Instructors

Stuart Liddell

Originally from Inveraray, he started piping at the age of nine and he was originally taught by his grandfather, the late Pipe Major Ronald McCallum M.B.E. He has also had tuition from Jim Henderson and Hugh McCallum.

For seven years he was a member of the Scottish Power Pipe Band thereafter joining the Simon Fraser University Pipe Band from Vancouver, Canada, with whom he played for eleven years.

Stuart is one of the world's most existing pipers and is noted for his excellent solo perforamnces and recordings at numerous Simon Fraser University Pipe Band concerts.

In 2008 Stuart Liddell and Steven McWhirter joined forces to run the Inveraray & District Pipe Band, which placed 2nd in Grade 1 at the 2016 World Pipe Band Championships. In 2017, Inveraray & District Pipe Band was crowned World Pipe Champions! In 2018, the band took 2nd place at the World Pipe Band Championships. The band also just won the 2019 World Pipe Band Championships!

A piano tuner by trade, he is also piping instructor at Mid Argyll Primary and Lochgilphead High Schools.

Stuart's pipe band achievements are too many to list.

Andrew Douglas

Andrew is a prolific practitioner of the bagpipe, having been active at the highest level of pipe bands, solo competition, teaching, and creative endeavors for the past 20 years. He's also the founder and creator of Dojo U and of PipersDojo.com. Some of his credentials are:
-Founder, Creator, and CEO of the Piper's Dojo and Dojo University
-2017 & 2019 World Champion with Inveraray and District Pipe Band
-2017 Winner of USA Silver Medal for Piobaireachd
-2008-2013 Pipe Major of Grade 1 Oran Mor Pipe Band
-Multi-prize winner, Silver Medals at Oban and Inverness
-Former Winner of B-Grade Strathspey/Reel at Oban (2004)
-Accredited Bagpipe Teacher and Examiner with the Scottish Qualifications Authority
-EUSPBA Adjudicator....

Derek Midgley

Derek hails from Tinton Falls, New Jersey and began piping at the age of 12. His first tutor was George Bell, formerly of Parlin, NJ who was instrumental in Derek’s rise through the amateur ranks in the US. After his passing, Derek is fortunate to receive instruction from Roddy MacLeod, MBE.

Derek’s notable solo prizes include the Silver Medal and B Marches at the Northern Meeting, and multiple prizes in the Highland Society of London’s Gold Medal at both Oban and Inverness including a prize in 2022. He has won the the A Grade MSR, Hornpipe/Jig, and Piobaireachd at the Scottish Piping Society of London Competition, the Dunvegan Medal and Open Marches at Skye, and the Lochaber Axe for Senior Piobaireachd at Fort William. In Canada, Derek was the third person ever to win the “Double Gold” Gold Medal and Bar to the Gold Medal of Canada on the same day. More recently in the USA, he has won the Metro Cup Piobaireachd, the United States Piping Foundation Piobaireachd three times, and the USPF Overall for the first time in 2022. Finally, Derek won both light music events at the Royal Highland Gathering at Braemar in September of this year.

Derek also has many years of domestic and international Grade 1 Pipe Band experience, having played with the City of Washington Pipe Band, Toronto Police Pipe Band, and the Scottish Power Pipe Band.

Derek became a piping adjudicator for the Eastern United States Pipe Band Association in 2016 and a member of the EUSPBA Music Board in 2017. He is also the current Metro Branch Chairman. In 2020, Derek was elected President of the Competing Pipers Association in Glasgow, Scotland and works to coordinate solo professional piping in Scotland and abroad.

Kegan Sheehan

Kegan was drawn to the pipes at age 5 when he heard them at a county fair in upstate New York. Shortly thereafter, he began taking lessons through the Adirondack Pipes and Drums in Glens Falls, NY. A few years later, he began receiving tutelage from Donald F. Lindsay and rose rapidly through the amateur solo ranks, winning the Nicol-Brown Invitational in 2006, before moving up to Professional the following year at age 16.

In addition to his solo endeavors, Kegan has enjoyed tremendous success as a bandsman. At age 11, he joined the Oran Mor Pipe Band based in Troy, NY. He served as Co-Pipe Sergeant of Oran Mor from 2008–2012, helping the band qualify for the Grade One final at the World Pipe Band Championships in 2011. He also played two seasons with the Stuart Highlanders Pipe Band of Massachusetts before joining the Inveraray & District Pipe Band of Scotland in 2016. With Inveraray, Kegan became a two-time World Pipe Band Champion (2017 & 2019).

Kegan’s extensive experience leading, setting up, and playing in top bands has made him a sought-after pipe band instructor. In that capacity, he has served as the primary instructor of the St. Columcille United Gaelic Pipe Band, based in Kearny, NJ, since 2015. Under Kegan’s guidance, the band achieved a historic victory in 2018, becoming the first North American band to win in any grade level at the All Ireland Pipe Band Championships.

Steven McWhirter

Steven began drumming in 1993 at the age of 10. He played with Cullybackey Pipe Band from 1994 until 2001. Between the years of 2002 to 2008 he traveled from his home in Northern Ireland to compete, teach, and perform with the Simon Fraser University Pipe Band in Vancouver, Canada. In 2008 Steven and world-renowned piper Stuart Liddell joined forces to run the Inveraray & District Pipe Band, which placed 2nd in Grade 1 at the 2016 World Pipe Band Championships. In addition to a huge list of solo drumming accomplishments, Steven is a 8-time World Solo Drumming Champion, having won first in 2006 then consecutively from 2011 through 2017.

Reid Maxwell

J. Reid Maxwell is certainly one of today's most decorated drummers. When the SFU Pipe Band captured the Worlds in 1995, Reid became the first person in history to lead the drum corps of two different bands to be named World Pipe Band Champions (his other victory being in 1987 with Toronto's 78th Fraser Highlanders, also the 1987 World Drum Corps Champions). And all this was preceded by two World Pipe Band Championships and four World Drum Corps Championships as a member of Scotland's Dysart & Dundonald Pipe Band.

With the band's capture of the 2008 and 2009 World Pipe Band Championship and World Drum Corps Championships, Reid obtained his 18th World Championship title, an amazing feat by any standard. Reid's ability to produce exceptional drum corps and his dedication to the instruction of young drummers is held in high regard worldwide. In 2015, Reid was awarded the BC Community Achievement Award for services to pipe band drumming in British Columbia.

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Derek Cooper

Derek is a member of the Grade 1 Inveraray & District Pipe Band from Scotland. He is also the drumming instructor and lead drummer for Ulster Scottish Pipe Band. During his time with SFU, Derek won the Grade 1 World Pipe Band Championships as well as the best drum corps prize twice. Derek's vast solo drumming accomplishments include winning the North American Gold Medal Snare Drumming Championship at Winter Storm in Kansas City 4 times, and being the only American to ever make the finals at the World Drumming Championships. In 2017, Inveraray & District was crowned World Champions! In 2018, the band took 2nd place at the World Pipe Band Championships. The band also just won the 2019 World Pipe Band Championships!

Andrew Elliott

Andrew is from Toronto, Ontario, Canada and joined Field Marshall Montgomery Pipe Band as lead tenor drummer in 2013. He joined his first Grade 1 band at age 13, and has won every major prize both in band and solo competitions in Ontario. Along with being the Canadian, United States, and North American Champion, Andrew is also a 4-time MHAF Gold Medal winner, in both bass and tenor drumming. Andrew is the owner of Ace Percussion, the only company to offer fully-customizable tenor drum mallets. In 2018, Field Marshall Montgomery Pipe Band was crowned World Champions!

Danielle Cooper

Danielle started playing for Tullylagan Pipe Band twelve years ago, at eight years old, learning the tenor drum. Throughout the years at Tullylagan, succeeding from Grade 4B to grade 3A, she won major titles at home and away such as the Ulster, All Ireland, Scottish, and European Championships, including Champion of Champions at home and Supreme Champion of Champions in Scotland both as a band and drum corps. In 2015, she joined Inveraray & District Pipe Band, winning British and Scottish titles including their respective drumming prizes, and in 2017 the band became World Champions. As well as playing in the band, Danielle has claimed the Ulster and All-Ireland solo tenor drumming titles. Furthermore, in 2015 she placed second in the International Tenor Drumming Solos. Danielle also teaches in schools throughout the Mid-Ulster area in Northern Ireland and is a tutor for the Ulster Scots Pipe Band (a juvenile band) who perform on many different stages throughout the world.....

Christina Hanks

Christina Hanks began her involvement in the Scottish arts as highland dancer at age 7. She joined the Manchester pipe band in the late 90’s as a tenor drummer and in the fall of 2001 became the bass drummer for the grade 2 Oran Mor Pipe Band. Christina continued with Oran Mor on bass up through grade 2 and into the grade 1 final at the World Pipe Band Championships in 2011. In 2013, Christina joined the 78th Fraser Highlanders from Ontario, Canada as a tenor drummer. In playing as a tenor drummer with the 78th, Christina became one of the very few players in the world to compete in the grade 1 Final event at the world championships as both a bass and tenor drummer. As member of the 78th Frasers, Christina was part of three Grade 1 North American Championship victories and four finishes in the top 12 at the World Pipe Band Championships. In 2018, Christina became the bass drummer for the 78th Fraser Highlanders and in the fall of 2019, moved to Florida and became the bass drummer for the City of Dunedin Grade 1 band.
As a solo competitor, Christina is an active professional bass and tenor competitor, having won the North American championships as a bass drummer. She is a certified Bass and Tenor Adjudicator with the Eastern United States Pipe Band Association, and with over 20 years of competitive experience, is highly sought after as an instructor and clinician throughout North America. Professionally, Christina is a School Psychologist in the Pinellas County Florida schools.

Instructors

Bagpipes.