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 11
Lila
Warmups:
–8 on a Hand
–Single strokes
–Double strokes
–Paradiddles
Review of grip: good. Keep skin contact with stick
Basic Beat Level 3** same as level 2, but BD plays all four beats (1, 2, 3, 4)
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 8-9**
–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
Queen: We Will Rock You
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
–Play the VD ex. 10 beat for this one!
–Let’s work on getting some fills together for it
The Beatles: Ticket To Ride
–Two main beats for this song: “I ate a cho-co-late” and Visual Drummer #5 (p. 15)
–This week, play these beats along with the song, listening carefully to stay in time with the song
–Next week, we’ll begin learning the variation on the beat later in the song
Myles
Drumset Musician p83 Twelve Bar Blues playalong
–We used this as a way to learn drum fills
–Next week let’s learn about the 12 bar blues as a form
==Xylophone==
Warmups (***F Major):
–Scale, one octave, ascending and descending, saying the note names as you play them (F-G-A-Bb-C-D-E-f)
–Arpeggio (F-A-C-f-C-A-F)
–Broken thirds (F-A G-Bb A-C…), ascending and descending
Cirone Book: “Step Six” ex. 5-8
Eartraining: identifying thirds and fifths
Tones and I: Dreaming
–See Worksheet in your personal google drive folder
Finn
Warmups (30sec each, counting aloud):
–Single Strokes
–Double Strokes
–8 on a hand
Joan Jett: I Love Rock and Roll
–begins with “watermelon watermelon” on the snare
–Play the main beat (1+2 3+4)
Fruit Salad game
–Four fruits: pear, apple, blueberry, watermelon
–Each fruit has a rhythm. Experiment mixing up to four fruits together to create your own rhythms!
Visual Drummer: p16 ex. 7-12
–Try to play these without any extra bass drum notes!
Nickelback: How You Remind Me
–Use the webplayer for the Visual Drummer book to help you get the right tempo. Play along with the ex. 2 backing track, and adjust the speed in the bottom left corner of the webplayer to adjust. Gradually build up to our goal tempo (160).
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
–To give your hand a rest, switch to playing quarters on the ride BUT be clever about when to use this strategy
–Practice incorporating the pushes (w/ a crash) into these grooves
Noah
Warmups (1min each per practice session):
–Paradiddle combo exercise with bass drum on quarter notes
Paul Simon: Late in the Evening
–Use a metronome (I use the Tempo app by Frozen Ape) to help you lock the sixteenth-note
Mozambique pattern into the grid
–Practice the four fills you know from this song (a) on their own (b) in the context of the groove every fourth bar
–I’ve uploaded photos with stickings to your google drive folder
Aviva
Warmups (1min ea) letting the stick rebound naturally from the surface
–Single strokes (LRLR…)
–Double Strokes (LLRR…)
–Paradiddles (LRLL RLRR…)
Drumset Musician p11, ex. 1-7 b) **
–Continue to use “long-form” counting (“1+2+3+4+”) even though you’re not playing all those notes
Igoe Groove Essentials Groove 1 Slow (backing track and chart in Frequently Used Resources folder)
–This week, play Ex. 4 or 5 (or bonus: switch between them) as your main groove for this exercise
–Add in the drum fills we learned (on the handout) at the end of four-bar phrases
–We’ll get to Variation A next week
Saturday, May 17
Jack
We are making major steps in terms of making a drum beat and keeping it in time! Developing on our beat last week, we added extra hits on the eighth notes off beats. We also explored the three different sounds! Open/close hi hat through pedal, ride cymbal and the bell of a ride cymbal.
We will look to move on from Thriller next week and try a simple rock song to practise playing a regular drum beat!
Aleksander
Living On a Prayer is going so so well! From start to Chorus is now completely solid with excellent time and sense of groove. Please work through Guitar solo section by yourself and identify spots that you find challenging! We will be finishing this one real soon.
Jonah
We worked on double stroke rolls and I wish to bring emphasis on the bounce stroke. Right now there is a tendency to play the second one lighter. Practise playing the initial hit softer and pulling the bounce stroke fast with fingers to create a louder hit. I have assigned Etude number 9 to Jonah and please try to practise this at a comfortable speed WITH metronome. The aim is to play rolls at controlled lengths and not to move time with a longer roll.
Tracie
We started new song Last Nite by The Strokes. Think of the fill as a boomerang! We will work our way up to the speed. The speed we are aiming for is 216bpm. There also seems to be some other material in other sections, so we will identify those next class!
Jared
Great fun continuing with the Hip Hop beats stuff that you worked with Keshav on Tuesday! One big take away is to in general play more sparse until a certain climax in the tune, which is something we can keep in mind for any style of improv going forward. Think of funky syncopation fill and perhaps limit yourself to choice of drums until the climax. We will try to play through Silhouettes from Naruto next week.
Mario
My Friends by RHCP is slowly getting into shape! For that one tricky lick, remember to always start lower than you think as it starts with eighth notes and the second bar is twice as fast in 16th notes subdivision! We read through till Guitar Solo and we see that same rhythmic motif returning again and again. Whenever in doubt, listen to our recording. Give Guitar solo a read, we will work on that next week!
Preferred Books for TCHRNAME Students
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COMING SOON
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