TBJ133: Christopher Bill
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TBJ133: Christopher Bill on his amazing and amazingly powerful guide to remote music education. And bidets. Christopher is back for another interview with a deep dive discussion of how to learn and teach in the age of social isolation.
To save you some scrolling, here's a link to the oft-mentioned documents:
From his bio:
Christopher is best known as the most subscribed brass musician on YouTube. He’s a trombonist, singer, and multi-instrumentalist based outside of NYC.
Christopher’s YouTube Channel of all-trombone arrangements of popular songs has been gaining popularity since the spring of 2014 when a cover of Pharrell Williams’ “Happy” where Christopher uses a looping station to compose the song on the spot went viral. His videos have amassed over 35 million views and a following of over 250,000 subscribers. In April of 2014, Christopher independently released his first cover album, Breakthrough, which was followed by his Christmas album, Smiling’s My Favorite. More recently, Christopher released an original pop album called Half Man, Half Machine which mixes acoustic sounds with electronic instruments. He is the Youth Workshop Coordinator of the International Trombone Festival and a marketing consultant for the International Trombone Association. In 2018, his collaboration with the International Trombone Festival of Bohemian Rhapsody went viral.
He has been playing piano since he was 6 years old, trombone since he was 10, and he has been composing/arranging since he was 12. Christopher has a Bachelor of Music for classical trombone performance from the SUNY Purchase Conservatory of Music in New York. While at the conservatory he studied with critically acclaimed trombonists Weston Sprott (Metropolitan Opera), Denson Paul-Pollard (Metropolitan Opera), John Fedchock (Grammy Nominated Jazz Trombonist), and the absolutely incomparable Timothy Albright (Atlantic Brass Quintet).
Christopher enjoys a busy schedule of performances, clinics, and masterclasses. In addition to producing a new video every Saturday for his YouTube Channel, he often performs at festivals such as the American Trombone Workshop, Midwest Clinic, Texas Bandmasters Association, Con Brio Festivals, Conn-Selmer Institute, Western International Band Clinic, TMEA, the NAMM Show, and the International Trombone Festival.
In this fun and lively discussion, we cover:
Herds of Antelope
5 year olds
Impact of the virus on our lives
Impact of the virus on music careers
Bidet
2pm alarms
Recording an album in Arizona
Chris' guide to remote music education
How it came about
Sleep schedules
How his document could change (our corner of) the world
Trombone Overdub Death Match: Jim Nova vs. Christopher Bill
The Milli Vanilli of trombone
Breakdown of the concepts from the document
Online lessons
Assessment
Masterclasses
Jam of the week/etude of the week
Recording assignments
Research projects
Virtual recitals
Watch parties
Social media challenges
Virtual choir recording projects
Warmups
Pushups
Broken fingers
Work smart and take care of yourself
LINKS
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Expertly produced by Will Houchin with love, care, and enthusiasm.
