The Balmoral School of Piping & Drumming is proud to announce our team of world-class piping and drumming judges for the 15th Balmoral Classic’s US Junior Solo Piping & Drumming Championships. This year’s competitions will take place online, with an international panel of judges hailing from Scotland, Ireland, Australia, Canada and the USA.
Murray Henderson’s accomplishments include Highland Society of London’s Gold Medals at both Oban and Inverness, Gold Medal Clasp at Inverness (6 times), Senior Piobaireachd at Oban, Dunvegan Medal, Colonel Jock MacDonald Clasp to the Dunvegan Medal (2 times), Silver Chanter (5 times), Bratach Gorm (5 times), Gillies Cup (3 times), MSR at both Oban and Inverness, Former Winner MSR at London (5 times), Glenfiddich Championship (4 times). He is senior adjudicator for the Solo Piper’s Judges Association for both Piobaireachd & light music, and has judged Internationally, and at all major events in Scotland.
P/M Brett Tidswell is the Principal of Piping with the Australian Pipe Band College, and a qualified examiner with the Piping and Drumming Qualification Board, Scotland. He is the only piper to win a record 12 wins of the R U Brown Piobaireachd Society Gold Medal. Under his leadership, the City of Adelaide Pipe Band won the Australian Grade 1 Championships in 1998 and remained at the top of Grade 1 for the next 10 years. During the Scottish competition season, Tidswell competed with 20-times World Pipe Band Champions Strathclyde Police Pipe Band.
A professional piper and EUSPBA judge from Silver Spring, Maryland, Mike Rogers competitive successes include the Highland Society of London Gold Medal at the Argyllshire Gathering, the Piobaireachd Society (Canada) Gold Medal, the Silver Medal at the Argyllshire Gathering, the Dan Reid Invitational Cameron Gillies Championship, the Piobaireachd event at the Metro Cup, and the Professional MSR event at the USPF Championship. He played with the City of Washington Pipe Band for 10 years, Grades 2 and 1, and served as Pipe Sergeant for several years in Grade 1.
Stephen Creighton is the lead drummer with the World Championship winning St Laurence O’Toole Pipe Band, Dublin, Ireland. His solo honours include the 1989 World Junior Championship, 19 World Solo Finals, 5 Senior all Ireland Championships and 3 Ulster Senior Championships. With his corps, Stephen has won five Grade 1 All Ireland drumming titles, two Champion of Champions titles, and six World Drum Corps titles plus the 2010 World Pipe Band crown.
In 1995, Lead Drummer J. Reid Maxwell became the first person in history to lead the drum corps of two different bands (SFU Pipe Band, 78th Fraser Highlanders) to World Pipe Band Champions wins, this preceded by two World Pipe Band Championships and four World Drum Corps Championships as a member of Scotland’s Dysart & Dundonald Pipe Band. With SFUPB’s capture of the World Pipe Band Championship & World Drum Corps Championships (2008, 2009) Reid obtained his 18th World Championship title.
Eric MacNeill joined the Oran Mor Pipe Band in 1996 and in 2000 became lead drummer for the grade 2 band, before joining the SFU Pipe Band in 2012. In 2009, Oran Mor moved to grade 1, and in 2011, qualified for the grade 1 final at the World Pipe Band Championships). Since fall of 2015, Eric has been drumming director for the Dunedin pipe band programs and lead drummer of the City of Dunedin Grade 2 pipe band. He has been EUSPBA Professional Season Champion several times, and a semi-finalist at the World Solo drumming Championships in Scotland five times.
On Sunday morning after the competition, Balmoral is offering a free piobaireachd workshop with piping judge Murray Henderson, and a free drumming workshop with drumming judge Stephen Creighton. The piobaireachd and drumming workshops are open to any pipers or drummers who apply for 2021’s competition and to all previous Balmoral Classic competitors. The two workshops will be held online, Sunday, Nov. 14, from 11:00am to 12:30pm EST.