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, June 11th
Myles
Survivor: Eye of the Tiger
–good. Let’s focus on the road map! Two strategies: listening to the song, and reading along. Work on both!
–See the new section on the sheet in google drive (chorus and post-chorus) and maintain those sections for next week
–Get the fill at the end of the chorus up to speed
–Please print the updated chart from your personal folder in the google drive
Refresh Alfred Solo #2 (lines 1-6)
Xylophone
–Review of C major scale, identifying the musical alphabet
–Page 33 in the piano book
Jonah
Warmups (1min/ea)
–Triplet Exercise (Goal tempo=115)
–Sixteenth-note exercise (goal tempo=100)
Herbie Hancock: Watermelon Man
–Drill the third-line fill
Xylophone
–C Blues Scale**
Noah
Warmups:
–Triplet Exercise (1mm RH, 2mm LH) @ 95bpm
–Sixteenth-note Exercise 75bpm
Lenny Kravitz: Are You Gonna Go My Way
–Final touches: drill the different flam fills (all four of them) at the beginning of each practice session
–Add in the “trash can” fill at the end! Crash–>cymbal swell–>rolls low to high on the drums–>final crash!
Tuesday, October 29th
Myles
Drumset Musician p81 ex. 5-8**
–Try each of these fills with a LH lead and RH lead
–Make sure that you’re not adding any double strokes between the fill and the crash
NEW SONG Weezer: My Name is Jonas–have a listen, we’ll start this one next time
Xylophone:
–Review of C Major scale
–***Simple Steps to Keyboard Percussion “Step Six” p. 12-13 (in google drive). Use “Step 5” exercises to help you find the notes
Finn
Warmups (30sec each):
–Single Strokes
–Double Strokes
–8 on a hand
–This week, practice putting a count (“1+2+3+4+) overtop of the Singles and Doubles.
Survivor: Eye of the Tiger–WHOLE SONG
–The biggest thing is just knowing when to deploy the fills. Ask your dad for help!
–Fill a) what what chicken butt
–Fill b) Flam on “4”
–Fill c) I Saw a hippopotamus
–See chart in google drive for the roadmap to this song (Hull, Chris\Student Specific Resources\Finn Romeo)
Robbie
Warmups:
–Gminor and Bb Major arpeggios (G-Bb-D-G; Bb-D-F-Bb)
Canticum:
–First melody is great. Now we need to work on the second half
Snare drum: be sure to read the part! The answers are right there in front of you. Count each section aloud.
Francisco
Warmups (30sec/ea., find goal speed):
–8 on a hand (140bpm)
–Singles (sixteenths at 140bpm)
–doubles (16ths at 90)
–Paradiddles (16ths at 90)
Stevie Wonder: Superstition–up until the middle of page 2 (big fill)
–Drills: R-L-K triplet rolls
—-Floor tom, Snare, kick, repeated
—-hi-tom, med-tom, snare, as written in the fill
Noah
Warmups (1min each per practice session):
–Triplet Exercise (1mm RH, 2mm LH) @ 95bpm
–Sixteenth-note Exercise 75bpm
–Rhythm Exercise (60bpm)
Green Day: American Idiot–up to the end of Coda 1
–Drill the tricky bits (you know which ones) at different tempos like we did in today’s lesson to help them be really stable
–remember, the end of Coda 1 is the same as the end of the regular Chorus section
Preferred Books for TCHRNAME Students
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