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George Balderose
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Gail Brown  (Highland
Piping) was born in 1953 in Hamilton, Ontario. She is one of the top women
pipers of all time. Don Demming and PM Bus Featherstone were her first
instructors, to be followed by John Wilson. In 1973, as a piper with Shotts
& Dykehead Caledonia PB, she became the first female piper ever to
play in the World's with the winning Grade 1 band. She has competed successfully
in many Open competitions around Ontario. Gail is a prolific instructor,
including leading the Milton Optimist Pipe Band to Juvenile and Grade III
World Championships and in later years the MacDonald Caledonia Pipe Band.
Her sons, Graham, Blair and Glenn have been highly successful in piping
and drumming for over 10 years in Grade I including 6 years with Shotts
& Dykehead including 2 years as World Champions. All three are
piping and drumming judges and instructors and have highly successful solo
careers.
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Maureen Connor
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Alasdair Gillies
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James MacColl
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Lyric Todkill
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Scot Walker
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John Wilson
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Gordon Bell
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Jon Quigg
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Liza McAdam
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Graham Brown
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Bernadette Bell - tenor drumming Bernadette comes from an extensive and successful highland dancing
career. She began her drumming career as a snare drummer, and switched
to tenor due to a demand for top level tenor players. Her dancing background
has helped her bring a degree of excellance and ability with flourishing
and timing that is hard to find. She has received individual tuition from
Margaret Peng as well as the valuable video instruction from talents such
as Lisa Frasier, Bob Meade, and Tyler Frye. Bernadette now heads up her
own tenor section with the Kenmure Pipe Band. She is happy to return to
the Balmoral staff for the 2006 season.
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(Smallpiping
and Highland Piping) has been studying with some of the world's top Highland
piping instructors for more than two decades. During much of this time
he has been developing methods of teaching piping to adult beginners, and
several of his Highland piping students have won firsts at EUSPBA-sanctioned
piping competitions. George has also been playing and teaching the Scottish
smallpipes for more than fifteen years. He has performed with the Pittsburgh
Symphony, as a soloist for the Metropolitan Museum of Art in NYC, and with
championship Scottish and Irish dancers at concerts and festivals throughout
the Eastern U.S. His competitive successes include winning the MacCrimmon
Quaich for Grade One Piobaireachd four times.
(Highland
Piping) Maureen attended her first Balmoral School in 1988 and has been
instructing since 1994. She currently teaches professionally in New
York’s Capital District where her students compete in all Amateur Grades.
She directs the Scotia-Glenville Pipe Band who placed 3rd at the The World
Pipe Band Championships in 2007 (Novice Juvenile) They have been promoted
to Grade 3/Juvenile for 2008. She is a member of the Oran Mor
Pipe Band which has been promoted to Grade 1 for 2008. As a soloist
she won the Nicol-Brown Chalice for Piobaireachd as well as several MacCrimmon
Quaich’s. She also competed at Oban and Inverness from 1997-1999.
(Highland
Piping) Alasdair teaches the Carnegie-Mellon University Pipe Band in Pittsburgh.
He also has 17 years of experience as piper and Pipe Major with the Queen's
Own Highlanders, serving for many years as instructor to prepare recruits
to be Regimental Pipers. In addition, he has had an astounding number of
successes at piping competitions over the years. For example, he won every
event he entered at the Northern Meeting in Inverness in 1986. He won the
Inverness Former Winners MSR ten times between 1986-2002, more than any
other piper in history! In 2002 he won the Glenfiddich Championship MSR
for the sixth time. Alasdair is clearly one of the world's very best solo
pipers.
(Highland
Piping) was born in 1928 in Shotts, Scotland. Jim's first teacher wasP/M
Tom McAllister. He later received tuition from P/M Willie Ross, Iain MacPherson
and Robert Reid. He was a member of the Shotts & Dykehard Pipe Band
from 1939-50. Between 1950-54 he won most of the major piping awards in
Scotland including the aggregate at Cowal, four years in succession, and
the Oban Gold Medal. He emigrated to California in 1955, and since that
time, he has taught many of the top players on the west coast of the USA.
(Highland Piping)
A graduate of Carnegie Mellon University’s prestigious music conservatory,
Lyric is only the second person in the world to hold a Bachelor of Fine
Arts in music performance on the bagpipe. Under the direction of famed
Pipe Major Alasdair Gillies, Lyric received his degree in 2003 along with
his Graduate Teacher Certificate from the Institute of Piping in Glasgow,
Scotland.
(Highland Piping)
of Lehigh Valley, PA. was rated #1 Overall Solo Piping Competitor 7 out
of 8 years by the Eastern US Pipe Band Association. He has won firsts at
nearly all the major US Solo Championships. In Scotland he has won first
prizes in the professional competitions at the games in Dornoch, Strathpeffer,
Lonach, and Cowal, among others. Currently he serves on the Music Faculty
of Moravian College as instructor of Bagpipe Music. His students have distinguished
themselves at EUSPBA Amateur competitions throughout the Eastern US.
(Highland
Piping) John served as Pipe Sergeant of the Strathclyde Police Pipe Band
for 9 of their record-breaking 12 World Championships, including the six
consecutively (1979, '81-'86,'88, '89). He has also won virtually every
major award in senior solo piping including the Gold Medals at Oban and
Inverness, the March and Strathspey & Reel competitions at Oban and
Inverness as well as the Former Winners’ March, Strathspey & Reel.
John was originally taught from the age of six years by his father, the
late Pipe Major William Wilson, and from the age of 11 years onwards received
all his tuition in piobaireachd from the late Pipe Major Donald MacLeod
MBE who was a great influence in his style of playing. More recently he
has been the compiler and organizer of the continuing collections of Donald
MacLeod Piobaireachd Tutorials available on CD on the Lismor label.
(Scottish
Snare and Bass Drumming) Gordon began drumming at the age of 8 under the
guidance of Norman MacLeod in the Kenmure Pipeband. He also received tuition
from the legendary Alec Duthart. Gordon took over the corp in 1975; the
band eventually changed the name to the Parlin & District.The band
and corp dominated the pipeband scene throughout the 80s in the EUSPBA,
winning the North American Championship in Grade 2, and placing them in
Grade 1. He has also been a member of Muirhead & Sons, Kenmure, Worcester
Kiltie, 78th Fraser Highlanders, and the City of Washington Pipe Bands.
Gordon also saw a great deal of success in the solo field winning the EUSPBA
Overall Champion each year from 1979-87. He has recorded with The Empire
Brass Quintet, 78th Frasers Live in Scotland, and with his own Celtic Rock
group "51 Ash" in which he also plays the Bass guitar.
(Scottish
Snare and Bass Drumming) Liza started drumming at eight years old, taught
by Alistair Dowling. She was lead drummer with the Inverness Schools Pipe
Band, and competed in solos from and early age, winning prizes in the North
of Scotland and World Championships juvenile sections. Liza went on to
win the North of Scotland Open drumming contest and Ladies World Championship.
She was the first (and remains the only) lady to qualify for the final
round of the top 16 players for the World Adult Solo Contest. Liza traveled
to Aberdeen for practices and played with the Deeside Ladies Pipe Band
for one year, winning Champion of Champions in Grade 2. After going back
to play in Inverness and Dingwall, Liza moved with the rest of the drum
corps to the Scottish Gas Pipe Band in Grade 1. She played in the band
while traveling as far as Singapore and California to teach the drums.
Liza later moved to California permanently, teaching many of the bands
in northern California, as well as leading the successful Prince Charles
Pipe Band Drum Corps.
(Scottish
snare and bass drumming) Graham began drumming in October 1991. His first
band was the Milton Optimist Juvenille Pipe Band, under the direction of
his mother Gail Brown. The band was very successful, winning the World
Juvenille Championships in 1994 and the World Championships in grade 3
in 1997. He began playing in grade 1 in 1998 with the Peel Regional Police
Pipe Band and played there for 2 seasons before joining the 78th Fraser
Highlanders in the fall of 1999. Here he spent 2 seasons before realizing
his lifelong dream of playing with Jim Kilpatrick and Shotts and Dykehead.
The first year with Shotts was 2002. With the band Graham has won 2 World
Pipe Band Championships, 3 World Drum Corps Championships, 4 drum corps
Champion of Champion titles, and accumulated a total of 16 Major Drumming
Wins. In September 2007 Graham was named Drum Sergeant of the Peel Regional
Police Pipe Band. In Solo competition Graham has won every major award
in Ontario, and in 2007 was a Finalist at the World Solo Drumming Championships.