Maxwell made Life Member of BCPA
At the organization’s Professional Knockout Finals in Vancouver on April 23rd, the British Columbia Pipers’ Association made Reid Maxwell a Life Member, a tribute rarely given to an active competitor and only the second BCPA life membership awarded to a drummer. The organization cited Maxwell’s “exceptional competitive achievements and the advancement of individual and pipe band drumming in British Columbia.”
Maxwell has been a part of the British Columbia piping and drumming scene since moving to the province in 1992 to become Lead-Drummer of the Grade 1 Simon Fraser University Pipe Band. Over the last 18 years he has taught hundreds of drummers, many of whom have gone on to play with him in his corps. He has also been instrumental in SFU’s six World Pipe Band Championships, achieving four World Pipe Band Drumming titles along the way.
The award was presented to Maxwell by BCPA President Graham Davison and SFU Pipe-Major Terry Lee, and was twenty-first life membership given out by the organization. Maxwell described the honour as a “very humbling experience.”
“This award would not have come about had I not moved to the west coast in the fall of 1992 and joined the SFU Pipe Band, which allowed me to further my playing career and enjoy the great success we have had,” Maxwell said. “I will never be able to thank Terry Lee enough for that opportunity. The friendship that he, along with his brother Jack, Rob McNeil and I have formed over the past 18 years has played an important part in my growth over this time. Creating the Robert-Malcolm Memorial system, the Piping Hot Summer Drummer summer piping and drumming school and the whole family that is the SFU Pipe Band organization is something that could not have been done by any one individual.”
On the evening Maxwell thanked Duncan Millar, who he said has played alongside him longer than anyone else, and said “I think he deserves some award for that feat alone,” as we all “all the great players who have played in the corps and band.”
Congrats JR. Well deserved award!!
Congratulations!
Well deserved, indeed! cheers, Doc
A very nice honor, Congratulations Reid! H
You’re the man Reid! Congratulations!
Well done Coffee, couldn’t happen to a better guy. Talk about commitment!
Congrats Reid! A huge accomplishment!
Funnily enough, our pipe major often tells us how he overheard Reid singing 2/4 marches as the corps was practicing, as well as any piper could, with all the correct phrasing and pointing and even gracenotes. It was an example of the respect for the music which has contributed to his stellar contribution to the art for which we are all priveleged.
First off, congratulations to Reid. He is so deserving of this recognition. As for knowing and singing the tunes. My drumming instructor, Jim Walker Sr. and Reid grew up in the same area in Scotland. Jim could sing any tune, 2/4 to any tune you could name, better than most could play. It must be something in the water in the area, or perhaps the Scotch.
Can’t think of a more deserving individual – congrats Reid!