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
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Chris Away Dates for December & January
Hello Everybody!
We are writing to update you that Chris has an amazing opportunity to join and play with the Royal Shakespeare Company in England over a number of weeks in December and January for the second time, and that we are delighted to support him in this effort. How cool is that? We’ll ask him to provide some video for us to see if we can get a sense of what that looks like.
We are, as always, working to make sure the flow of lessons and learning is uninterrupted, so we have team member Jasmine and Thomas (who we will invite to the team as we have need) to cover dates for us. Not all are confirmed, but we wanted you to know that if you get notifications about lesson changes, this is what it is for.
Dates you will see a substitute are:
- Tues, December 10th (Jasmine)
- Saturday, Dec 14th (Thomas)
- Tuesday, December 17th (Jasmine)
- Saturday, December 21 (Thomas)
- Sat, Jan 4th – pending
- Tues, Jan 7th – pending
If you have any questions or concerns, please call or text the office.
Additionally, since these absences will also be during our dedicated make-up times for December, we will push owed lessons and make-ups to a later date.
Thank you!
-Barnaby
Saturday, February 22nd
Jack
Warmups:
–Tragically Hip: 50 Mission Cap
Benny Greb Rhythmic Alphabet
–Practice putting the letters of your new sentence of different drums
–Use the drum set notation on the bottom half of the page to help with reading which drums happen when
Beatles: Ticket to Ride
–Keep working on the main beat of this song! Let’s try to play along with it next time
Nova
Warmups:
–See Google Drive (or handout if we were able to print it) with the C Major, G Major, and F Major scale warmups
Cirone Book: “Step 7” ex. 3-4
–Nice job! Don’t forget to play hand-to-hand, and in the centre of each bar
–This week, let’s do #5-6
FIFTY FIFTY: Cupid
–See chart in your google drive folder
Aleksander
Warmups goal tempo *90bpm* playing four notes per beat:
–Singles, Doubles, and Paradiddles (four counts each for 1min)
–Flams, flam triplets
Drumset Musician: Sixteenth Note Ride Patterns (in your gdrive folder)
–Drill ex. 5-7, 2min ea
Lenny Kravitz: Are You Gonna Go My Way–all the way to the end!
–Polish off the ending (post-guitar-solo fill, and the time signature changes at the end)
Jonah
==Xylophone==
Warmups: see Xylophone Warmup Sheet in the Google Drive PLEASE PRINT
–This week, add in Bb Major and D Major
Ear training:
–Identifying 3rds, 5ths, and 2nds
–Playing simple melodies back by ear
Bruno Mars: Locked out of Heaven CHORD CHART EXERCISE
–I added some more to this this week! PLEASE PRINT***********
==Drums==
Warmups:
–Paradiddle combo exercise with bass drum playing quarters. Accent the beginning of each paradiddle
Paul Simon: Late in the Evening
–You can find the chart for this song in your google drive personal folder
–This week we learned the main beat. Continue getting it clean and up to speed
Jared
Warmups:
–Stick Control ex 14-23 (90bpm***)
—-Play each exercise 4 times
Igoe’s Groove Essentials – Groove 1 slow (track 1)
–Same assignment, but now move the RH to the ride and put LF hihat “chick” on a) “2” and “4” (b) “1 2 3 4” and (c) “1+2+3+4+”
Funk Groove Eleven SLOW
–We learned two fills today for this song. One was short (on beat 4) and one was longer (beats three and four). Drill’em!
Mario
Warmups (1min/ea) with Metronome at 115bpm (two notes per beat)
–8 on a hand
–Single Stroke Roll (R L R L…)
–Double Stroke Roll (R R L L…)
–Focus on keeping up with the metronome. You have a tendency to drag, so don’t let yourself get sluggish!
Queen: Rock you
–Filling in the empty “4”
Joan Jett: Rock ‘n Roll
–Watermelon-watermelon fill off the top
–“apple pineapple” fill before chorus
Drumset Musician p27 (in google drive) – 8th-note Fills, ex. 9-12
–This week, focus on keeping the 8th-note steady through your fills
***NEW SONG Red Hot Chili Peppers: My Friends
–This week, drill the main beat (it’s ex. 7 from Drumset Musician p11)
–We’ll work on the first couple fills
Mateo
Warmups (30 sec each) **pulling your thumb back:
–8 on a Hand
–Single Stroke Roll (RLRL…)
–Double Stroke Roll (RRLL…)
Drumset Musician p27, ex. 10-12**
–Aim to keep the flow of the eighth-note pulse STEADY
–try looping these exercises, so that the crash after the fill becomes beat 1 of the beat again
–count aloud!
Tommy Igoe’s Groove Essentials, Groove 1 SLOW
–Drill Variation A this week, making it fit tidily along with the recording
–Add in fills from D.M. book. Count aloud!!!
NEW SONG Survivor: Eye of the Tiger
–Find the chart in your google drive folder
–learn page 1 this week
Preferred Books for TCHRNAME Students
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