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
Is Chris Your Teacher?
Sign up now to get your weekly assignments delivered, and never lose your homework sheet again!
Tuesday, January 28th
Lila
Warmups:
–8 on a Hand
–Single strokes
–Double strokes
–Paradiddles
Review of grip: good. Keep skin contact with stick
Basic Beat Level 2**
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” and “3”
Step 4) Add in the Snare Drum with your Left Hand (LH) on “2” and “4”
Visual Drumset Method: exercises 1-4**
–You can find this in the google drive>Frequently Used Resources (please bookmark for future use)
–Aim for four repetitions of each exercise without hiccups or hesitations
Josh
Warm-ups:
–Hand and foot coordination: 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 Play-alongs
–Rock groove 4 (track 7)
White Stripes: Seven Nation Army
–Polish thsi off this week!
Myles
==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
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 Visual Drummer ex. 2 as the main beat for this song
–This week, play along with the recording and try to memorize where the drums come in
Francisco
Warmups:
–Stick Control first page ex. 14-18 (4x each, **120bpm goal tempo)
Tommy Igoe Groove Essentials book: Groove 1 FAST **
–Drill these beats to get them up to speed
–Be relaxed, and remember to use smaller motions to help you play fast notes
–Don’t allow your whole arm to be a part of the stroke. Instead, use your wrist to execute the fast hihat passage.
–Please speak to your father about buying this book – it is something that we can use a lot in your lessons and for years to come.
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
–This week, we learned the fill before Verse 1. Similarly, this needs to lock in. But, because of all the space, it’s hard to do. So, make sure to drill it slowly, counting along.
Saturday, April 13th
Jack
Great Job keeping time for Jam by Michael Jackson today on cymbals plus toms! Also learnt how to play the rhythm in the drum beat. Next goal is to understanding how to identify sections and know when to add the “bam” on cymbals (fill)
Tova
Great job working on the Slow Groove #3 and variation A today. Always remember not to over play an individual instrument, if anything give us more bass drum! Right now hi-hat tends to overwhelm other things because of RH dominant hand. Also worked on adding in the pedal hi-hat back beat. At home try to give variation B on the same page a try, with all of the things above in mind!
Our next goal is learning Jujutsu Kaisen’s Kaikai Kitan till the end of semester. Will upload score to drive.
Next week will be xylo week. Familiarise yourself with Cupid by 50/50 up to chorus, I will upload the chorus onto Drive over the week
Tracie
Warm-Up: We talked about the idea of playing doubles efficiently, as there is a throw and grab motion. The grab motion is one motion and short, allowing the the second bounce to be short and as powerful as the initial stroke. Please work on the below at 75-80 bpm:
RRLL RRLL
RLRR LRLL
RRLR LLRL
RLRR LLRL (the groove from Turnstile Blues)
Turnstile Blues by Autolux
The groove is now solid! However we need to understand since we are playing the pattern now slow, the first and second beat is also slow. We have worked through the entire bar, however when stuck during practise, my advise is practise in smaller section (e.g. only beat 2+3 to smoothen up the transition, 2+3+4, then finally the whole bar)
We also tried adding in hihat. With everything in place, we are at eighth note equals to 100 bpm.
Jared
Warm-Up: solid work with Stick Control today!
Bring me to life by Evanescence
very solid read up to bar 25 so far! Several things to keep in mind:
- the pattern starting bar 18, second beat is a dotted rhythm, tip to hit that is to lay the bass drum after the hi hat on the n of 2
- at bar 25, the first bass drum hit also should come after the ride on down beat. Practise filling in that rest with a ride hit before we can fully play with the ride.
Get familiarise with everything till bar 33. We will be working on the next section next class. Also still try to spend some time planning the solo. A good solo doesn’t just come out of nowhere, but hard work!
Mario
Warm Up:
Grab and throw motion for the triplet exercise! It is going a lot better! Work on the triplet and double at around 75-80 bpm at home, prioritising evenness (within one hand as well as both hands sounding even) and staying in time!
My Friend by RHCP
The transition from hihat(open) to ride is getting a lot better! We will definitely revisit it next class, but we have also identified the following tricky spots:
fourth bar of chorus: following the R RL sticking, as well as keeping in mind to leave a 16th note gap between those two RH hit
one bar fill before second verse: drags! we will be working more on this technique during warmup next class!
essentially the left hand could either play a buzz or a double stroke, but our goal is to eventually tighten it up into one sound, similar to a flam. In the meantime just remember to keep the left hand low and relax, and be prepared to play the next note also on left.
Still use the drumset musician p11 ex to warm up brain —> one bar ride one bar hi hat —> then to the song
line 4 is sounding great and solid! give line 6 a try, it is just a slightly wonkier line 4 but we will identify it in future songs
Do it slow!
Aleksander
Warm-Up: work on Stick Control Page 9
Variation: first bar triplet, second bar 16th notes, practise with metronome (TIP: throw the 16th and relax for faster rhythm!)
New observation is that LH tends to stiffen up more, leading to uneven sound! I challenged you to try playing LH more in a RLRL pattern, somehow it became even –> keep LH in check: play more but not stiff!
great work with playing intro to Living On a Prayer. This week we worked on Verse and the various flair added to the hi hat. Bars to work closely with is second bar of verse, fourth and the sixth. Practise them slow! We will aim to play the entirety of verse next week and move on to0 pre-chorus!
Mateo
Apologies for the shorter lesson today! will be adding extra 15 to next week.
Warm Up: always remember to put ourselves in the best possible posture so we don’t make it hard for ourselves to play!
keep the back of hand always facing the ceiling, try to minimise that turning motion that happens when engaging a stick
Eye of the Tiger! all the fills are sounding solid! now try to play them in context and we will try to play through sections next class!
Jonah
Xylo week warmup: Bb major scales – also challenged him to try arpeggios in different positions (Bb D F Bb-> D F Bb D- F Bb D F etc). This one is tricky but definitely a super useful one as we practise getting our hands moved preemptively! Told Jonah to practise blocking them in two (Bb D and F Bb for example), and move swiftly to next after, that will practise that wrist movement required to moving preemptively!
worked on 12 bar blues together today! remember to follow sticking so we don’t trip up!
Please bring in material from Hannaford (snare drum and mallet or accessories) next week so we can identify what we can work with for Jonah going forward if we are to set further goals! Also I promise Jonah we will continue reading the four mallet solo “Yellow after the Rain” with him.
Preferred Books for TCHRNAME Students
Click to buy them here, and they’ll come right to your house! What could be easier?
BOOK TITLE
COMING SOON
BOOK TITLE
COMING SOON
BOOK TITLE
COMING SOON
BOOK TITLE
COMING SOON