Jim Kilpatrick MBE is a Scottish pipe band drummer, and leading drummer of the Spirit of Scotland Pipe Band. He has won numerous drumming titles as both a solo drummer and in pipe band competitions, enjoying his greatest competitive success with the Shotts and Dykehead Caledonia Pipe Band.
Jim started playing drums at the age of 10. His progress was so rapid that within two years he was competing at the highest level in Grade 1 competition. At the age of 15, Jim joined Shotts & Dyjkehead Caledonia Pipe Band, where he won his first World Drum Corps and World Pipe Band Championships - the first of Jim's record nineteen World Drum Corps Championships. Fifteen of these titles have been won as a leading drummer. This also includes winning the World Drum Corps Championship for a record breaking eleven years in a row between 1988 and 1998.
Jim’s move into the solo drumming arena proved to be equally successful. He has smashed every record in the books by winning the RSPBA World Solo Drumming Championships no less then sixteen times. He is also the current holder of the Champion of Champions title, a title he has won three times.
Another record Jim holds is that of being the only leading drummer ever to win the 'Grand Slam', which consists of winning all five major drum corps championships in one season in 1991. This run coincided with him actually winning 10 major drumming championships in a row over three seasons between 1990 and 1992.
Jim’s talent and reputation is such that he is continuously invited to teach in schools and colleges all over the world, as well as making countless master class appearances at drum clinics and percussion festivals around the world including the Royal School of Music (London & Glasgow) and the Percussive Arts Society conventions in the USA.
Jim instructs percussion students at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland in Glasgow, where he holds the post of principal percussion instructor for the BA (Scottish Music) with Honours. He is also an appointed examiner to the Scottish Qualifications Authority, which involves the assessment of Standard and Higher Grade Music students from all over Scotland.
Jim's contribution to the music industry has achieved considerable recognition. He has received the 'Lifetime Achievement Award' for drumming from the UK & Ireland Chapter of the Percussive Arts Society in London.
The Member of the British Empire MedalIn 2004, Jim was awarded the MBE (Member of the British Empire) for his services to music by Her Majesty The Queen in her birthday honours list - a significant milestone in the career of any musician, but completely unique to Jim in the world of pipe band snare drumming. Jim received his honour from The Queen at an investiture ceremony held in Buckingham Palace that summer.
Jim was inducted into the Scottish Traditional Music Hall of Fame in 2009, making him the first pipe band drummer to receive such recognition from within the Scottish traditional music industry.
These achievements rank Jim Kilpatrick MBE as one of the top percussionists in the world today in addition to being regarded as the world's greatest exponent of the pipe band snare drum.
