Kilpatrick and Mathieson back together for July Balmoral Summer School

Together they won five World Championships as the leaders of Grade 1 Shotts & Dykehead Caledonia in the 1990s and 2000s, and now Pipe-Major Robert Mathieson and Lead-Drummer Jim Kilpatrick are together again, virtually, for the July 18-23 Balmoral Summer School of Piping & Drumming.

They will be joined by Andrew Carlisle, Bruce Gandy, Roddy MacLeod and other instructors still to be announced for group classes and one-on-one instruction at the five-day school. Like most other workshops and schools, the Balmoral series has had to go all-online in the face of the pandemic.

Mathieson was pipe-major of Shotts from 1987 to 2010 and then was a member of Grade 1 Simon Fraser University for several years until he retired from competing in 2014. Kilpatrick led Shotts’ drum section from 1987 until 2015. In addition to five World’s, the pair won nine RSPBA Champion of Champions aggregate awards with Shotts.

Kilpatrick won another World Championship with Shotts and Pipe-Major Ryan Canning in 2015, and has 15 World Drum Corps Championships as leading-drummer and another four playing under the legendary Alex Duthart. He’s won the World Solo Drumming Championship a record 16 times. After leaving Shotts, Kilpatrick had a final year in Grade 1 as the lead-drummer of Spirit of Scotland in 2016 before he retired from competing.

Not to be outdone, Gandy, MacLeod and Carlisle have between them won a gazillion solo and band prizes. Both Kilpatrick and MacLeod have been awarded the MBE for their service to piping and drumming.

The Balmoral School is priced at US$375, and those who refer new a student can receive a US$50 discount for each new student who attends.

Related

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August 9, 2016

Kilpatrick raises Spirit, lands with all-star band
December 16, 2015

Mathieson resigns as Shotts PM; Gavin Walker new leader
August 31, 2010

Robert Mathieson joins SFU
March 31, 2011