Ryan began his own piping career in Northern Ireland at the age of 14.  He joined the Field Marshal Montgomery Pipe Band from Northern Ireland just four years later, where he subsequently spent 16 years, winning 40 RSPBA major championships including six World Championship titles (2002, 2004, 2006, 2007, 2011, 2012), and a Grand Slam (2011).  Ryan was a major face of the band’s musical development during this period and established himself as a reputable composer which led to the publication of his first collection of music, The Full Monty, in 2004 and the follow-up collection, The Blockbuster, in 2015.

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At the end of 2012, Ryan accepted the position as Pipe Major of the Shotts and Dykehead Caledonia Pipe Band from Scotland.  Ryan was only the 8th Pipe Major in the band’s century long history, and is the second Northern Irishman to lead one of the world’s greatest pipe band institutions.  In August 2015, Ryan led the band to win the World Pipe Band Championships on Glasgow Green. The first win for a Scottish band since Shotts last won the title in 2005. The three year timeframe between Ryan’s appointment as Pipe Major and leading the band to win the Grade 1 World Championship is the fastest ascent to the World title by any Pipe Major in 45 years. Indeed, since the World Pipe Band Championship first became a separate event in 1947, only five Pipe Majors have won the World’s in three seasons or less.