Update 1: Winter Storm hit by Kilpatrick, Fry, Currie withdrawal
The annual Winter Storm Weekend has been hit by the resignation of star instructors and recitalists Jim Kilpatrick, Tyler Fry and Scott Currie, all of whom have withdrawn from the 2008 faculty. The three have stated to pipes|drums that they “will not be teaching at the workshops or taking part in the concert for Winter Storm 2008.” Bass-drummer Craig Colquhoun also has allegedly decided to leave the 2008 faculty.
Along with leaving the event as a teacher, Fry has reportedly withdrawn his sponsorship of the TYFRY Gold Medal Tenor Drumming competition.
Winter Storm 2008 is scheduled to be held in Kansas City, Missouri, January 11-13, 2008.
According to Kilpatrick, Fry, Currie and he have started a new company that “will be presenting workshops, band seminars and master-classes around the world.” The new organization he says has been in the works for more than a year.
“Nothing will change as far as our other workshops are concerned,” Kilpatrick said. “We will still be teaching at all the other workshops that we have
been associated with. The new venture will involve creating different workshop formats. We would like to think that this will enhance the workshop scene worldwide and we are looking forward to working even closer with existing workshops and organizations. Alongside our workshops, the one thing we would like to feature in the future is a new professional format for snare, tenor and bass competitions.”
Kilpatrick also indicated that they will also soon announce the launch of major worldwide snare-, tenor- and bass-drum competitions.
In a joint statement, the three said, “Jim, Tyler and Scott would like to thank all the students and our many friends who have supported us at Winter Storm for the past few years.”
Winter Storm organizer Henry Spangler had not yet responded to an inquiry from pipes|drums about the matter.
Since its beginning in 2001, Winter Storm has grown to become a marquee event of the piping and drumming year, with an all-star cast of instructor/recitalists.
Watch pipes|drums for further updates as they become available.
p|d
What do you think? We always want to hear from our readers, so please use our comments system to provide your thoughts!
Do you have news? Be sure to send your information to pipes|drums. We can’t report what we don’t know about! Please remember to support the businesses that advertise and make the not-for-profit p|d possible.
A shame this has happened. While this seems sudden, I suspect these resignations to be the culmination of a few months of development. I think it would be prudent and incumbent upon the organizers of WS to provide immediate information to the global community of interest as to the direction being taken – vis a vis, judges, competitions (a go or no go, workshops. Particularly as they pertain to the Gold Medal tenor drumming and bass drumming contests. The potential for world class events don’t seem so distinct anymore. What is being done to ensure that in the aftermath of these resignations? Competitors/learners, who have planned to participate have already put in considerable effort and money lining-up accompaniment and logistcs. I, for one, need information now so I can continue with plans or reconsider my participation. Very interested in Kilpatrick’s snare, tenor and bass contests.
Whoa! This is huge!! I’m sure they will find good replacements but can you really replace Jim?!! I wonder what happened to make them leave like that? I’m watching this one closely.
It would be nice to see both sides of this story. I’m surprised to see that Winter Storm has not updated thier site even after this post has been made. It also seems that there maybe other reasons behind it, not being mentioned. How do you cancel out of the big drumming event in America but say you will continue to do all other workshops? Theres more, and Im looking for pipsdrums.com to keep all informed.”