-defying work exhibits a world of experience.
As an orchestral percussionist, he frequently works with the National Academy Orchestra of Canada, the Hamilton and Thunder Bay Symphony Orchestras, and Sinfonia Ancaster. He has appeared as a chamber musician and soloist in festivals such as Open Ears, International Gamelan Festival Munich, Young Artists Niagara, and Sacred Rhythm Jakarta, and can be heard playing drums, vibraphone, and synthesizer on commercial recordings by Call Me Moon and Treephones. He is also Associate Artistic Director of Toronto-based Evergreen Club Contemporary Gamelan, commissioning and premiering new works for Sundanese degung, and director of the University of Toronto’s Balinese gamelan ensemble, Dharma Santi.
Get to know Chris…Beyond the Bio!
Hobbies: Reading, cycling, and synthesizers
Musical influences: Jojo Mayer, Benny Greb, David Garibaldi, Gary Burton, Tony Miceli, Steve Reich, Glenn Gould, Bill Evans, I Dewa Made
Favourite food: Noodles
Least favourite food: Quiche
Favourite music: R&B, hip-hop, funk; Western modernism and minimalism; Balinese gender wayang; Sundanese degung; Orchestral; beatsce Favourite song:!
Favourite movie: The Departed
Favouirite movie music: Old modern romantic soundtracks (eg. Spellbound)
Favourite musical theatre/opera: West Side Story/Turandot
Best quote from your teacher: “When we perform, we smile. If we make a mistake while performing, we smile bigger.” -Dewa Suparta
Favourite quote: “I’m a man who leaves nothing to chance.” -Maestro Boris Brott
Favourite book: Dance, Dance, Dance by Haruki Murakami
Best thing about teaching at ABC: The lovely students
Latest Homework from CHRIS
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Tuesday, March 18th
Lila
Warmups:
–8 on a Hand
–Single strokes
–Double strokes
–Paradiddles
Basic Beat Level 3.5 same as level 3, but RH plays on the Ride Cymbal
Step 1) Count “1 + 2 + 3 + 4 + ”
Step 2) Play the Hihat with your Right Hand (RH) on all the counts
Step 3) Add in the Bass Drum with your Right Foot (RF) on “1”, “2”, “3”, and “4”
Step 4) Add in the Snare Drum with your Left Hand (LH) on “2” and “4”
Visual Drumset Method: exercise 12
–great! Number 12 still needs a bit more work to be consistent and comfortable
White Stripes: Seven Nation Army
–Great job!
NEW SONG ACDC: Back in Black
–This week, practise playing the basic beat along with the song
Josh
Warm-ups:
–Learn to sing along to Teddy Bear’s Picnic. Then, play along to the melody on your snare drum while keeping the beat on your bass drum, just like you came up with in today’s lesson!
Groove Essentials Rock Groove 5
–This week, add drum fills in every fourth measure
–Practice the skill of knowing when to deploy each fill. Depending on how long they are, they’ll start on a different beat
The Beatles: Ticket To Ride
–Awesome! Let’s start thinking about a new song to learn
Myles
Drumset Musician p83 Twelve Bar Blues playalong
–See handout to help visualize the 12-bar Blues form
–Add in drum fills prior to the different segments
==Xylophone==
Warmups (Three keys):
–Scale, one octave, ascending and descending, saying the note names as you play them
–Arpeggio
–Broken thirds, ascending and descending
Cirone Book: “Step Six” ex. 5-8
Eartraining: identifying thirds and fifths
Tones and I: Dreaming
–See Worksheet in google drive PLEASE PRINT NEW VERSION
Finn
Warmups (30sec each, counting aloud):
–Single Strokes
–Double Strokes
–8 on a hand
Visual Drummer: p19 ex 16-18
NEW SONG Bon Jovi: Livin on a Prayer
–The main beat for this song alternates between Visual Drummer ex. 13 and 1. Practice getting these up to speed to play this song
–Try learning the opening drum fill by ear
Koel
Warmups (1min each):
–Triplet Ex. 130bpm***
–Sixteenth-note exercise 95bpm***
–Sixteenth-note exercise ON THE BASS DRUM goal tempo: 70bpm
—-Try adding the sixteenth-note subdivision into your metronome to help with your rhythmic precision
Tommy Igoe’s Groove Essentials: Groove 14 Slow (in google drive)
–This week, learn the main beat
–as a bonus, try learning Variations A and B
Francisco
Warmups:
–Stick Control first page ex. 14-18 (4x each, 120bpm goal tempo)
–Play eighths ca. 120-160 bpm (gradually building up the speed) using accents on the beats to help with the push-pull strokes
Tommy Igoe Groove Essentials book: Groove 1 FAST
–See the cheat sheet I made for the solo section in your google drive folder
–This week, work on building this solo up. We’ll finish this song off next week
Begin working on Groove 14 Slow (Groove Essentials) in yoru google drive
Noah
Warmups (1min each)
–Paradiddle Combo Exercise with Bass Drum on Quarter Notes (goal tempo 126)
Groove Essentials: Groove 14 Slow (in your google drive folder)
–Learn the basic groove and Variation B, try playing with RH on the hihat and then hand-to-hand sticking
Please bookmark the following links:
Your personal google drive folder
The “Frequently Used Resources” Folder
Aviva
Warmups (1min ea) goal tempo = 150bpm, playing two notes per beat (aka eighth notes)
–Single strokes (LRLR…)
–Double Strokes (LLRR…)
–Paradiddles (LRLL RLRR…)
Accent Exercises worksheet
–Work on these with a RH lead this time
–Play ex. 5-8 like fills (3 measures of beat, then exercise, followed by crash)
Drumset Musician p12, ex. 11-15
–polish these off for next week
–feel free to go on to the following page
Groove 1 FAST
–Try playing along to this MUCH faster track using a quarter-note cymbal pattern (use the starred examples from your folder)
Groove 2 Slow (chart and track in your personal folder)
–Learn the main groove and variations for next week
–Ignore the left-food hihat “chicks” for now, we can add those in later
Hole: Celebrity Skin
–Work on flowing through the intro section (false start)
–Correct the rhythm on snare in beat 2s of the Chorus groove
–Learn and build up the speed of the Chorus fill (bottom of handout)
Saturday, April 26
Tova
Xylo week: Cupid by 50/50 is now fully transcribed for you. Try to find all the notes at home and give your best try to learn the rhythm. When in doubt, try to count out loud in 8th notes (1 n 2 n 3 n 4 n), listening to the recording for answer is our last resort!
Rolls: I would like you to turn on metronome at around 80-90bpm, and play on 1 pitch (middle C for example) then play 1. 16th notes (4 notes a beat), 2. quintuplet (5 notes a beat, alternate between R and L on main beat, RLRLR LRLRL), if feeling capable, sextuplet (6 notes) The idea is to have control over when we are landing our roll and consistency in strokes (both in terms of timing and sound quality) avoid unevenness (e.g. LH softer than RH)
Jared
Bring me to life by Evanescence
we familiar ourselves up to bar 33. Great job dissecting such a complex groove. Work up to speed at home. We will try to play with recording for the section and read on next class. Also still try to spend some time planning the solo. A good solo doesn’t just come out of nowhere, but hard work!
Mario
Warm Up:
Triplet and double was superb today! Definitely seeing immense improvements with the relaxation aspect. We will keep using this as our warm up into the session
Drag: find a sweet spot between the clear three note (LL R) and the “french” way (buzz left R)
play around with both at home. for LL, use the same principle of practising doubles. Aim to do it in one movement instead of two taps. Explore how to recycle the bounce.
My Friend by RHCP
WE have familiarise ourselves with the tough spots in Page 1 and we are absolutely ready to play through some stuff next week. In the meantime, keep practising those transitions in chunks. Small chunks into large, then into phrases!
Start learning second page as we have today!
Do it slow!
Jonah
Material from Hannaford (snare drum and mallet or accessories) – The Simpson:
We explore where can we make good sounds on the xylophone, and the idea of playing on the edge of accidentals (sharp and flats), the tip of the edge has a more open sound than somewhere closer to the nodal point. Avoid nodal point at all cost.
Very tricky passages, but you quickly mastered how to play them. However always remember that to practise efficiently means doing it systematically and always strive to get repetition of the right notes.
Few things to remember are:
- position your right hand mallet below your left on the key so you don’t trip yourself going up the keyboard
- always observe the key signature and sharp flats
- when in doubt, block them in two, play it slow and slowly build up the muscle memory to play the passages
- for the repeating note passage, practise playing it with only RH then introduce LH after (with the idea of RH leading LH)
Preferred Books for TCHRNAME Students
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