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
Instrument(s)snare 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}}: 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 19 October 2019.
  13. "Pipe Band". Dollar Academy. Retrieved 9 October 2015.

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