Our World Online Piping & Drumming Championships competitors come from all over the world and represent a huge range of ages and experience levels. We’re proud to host both seasoned, veteran pipers and drummers as well as those who are new to competing online. This variety and diversity of players is important to us: we want to inspire all of our musicians to strive for improvement and that next goal, whether it’s leveling up a grade, learning a new tune or technique or climbing to a higher rank next season! 

Entering the World Online Piping & Drumming Championships for the first time is a huge step toward increasing your motivation and self-confidence. We strive to make it simple to enter regardless of wherever you’re hailing from.

Lillian Scott first got into pipe music four years ago, inspired by her sister, who’d taken up the bagpipes. After a few months of work with the practice chanter, Lillian decided that she was more excited by the snare drum, and started playing and competing with her local band in Ontario, Canada as a drummer. Like many of our other competitors, she first entered the World Online Piping & Drumming Championships during the pandemic, happy to find an event that would continue to inspire her to practice and improve despite being isolated during lockdown. 

“During the pandemic I entered smaller online competitions that did not always give the best feedback or enough options for time signatures. When I was introduced to the World Online Piping & Drumming Championships with BagpipeLessons.com, it was very different. The online video submissions make it very convenient and allowed me to expand my playing around the world and to new judges,” she explained. “Being able to watch professional and higher grade players compete from all over is amazing. As a passionate player wanting to learn something new, having these videos available is a great thing.” 

This past season Lillian chose to compete in her current grade level as well as in the next grade up — something we highly recommend to competitors looking to challenge themselves. Placing first in her own grade’s events and finishing fourth in the higher grade, Lillian also recommends playing up. 

“For me, playing up a grade was an experiment to see how well I would do under a higher grade’s pressure. It allowed me to receive different feedback. I was incredibly excited to play in a higher grade, as it’s so inspiring to be constantly progressing with something you are passionate about.”

We’re so happy Lillian has been able to showcase her skills and challenge herself with the World Online Piping & Drumming Championships. We hope to see more of her performances in the future! 

Are you considering playing up next season? Not only will you be able to receive extra feedback from our judges, you’ll have a better understanding of where you are within the next range of skills development. Still have questions? Find answers below or reach out to [email protected] with anything else.