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, September 24th
Josh
ACDC: Back in Black
–Great work!
–Now work on everything up until verse three: Chorus section! Add in crashes on the “1”, and on the words “Back in Black”
–Great work playing along to the recording, and fitting the crashes into the beginning of the beat
Visual Drum Method: We’ll start on this book next week.
Myles
Warmups:
–Flam Paradiddles (rL-R-L-L lR-L-R-R)
–8 on a Hand, goal tempo= 130bpm using a metronome
Drumset Musician: 12/8 Exercises (in google drive Frequently Used folder)
–Learn the first 7 exercises
–You can count this either “1-2-3-4-5-6-…” or “1-trip-let 2-let”. Which one do you find easier?
QOTSA: Keep Your Eyes Peeled
–Begin learning the main groove (on the handout in your binder)
–Leave the open-hihat splashes out of it for now
Noah
Warmups (1min each per practice session):
–Triplet Exercise (1mm RH, 2mm LH) @ 95bpm
–Sixteenth-note Exercise 75bpm
Green Day: American Idiot–up to the end of the second line on p3**
–Great work!
–Make sure to keep the sixteenth-notes on the floor tom in time–tricky! but you can do it
–Add in the next verse, and work on the new fill in the second line of p3: go slowly, playing only quarters on the floor tom
Finn
Warmups (30sec each):
–Single Strokes
–Double Strokes
–8 on a hand
–Try playing these at three different speeds (slow, med, fast)
Basic Beat Level 2:
–Great work!
–Make sure you’re only getting one contact per stroke. Don’t crush the stroke! Bounce like a trampoline
–If it gets tricky, remember two strategies: 1) slow down! 2) break it down into smaller chunks
***Basic Beat LEVEL 3
–Same as Level 2, but the Bass Drum plays on “1”, “2”, “3”, and “4”
Queen: We Will Rock You
–Nice job!
New SONG!!! Survivor: Eye of the Tiger
–The main beat for this song is Basic Beat level 3. Try playing that beat along with the song!
Francisco
Warmups (30sec/ea., find goal speed):
–8 on a hand (140bpm)
–Singles (sixteenths at 140bpm)
–doubles (16ths at 90)
–Paradiddles (16ths at 90)
Bon Jovi: Livin On a Prayer
–Excellent work
–Open hihat with those three snare hits in the second ending for the verse
–“4 +a” on hihats should be hand-to-hand (R-L-R). This should make it much easier!
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
Preferred Books for TCHRNAME Students
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