Donald MacLeod (pipe major)

Pipe Major Donald MacLeod, MBE (14 August 1917 – 29 June 1982) was a Scottish bagpiper, British Army Pipe major, composer and bagpipe instructor.

Life

Donald MacLeod ("Wee Donald") was born in Stornoway on the island of Lewis on 14 August 1917.

Macleod was mentored and tutored by John Morrison, who took him to his first Northern Meeting.^[1] He was also tutored by Willie Ross, and every week for 27 years by John MacDonald of Inverness.^[2]

With his wife Winnie he had two daughters, Susan and Fiona.^[3]

He joined the British Army in 1937, and went to France in 1940 with the 2nd Battalion of the Seaforth Highlanders in the British Expeditionary Force. Captured as a prisoner of war during the surrender at St. Valery-en-Caux, he escaped during the march to Germany and returned to France in 1944 as pipe major of the 7th Battalion of the Seaforth Highlanders.

After the war, he competed in solo competitions, and won the Gold Medal at the Northern Meeting in Inverness in 1947 and at the Argyllshire Gathering in Oban in 1954.^[4][5]

After leaving the British Army in 1963, MacLeod became a partner in a Glasgow bagpipe-manufacturing firm.^[6] He was made Member of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire (MBE) in 1978.

The Donald MacLeod Memorial Competition is an invitational piping competition held on Lewis since 1994.

Musical influence

He tutored several top players, including John Wilson and Iain MacDonald, and regularly taught at summer schools in North America.^[1][7]

MacLeod's tutorial on pibroch, contains 220 recordings of Ceòl Mòr (great music), in 21 volumes.

Discography

• A Puckle Pipers

Compositions

He published six volumes of light music and one of pibroch, and after his death Iain Macdonald compiled a further volume.^[2][8] Among his compositions were

• Susan MacLeod
• Fiona MacLeod
• Glasgow City Police Pipers
• Crossing the Minch

References