Andrew Hoinacki
Principal Faculty
Lemont, IL

Andrew began his drumming career by taking flourishing tenor drum and bass drum instruction from Jim I. Sim. While playing bass in the all-youth band for a number of years, he began snare drum tuition with James S. Sim. Additional snare instruction came regularly from J. Reid Maxwell. Through the years Andrew has also had the opportunity to work with many great drummers including Gordon Parkes, Jim Kilpatrick, Gordon Brown, Tom Brown, Joe Noble and Carl Lenny.

Andrew's foundational band experience came as a member of the Midlothian Pipe Band organization beginning as a tenor and bass drummer in the Grade 4 Junior band for several years and advancing to snare drum in the Grade 2 band in 1992 where he played for 9 years. His first movement toward having his own drum corps was in college. Toward the end of his experiences with Midlothian, Andrew also served as Leading Drummer and Principal Instructor for the Monmouth College Pipe Band. Andrew's first band-change came when he transferred to the Chicago Caledonian Pipes & Drums in early 2001. He served CCal as Leading Drummer of their Grade 2 band and principal instructor for the Grade 3 and Junior band programs which he helped in founding. For the 2003 season, Andrew joined the Grade 1 Los Angeles Scots Pipe Band. He served the LA Scots for one season as a corpsman and then moved to California to serve as Drum Sergeant for 2004 and 2005. After departing the LA Scots at the close of the 2005 season, Andrew was appointed Drum Sergeant of the Grade 2 the James J. Coyne Memorial Pipe Band where he served through the end of 2009 having played four seasons with the band. Relocated back to the Chicago area, he is currently not participating in a band while focusing on teaching and judging ventures.

Successful in individual competitions, Andrew is a Professional Grade soloist which is the highest available to Scottish drummers. He began, as all players do, in Amateur Grade 4 and advanced throughout the years to Amateur Grade 1 before being promoted to the Professional class. Andrew has won the United States Open Championships at Alma, Mighigan (USA) and has been runner up at both the North American Championships at Maxville, Ontario (Canada) and at the Agnew-Harrison Memorial Invitational Competition in Hamilton, Ontario (Canada). He has also been the Champion Supreme solo drummer of the Midwest Pipe Band Association many times over in all Amateur Grades and the Professional class for winning the most contests over the course of each competitive season.

In addition to his qualifications as a player, Andrew was recognized in 1997 by the Midwest Pipe Band Association as a competition adjudicator. Beginning as an apprentice and moving to Associate Judge status, he was named to the Senior Panel in 2001. His standard credential for Solo Snare and Band Drumming was quickly followed by the addition of qualifications for Solo Tenor and Band Ensemble. Having moved from Chicago, Illinois to Southern California in early 2004, Andrew is now a member of the Judges "A" Panel of the Western United States Pipe Band Association, where he also serves as one of the mentor judges for the apprentice program. Furthering his credential in the Spring of 2005, he took and passed the first WUSPBA Adjudicator Examination for Band and Solo Drumming. Highly regarded as tough but fair and always constructive and informative, Andrew now travels throughout North America judging at all levels of competition. He has judged in the MWPBA, WUSPBA, Eastern US Pipe Band Association (EUSPBA), and the British Columbia Pipers Association (BCPA).