As one of North East’s foremost performers and tutors of the snare drum and one of the best leading drummers in the north of Scotland, you could be forgiven for thinking that Nicky Gibson can relax and be content with his progress to date.
Not one bit of it...
Winner of an array of solo drumming competitions and band championship titles, Nicky has a growing reputation for forming successful drum corps and producing high quality drummers through his work with local bands and his full time percussion teaching business.
And, if you have been a regular follower of Grampian Police Pipe Band, you will have heard how he raised the bands drum corps from scratch to champions in three years.
Born in Aberdeen in 1974, Nicky was attracted to pipe bands through the local BB band which, at the time was very successful. Nicky was given his first pair of drumsticks at the age of 7 and almost immediately he couldn’t bear to put them down.
Nicky began pipe band drumming with the 47th Culter BB organisation, then under the leadership of Jim Campbell, with tuition from various drummers from Culter and District Pipe Band.
Nicky recalls: "Tom Brown of Boghall and Bathgate was overseeing the tuition setup within the organisation and was, and still remains my biggest influence."
Having progressed to the novice juvenile band and experienced several enjoyable years playing at that level, Nicky was part of the highly successful band who won countless BB competitions and the world championships in the late eighties and early nineties.
Nicky said: "I will always remember one particular Cowal Gathering when the band won the novice juvenile competition, champion of champion, the BB trophy and the drumming trophies. We hardly had a band to play down the street because we had so many trophies to carry."
Nicky progressed to the Juvenile Band under the leadership of Gus McAskill (now at Bucksburm and District Pipe Band) and as leading drummer, they won the 1992 World Championships and the drumming prize along with an array of other local and national prizes.
To this day, Nicky still feels a sense of immense pride at this achievement.
The experiences and tuition that he gained at the BB band have stood him in good stead, without which Nicky says he could never have hoped to achieve all that he has to date and hopefully more in the future.
It was also around this time he started learning and playing the drumkit.
He then took several years away from pipe bands and spent lots of time pursuing his other great passion, hill walking and climbing. Nicky said: "There was barely a weekend when I wasn’t up a hill or holed up in a bothy somewhere."
Nicky started a percussion teaching diploma at Aberdeen College, which he achieved in 1999. He really got interested in the drumkit and found himself playing in and around Aberdeen in many different bands, playing everything from rock to jazz, with what he describes as "varying degrees of success".
He took lessons from local drummer Stuart Ritchie, who he describes as "a truly fantastic musician". Inspired by the change in technique, which really opened his eyes to the possibilities of the drumkit, Nicky realised his great desire to progress with his drumming career.
Nicky was offered the opportunity to take over the drum corps at his old band, Culter and District Pipe Band, in 1997, under the leadership of friend and mentor Neil Selbie.
He added: "The drum corps at the time consisted of me and Stuart Hart (now with us at GPPB) on Bass. We had to find more drummers and quick, and when we eventually did find drummers we pulled together really well."
"I even ended up marrying one of them, my wife Elaine."
Nicky built the drum corps up of all local players mainly from the BB bands and in 2000, they went on to win the Grade 3A champion of champions.
Promotion to grade 2 soon came and they also secured the Scottish and European drumming titles in the same year.
After a year playing in Grade 2 with what he describes must have been the smallest grade 2 band, pressures from within the band led Nicky to decide to leave and join Bucksburn and District Pipe band, who were then competing in Grade 1.
Nicky spent a great year playing in grade 1 before leaving to concentrate on his newly formed percussion teaching business – 'Aberdeen Drum Lessons'.
Nicky said: "I started a full time percussion teaching business in Aberdeen and Aberdeenshire, and had to devote my time there to get it established."
"We are now in our 7th year and I'm amazed at how successful it's been."
He added: "I have a number of students from those just starting to some really talented players of the snare or drumkit."
The self-confessed modest player said: “The ability to teach comes naturally and I truly feel very fortunate to do a job that I am passionate about."
Nicky is married to Elaine, also a snare drummer in Grampian Police Pipe Band and they have two lovely daughters. He is based in Tarves, Aberdeenshire.
He continues to play drumkit in various bands around the local area and, from time to time play with the Scottish Fiddle Orchestra, one of Scotland's foremost traditional music organisations which he says offers the opportunity to play in some fantastic venues Nationwide.
Nicky says he was "honoured" to be offered the opportunity to rebuild the drum corps with Grampian Police Pipe Band in 2007.
He gladly accepted and has been working hard to rebuild the corps to a high level with the aim of creating a musical and exciting drum corps to complement one of the strongest pipe sections in the grade.
Under Nicky's leadership the Grampian Police Pipe Band drum corps holds the coveted North of Scotland Champion of Champions title, a prize that Nicky has a clear desire to retain.
Success on this scale only comes through absolute dedication and, as Nicky will be the first to admit, a real desire to perform at the highest level.
He said: "The 2009 season was our best so far in relations to results and achievements. But I felt we needed to strengthen the corps and I'm delighted to welcome in experienced side and tenor drummers who will add a real depth to our playing and with our new Pearll drums, our sound will be even better."
"We have worked really hard as a corps over the winter months and we can't wait to get started."
Nicky has shared his talent and enthusiasm at countless drum lessons and percussion sessions all over the world and his teaching skills are constantly in demand. He has only recently returned from a week in Kuala Lumpur where he had been judging at the inaugural Pipe Band championships, part of the Malaysian World Band Competition.
Nicky described the event as a “fantastic experience.”
He has also accepted an invitation to join an experienced team of pipe and drum tutors to support Aberdeenshire Youth Pipes and Drums. With funding from the Youth Music Initiative, this exciting new venture will open a series of Induction workshops throughout Aberdeenshire and Nicky will teach percussion and drums.
Band Manager, Inspector Murray Main said: "In Nicky Gibson, I truly believe we have one of the best drumming talents and leading drummers in the North of Scotland.
"He has formed his own drum corps from virtually nothing and they are really beginning to show their true potential."
He added: "We are proud of what Nicky has achieved and are all very excited with what the future holds for both him personally and Grampian Police Pipe Band."
Nicky teaches the snare drum, drumkit and percussion. If you are interested in contacting Nicky about lessons please view this link www.aberdeendrumlessons.com
ENDS
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