Barry Wilson of Kilmarnock, Scotland

Barry Wilson's name is well known throughout the International community of pipe band drumming and has been for over two decades. He accomplished more in his early career as a corps member than most drummers could ever hope to achieve. Starting with his local pipe band and progressing on to multiple World Championship titles in Grade 1 including both band and drum corps crowns, Barry Wilson is undoubtedly one of the best drummers on the field today. This was solidified when Barry won the Worlds Solo Drumming Championship in October of 2007 after numerous top-five placements in the past decade. He is probably best known as one of the nucleus members of Jim Kilpatrick's drum corps with Shotts & Dykehead Caldonia for 16 seasons. Today Barry leads his own corps with the Scottish Power Pipe Band and has been turning plenty of heads with his powerful range of sound and unique compositions. We congratulate Barry Wilson on his well-deserved titles and wish him the best for continued success.

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Why did you start pipe band drumming, how old were you, and when did you get 'serious' about it?

I can remember being about 9 years old and seeing the local band in my home village of Mauchline in Ayrshire playing at a gala day “street parade” and saying to my dad that I wanted to play the drums. The band at the time was called Glaisnock Caledonia which later became Mauchline and District and was in Grade 4. It has since been resurrected by the famous solo piper Gordon Walker just recently after it became defunct of late and now competes in Grade 2. It was just one of those things that the minute I saw it I knew I had to do it. The following week my dad bought me a pair of sticks and the rest is history as they say. I eventually joined the same band I had seen that day and by that time I was 10 years old. At first the band didn’t compete and it wasn’t until about 2/3 years later that I joined a grade 3 band and started private lessons every Friday night which would be about the time you could say I started being very “serious” about it because that was when I started competing in solo’s and I would be about 13/14 years old.

Who have been some of your teachers and influences along the way ?

My first teacher in the Grade 4 band was a local guy called Ian Brown who taught me all the basic rudiments but it was all done by ear at the time. Ian then stepped down and a new lead drummer started called Dougie Scott who was one of these guys that played with a bit of flair….I can remember I really looked up to him at the time. He let me take lead at times and nicknamed me the “tape recorder” because he could play something and by ear I could pick it up right away….I laugh looking back at that time now but I was just one of those kids that I see so often now where drumming is everything to you at that time in your life. From there I moved to the Grade 3 band, Killoch Colliery, and was taught by Alan Sanger. This is where I started my competing career and also where I started taking lessons for solos. This would be about 1985/86. My solo teacher now was a guy called Hugh Smillie from Cumnock who played in John Scullions Shotts corps and then Arthur Cooks tenure at Shotts also. He took me under his wing and I went every Friday night and played on his kitchen table learning Duthart scores and for the first time started reading music. And I may add he didn’t take a penny for the lessons…..he just got the gratification of me learning and could obviously see some potential in me. In fact he still jokes to this day that he’s my second dad and lets me know just exactly what he thinks when he attends contests…sometimes too exactly….if you know what I mean! By this time Jim Kilpatrick had joined Shotts and Hugh stayed on playing in Jim’s corps for the first year. At this time he was teaching me Jim’s new scores on a Friday along with the solo stuff and I attended a few practices at Shotts in 1986 when I was 14 albeit while still playing with Killoch at the time. I can remember sitting round the table back then in Shotts band hall and thinking this is what I wanted to do no matter what. I kept attending the Shotts practice through 1987 while yet still playing with Killoch and at the end of that season Jim asked me up to the corps. That was my first year playing in the juvenile world solos as well and I got a 5th place which I was totally over the moon with at the time. From there Jim Kilpatrick was to be my main influence for the next 16 or so years. I can honestly say I’ve never had a one-to-one lesson from Jim but the amount I have learned just from watching the man and sitting next to him for all those years at the practice table with Willie Kerr staring at me from across the table has made me the player I am today. All these guys have had a hand in moulding me and if it wasn’t for all of them at some point in my career I wouldn’t be here today.

What sort of practice methods do you use to stay at the top of your game ?

I shouldn’t be admitting this but I am the worlds worst for practicing. But don’t tell anybody! I do tend to go through things with a bit more order when I’m memorising the new material for the following year but in general I am not a good advert for disciplined practicing. I normally just sit and play a few of the band tunes and mess about with rudiments to get my hands going. My notion is that as long as my hands are going then I can handle anything I need to play. I did this year practice more than I have ever done for the solos and it obviously paid off so although I’m not a “habitual practicer” it is a necessary evil that to stay at the top you have to endure it. I honestly laugh when I hear some guys say they practice 8/9 hours a day….that would drive me insane and when you have a full time career outwith drumming is totally impractical to boot.

When did you begin composing and what sort of path do you follow to write a new score ?

The first score I ever wrote was when I joined Scottish Power in the November of 2002. Up till then I had never put pen to paper in writing a score. Musical theory is not my strong point but I can get by and I found it a major learning curve for me when flung in at the deep end at that point. I strive to be original in everything I write and when I joined the Power the last thing I wanted was people criticising me for ripping off Jim’s scores. Although my style is very similar I can honestly say I have never played one of his scores in anything we’ve done in the band. I think all Grade 1 lead drummers and corps should be using their own material and to me it’s just a cop out playing someone else’s material at that level especially if you’re trying to create your own identity. As for my writing techniques I generally get recordings of the pipe music for the score and get it on the laptop so it’s easy to repeat passages without having to rewind tapes or cd’s etc. From there I’ll start by going through 1 bar at a time this I may add is after I’ve listened to the tune in question for a long time until it’s almost engrained in the memory. I’ve actually written the last few slow airs in the band from my desk at work without the tune to hand but writing it based on my memory of the tune in my head. I find sometimes I can knock out a score in 10mins and other times it will take me 2 or 3 nights. If it’s not happening the best thing to do is leave it and come back to it. Inspiration can’t be turned on like a tap so a fresh approach a few hours or days later can work wonders.

How do you go about learning or memorizing new music ?

Contrary to what I’ve said above it’s practice, practice, practice. Playing it over and over and at the earliest opportunity getting rid of the music and relying on your memory without the paper safety net in front of you. It just takes time and you have to be patient.

What sort of personal recommendations or tips could you share with our readers to become better drummers?

Enjoy what you’re doing. If you’re not enjoying it you’re not going to fulfill your potential and be the best you can be, whether that is a “street parade” drummer or the next world champion. It doesn’t matter what level you play at just enjoy yourself. Set yourself realistic goals and when you achieve them it will spur you on to bigger and better things. Be patient and take your time. Too many times I see guys learning new material and they go at it at 100 mile per hour. Take a step back and play it at a tempo that you can handle. Build it up to where it needs to be… Rome wasn’t built in a day and snare drumming is a pretty patient game but when you get there it is worth it and the sense of achievement makes the hard work worth it!