Steven McWhirter

Steven McWhirter is a pipe band drummer from Northern Ireland. He has won multiple World Championship titles as a solo performer and as part of band. He is the lead drummer for the Inveraray & District Pipe Band.

Steven McWhirter
Born1983
Ballymena, Northern Ireland
Instrumentssnare drum
Websitewww.stevenmcwhirter.com

Life

McWhirter was born in Ballymena, Northern Ireland, in 1983.[1]

Career

Band career

He joined the Cullybackey Pipe Band in Northern Ireland in 1994,[2] and also played with the Warrnambool & District Pipe Band in Australia.[1] When he joined Cullybackey he played the tenor drum, before moving on to play the snare.[1]

Cullybackey won the Grade 2 World Championships in 2002, and J. Reid Maxwell invited him to join the Simon Fraser University Pipe Band in British Columbia.[3] He played with Simon Fraser University every summer until 2008, winning the Grade 1 World Drum Corps Championship in 2004 and 2008, as well as the overall World Pipe Band Championships in 2008.[2]

In 2008 he moved to Scotland to join the Inveraray & District Pipe Band as leading drummer.[4][2] Inveraray won all five major championships in Grade 2 in 2009, and were promoted to Grade 1 for 2010.[5][6] In 2014, Inveraray won its first Major at the European Championships, held in Forres.[7]

Solo career

McWhirter won the under-15 World Solo Championships in 1997 and 1998, and the World Solo Drumming Championships in 2006,[8] 2011,[9] 2012, 2013,[10] 2014, 2015,[11] 2016, 2017, 2018 and 2019. He currently holds the record for most consecutive World Solo Drumming Championship wins.[12][1][2]

He has taught at schools, including Dollar Academy[13] and The Edinburgh Academy.

References
  1. "Steven McWhirter". toddsbar.com. Retrieved 4 March 2015.
  2. "About". stevenmcwhirter.com. Retrieved 4 March 2015.
  3. "Steven McWhirter". drummingondemand.com. Retrieved 4 March 2015.
  4. "SFU Pipe Band makes its annual call to Vernon". The Morning Star. 3 July 2015. Retrieved 9 October 2015.
  5. "Inveraray to make Grade 1 debut at Lomond & Clyde contest". pipesdrums.com. 23 October 2009. Retrieved 30 December 2013.
  6. "2010 Regrading Changes". RSPBA. 18 October 2009. Retrieved 30 December 2013.
  7. "2014 European Champions: Inveraray & District". pipesdrums.com. 20 June 2014. Retrieved 4 March 2015.
  8. "Slideshow - First-ever Foyle Piping Festival". Ballymoney Times. 30 March 2009. Retrieved 9 October 2015.
  9. "McWhirter captures a second World Solo Drumming Championship (video)". pipesdrums.com. 31 October 2011. Retrieved 9 October 2015. Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  10. "Inveraray drummer on top of the world". Argyllshire Advertiser. 31 October 2013. Retrieved 9 October 2015.
  11. "Steven McWhirter: 2015 World Solo Drumming Champion". pipesdrums.com. 17 October 2013. Retrieved 13 January 2016.
  12. "McWhirter chasing down 10th World Solo Drumming title". www.pipesdrums.com. Retrieved 2019-10-19.
  13. "Pipe Band". Dollar Academy. Retrieved 9 October 2015.

Official website

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