Christopher Bill

Christopher Bill (born June 9, 1992) is an American trombonist, composer, arranger, and YouTuber. He presents classically arranged popular songs multi-tracked on trombone, both live and in music videos found on his YouTube channel, ClassicalTrombone, which he introduced in 2011.

Christopher Bill
Background information
Born (1992-06-09) June 9, 1992
Binghamton, New York, United States
GenresClassical Crossover
Occupation(s)
  • Musician
  • YouTuber
Instruments
  • Trombone
Websiteclassicaltrombone.com

Bill performs a variety of music styles, from classical and jazz to pop and rock. Aside from original work, his discography contains covers of songs by other musicians and various soundtracks and his cover version of Pharrell Williams' "Happy" went viral in 2014.[1][2] As of September 2015, his ClassicalTrombone YouTube channel exceeded 100,000 subscribers and over 10 million total views.[3][4][5]

Early life

Bill was born in Binghamton, New York. He grew up the youngest of four siblings. At six years old, he began taking piano lessons.[6] At age ten, he decided to play the trombone and by age twelve he began composing and arranging.[5][7]

Living in Endicott, New York, Bill attended Union-Endicott High School. While there he was an active member in the school's music program including being drum major for the marching band. During these years he was also a member of the Binghamton Youth Symphony Orchestra, the Bayonne Bridgemen Alumni, and the Syracuse Brigadiers.[6]

Education

Bill received his Bachelor of Music from the Conservatory of Music at the State University of New York at Purchase.[5][7]

Career

YouTube performances

While he was studying at the SUNY Purchase Conservatory of Music, Bill began arranging popular songs for trombone quartets. He would record himself playing all four parts, and then upload them to YouTube. The first song to gain popularity was Owl City's "Fireflies", which he uploaded in August 2012.[7] In December 2012 he posted a new Christmas arrangement every day leading up until Christmas, calling it "The 25 Days of Christmas. Starting in July 2013, he began to post a new video every Saturday, and in February 2014 his video of Pharrell Williams' "Happy" went viral.[1][4] As of December 2015 the video has over 2.8 million views.[3][5][6]

Bill has independently released three multi-tracked albums. The first album, entitled Breakthrough was released in the spring of 2014. It consists of pop and rock covers. In the winter of 2014 Bill released his second album, Smiling's My Favorite, an album of Christmas songs. Most recently, Half Man, Half Machine was released in 2017.[5][8][9]

Live performances

Shortly after graduating from college, Bill began to perform his arrangements live. He has performed for audiences at the Conn-Selmer Institute, International Trombone Association Festival, Midwest Clinic,[10] Texas Bandmasters Association,[11] American Trombone Workshop,[12] Con Brio Music Festival, and Condé Nast Digital Day in Moscow.[13]

Community involvement

Bill has been heavily involved with the International Trombone Association and their annual festival, serving as the director of the youth workshop in 2019.[14]

Discography
  • Half Man, Half Machine (2017)
  • Breakthrough (2014)
  • Smiling's My Favorite (2014)

References
  1. "Pharrell on Trombone, Kawehi does Radiohead – Watch Live Go Loopy". www.ableton.com. Retrieved 2015-09-13.
  2. McKee, Kristi (2014-12-01). "Making It Happen: Purchase College and New York City" (PDF). purchase.edu. Purchase College. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2015-09-05. Retrieved 2015-09-10.
  3. "Christopher Bill". YouTube. Retrieved 2015-09-13.
  4. "Social Media Star Trombone Player Visits CBS 11". Retrieved 2015-09-13.
  5. Bill, Christopher (2015-08-29). "Christopher Bill – About Me". classicaltrombone.com. Classical Trombone SP. Archived from the original on 2015-09-15. Retrieved 2015-09-10.
  6. Martin, Ryan (2014-02-27). "Trombonist and Youtube Sensation Christopher Bill". jammerstream.com. Jammunity LLC. Retrieved 2015-09-10.
  7. Gosling, Dan (2014-07-22). "An Interview with Christopher Bill". chopsaver.com. ChopSaver. Retrieved 2015-09-10.
  8. styleshout.com, Erwin Aligam -. "EARCOS Teachers' Conference 2016". www.earcos.org. Retrieved 2015-09-13.
  9. "Christopher Bill – Kathleen Heuer". Retrieved 2015-09-13.
  10. "Trombone and Technology: The New Wave of Accessibility A Clinic-Performance with Christopher Bill". midwestclinic.org. The Midwest Clinic. 2014-12-19. Retrieved 2015-09-10.
  11. "Texas Bandmasters Association 2014" (PDF). texasbandmasters.org. Texas Bandmasters Association. 2014-07-17. Retrieved 2015-09-10.
  12. "American Trombone Workshop 2015" (PDF). usarmyband.com. US Army Bands. 2015-03-21. Retrieved 2015-09-10.
  13. "The Sixth Condé Nast Digital Day". condenast.ru. Condé Nast. 2015-04-10. Retrieved 2015-09-10.
  14. Marston, Karen (2019-02-22). "Indiana 2019 Youth Workshop Faculty". International Trombone Festival. Retrieved 2020-11-17.
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