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, February 25th
Lila
Warmups:
–8 on a Hand
–Single strokes
–Double strokes
–Paradiddles
Review of grip: good. Keep skin contact with stick
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: exercises 10-12***
–Aim for four repetitions of each exercise without hiccups or hesitations
Fruit Salad Game
–Create three of your own fruit salads using the four fruit-rhythms (in your notebook)
–Please write them out in your notebook
–use four fruits (repetition allowed) for each “salad”
–When playing them, use single-strokes/hand-to-hand sticking (R-L-R-L-…) always
NEW SONG White Stripes: Seven Nation Army
–This week, follow along with the roadmap (handout) for the first minute of the song
–As a bonus, can you figure out what happens next?
Josh
Warm-ups:
–Hand and foot coordination (see handout): playing steady beats on the bass drum, play singles, doubles, and paradiddles with your hands on the snare drum. There should be two snare notes (ti-ti; eighth notes) to every bass drum note (ta; quarter notes)
Groove Essentials Rock Groove 5
–This week, add drum fills in every fourth measure
–See handout for fill examples
The Beatles: Ticket To Ride
–The crash happens on “Ri-i-ide”. Also, see the handout for two new beats from this song
Please buy The Visual Drumset Method book from Long & McQuade
–Use the verification code on the title page to log in and practice this week’s assignment (beat #5)
–Adjust the speed percentage, gradually working your way up to 200
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
Finn
Warmups (30sec each, counting aloud):
–Single Strokes
–Double Strokes
–8 on a hand
Visual Drummer: p17 ex. 15
–This one was a little too tricky
–This week, practice it while counting aloud! Go slowly, and make sure the bass drums line up with the right counts
Nickelback: How You Remind Me
–Good work with the tempo on this one. Keep it up! Counting along to the intro will help with this
–During the chorus, switch to playing on the crash cymbal
–Remember the stops (bass bass sSTOP!) during the chorus
Koel
Warmups (1min each):
–Triplet Ex. 130bpm***
–Sixteenth-note exercise 95bpm***
Tommy Igoe’s Groove Essentials: Groove 11 SLOW (track twenty-one)
–Variation B still needs a bit of work to get up to speed
–Variation A good
–This week, see the 16th-note fill exercises (in gdrive) for fill inspiration
—-Use ex. 18, 21, and pick two more to play at the end of every 8-bar phrase during the backing track
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
Jared
Warmups:
–Stick Control ex 14-23 (90bpm)
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 a new fill today. Keep cycling through these. Next week, let’s try some new grooves
Aviva
Warmups (1min ea) goal tempo = 150bpm, playing two notes per beat (aka eighth notes)
–Single strokes (LRLR…)
–Double Strokes (LLRR…)
–Paradiddles (LRLL RLRR…)
Drumset Musician p12, ex. 11-15***
–polish these off for next week
–feel free to go on to the following page
Igoe Groove Essentials Groove 1 Slow
–Let’s finish this up next week
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
–Continue building this groove up to speed
–Today, we learned the opening fill. Remember to deploy it on the “and” of beat 3
–See if you can catch any other major deviations from the main groove in the first part of this song
Saturday, May 24
Jack
We started on Back in Black today! Got Jack to play the most common Rock n Roll beat and although I had to play the RH hi hat for him, he did a good job keeping the time and grasping the idea of a rock beat. We will look into Drum Fills next week!
Nova
Congratulations on a beautiful recording of Cupid 50/50! The recording is now uploaded to the drive in your homework folder. After practising with accompaniment a few times you were able to grasp how the syncopated rhythm grooves with the accompaniment. Memorisation is clearly your strong suit but learning to read notes fast will also be crucial to learning music going forward!
Will look to do sight reading exercises with Nova going forward every lessons. Also bring in a tune that you like (drums or mallet) and we will look to dissect it!
Aleksander
Great job with Living on a Prayer! We are down to the final section of the piece! We worked on Guitar solo section today and the thing tricking you is to fast changes between ride and crash cymbal. Work on that in isolation, not too fast nor too slow! Do it right in time. Read the second page by yourself and we will try to play through next class!
Tracie
During warm up today we spotted an elbow skewing movement outward movement that we look to fix. I have uploaded a video of me playing the throw stroke for you to compare to the skewing movement. Try to observe that through a mirror and think a throwing ball motion to try and fix it. Once you feel natural with it, add the sticks in then do some pad work!
Last Nite is coming together nicely! Great job developing a stronger and stronger rhythmic sense of the groove here. Remember if you can recite/sing it, you are not that far from being able to play it! Try to bridge the transition smoother at home. We will look to figure out the rest of the song next lesson.
Jonah
Jeffrey stepped in to sub for the lesson today and suggested to perhaps working on some note reading exercises with Jonah. We have also discussed to do drums online and keyboard when in person. On the drums week I propose to assign simple theory homework, and on the keyboard week we will try to start with some sight reading exercises. Also had them start Log Cabin Blues. If Jonah likes the tune we can continue working on it. I will like to develop mallet dexterity with him through the tune.
Jared
We will look to continue with Silhouettes next lesson. Apologies that I had to miss your lesson!
Preferred Books for TCHRNAME Students
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