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, 31 May
Jack
We looked into the drum fill of Back in Black today, and though it is slightly complicated to grasp, Jack was able to do it at a slower speed. We will try to speed it up next time and play it in context!
Aleksander
Great job with Living on a Prayer! We have attempted to play with the song today and the same old spots are tripping us. Always remember phrases are mostly in eight bar cycle so if you are lost, just look to pick back up in the next cycle! In the track, listen for the bass pattern and during practise look into how you lock into that pattern. We will try to play through again and perhaps make a recording next week!
Tracie
We had a super duper fun impromptu lesson on All By Myself by Celine Dion! We learnt about the concept of playing the space(rest) and also explored some fun fills! Look forward to seeing you again after the break and when you have a chance this break, pull up songs that you like and see if you can just play along with it and invent fun fills!
Jonah
We worked on some Snare Drum playing together. Treat snare drum like a lyrical instrument! If there are phrases of 16th notes, phrase to the end of it, meaning get in the habit of crescendoing to the end. Please work on the assigned etude with the number 4 on the too of the page. Also work on the worship song and we will try to tackle it together in person next week!
Mario
For My Friends today, we went further into Chorus and the Guitar solo section. I mentioned this during lesson, this piece have a lot of tricky spots and I am very much inspired by your resilience in lesson, and one quick tip that I can give you is though it might seem like every section has a different 16 notes lick, its actually always the same rhythm (1 na), except every time its assigned to different instruments, sometimes cymbal sometimes kick. When in doubt, listen to the recording I made and re familiarise yourself with the 1 na rhythm played on hihat and snare (see fourth bar of chorus on first page) THEN relate that to the lick that you have trouble with. If the rhythm sounds similar, you are more or less on the right track :)
Preferred Books for TCHRNAME Students
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