Joe Noble, 1942-2024

Born in Fraserburgh, Aberdeenshire, in 1942, neither of his parents was involved with piping or drumming. However, five years after the Noble family moved to Glasgow in 1949, he started drumming lessons with the local Boys’ Brigade.

His talent for drumming was immediate, and he progressed rapidly with the 214 Boys’ Brigade Pipe Band until he was good enough to play with the Grade 1 Renfrew Pipe Band. He stayed with Renfrew for an impressive 23 years, most of them as leading-drummer. While with the band, Noble was surrounded by great piping and drumming talent, including Iain MacLellan, Alex Connell, Andrew Hosie, George Hunter, Robert Turner, and Tom Anderson, who, as pipe-major of Renfrew, had a distinct impact on Noble’s career.

Joe Noble’s competitive drumming career was impressive, especially considering he played at a time when the great Alex Duthart was his contemporary. In 1972, Noble won the Scottish Pipe Band Association’s Challenge Trophy for drummers – the equivalent of today’s World Solo Drumming Championship.

When the association created the World Solo Drumming Championship in 1975, Joe Noble was its first winner. With Renfrew, he guided his drum corps to a World Drumming Championship title in 1974 and also won the drumming at the Cowal Championships in 1968, ’71, ’73, and ’75.

In 1982, after only a few months, he was coaxed out of retirement when he agreed to lead the Grade 2 Toyota Pipe Band drum corps. Under Noble and Pipe-Major Hugh MacInnes, The band dominated that grade for several years until it was promoted to Grade 1.

When Toyota folded in 1986, Noble retired from competitive drumming and started the Band Room, a business dedicated to supplying bands and orchestras of all types with equipment. With Iain MacLellan, his partner in the Band Room, Joe Noble’s shop on West Regent Street in Glasgow was a social centre for pipers and drummers year-round and was especially busy during the week before each World Championship.

Joe Noble was an adjudicator with the Royal Scottish Pipe Band Association for more than 30 years and only recently retired from judging duties. He contributed his expertise and time to the RSPBA in many other ways on various committees.

His travels as a teacher took him worldwide, including Argentina, where he worked with the St. Andrew’s Society of the River Plate Pipes & Drums. That band’s former pipe-major, Leslie Thomson, contributed this memory of Joe Noble:

In 1990, the St. Andrew’s Society of the River Plate Pipes and Drums was invited to compete in Scotland, an opportunity made possible with the support of our friends at the South American Piping Association (SAPA).

Our drum corps faced a significant challenge – our equipment was antiquated and far from competitive standards. Upon seeing this, Joe didn’t hesitate for a moment. In a gesture of remarkable generosity, he lent us a complete set of drums, transforming our sound and giving us the tools we needed to compete on a world stage. It was an act of true selflessness that we will never forget.

Later, when our band decided to purchase our own drums, we naturally turned to Joe’s “Band Room.” It was a moment of poetic justice – or perhaps divine providence – that we became his very first clients. This connection only deepened the bond we felt with him.

Joe’s impact on the pipe band community in Argentina and across South America went far beyond that single act of generosity. He continued to support bands across the continent, offering his expertise and instruction and serving as an adjudicator at South America’s pipe band gatherings. His influence reached the budding piping community in southern Spain, where he made lasting friendships, particularly with the Sur Pipe Band from Málaga.

The pipe band community of South America will deeply miss Joe. We extend our heartfelt condolences to his wife, Lynn, and to his extended family and friends.

Joe Noble was respected by pipers as a “piper’s drummer,” with a sympathetic ear for ensemble and a great appreciation for the pipes. Indeed, he was a fixture in the audience at many major solo piping events, including as a regular attendee at the Glenfiddich, the Argyllshire Gathering and the Northern Meeting.

pipes|drums interviewed Joe Nole in 1997, and we will republish that archive piece in due course.

On behalf of the piping and drumming world, we extend our condolences to Joe Noble’s family and many friends at this sad time.