Donald MacLeod (piper)
{{Use dmy dates|date=May 2021}}
{{Infobox military person
|honorific_prefix = Pipe Major
| name = Donald MacLeod
|honorific_suffix = {{post-nominals|MBE}}
| image =
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| birth_name =
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| birth_date = {{birth date|1916|08|14|df=y}}
| birth_place = Stornoway, Scotland
| origin =
| death_date = {{Death date and age|1982|06|29|1916|08|14|df=y}}
| death_place =
| allegiance = {{UK}}
| branch = {{Army|United Kingdom}}
|service = 1937-
| unit = Seaforth Highlanders
| battles = {{tree list}}
{{tree list/end}}
}}
Pipe Major Donald MacLeod {{post-nominals|MBE}} (14 August 1916 – 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 Isle of Lewis on 14 August 1916.{{cite web |url=http://www.nicol-brown.org/macleod.html |title= Donald Macleod |publisher=nicol-brown.org |accessdate=12 October 2018}} Macleod was mentored and tutored by John Morrison, who took him to his first Northern Meeting.{{cite web|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oUKkZZGqRG8 |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211212/oUKkZZGqRG8| archive-date=2021-12-12 |url-status=live|title=Talk about the Life of Donald MacLeod (1) |publisher=YouTube |date=1 September 2012 |accessdate=22 June 2017}}{{cbignore}} He was also tutored by Willie Ross, and every week for 27 years by John MacDonald of Inverness.{{cite web|url=https://projects.handsupfortrad.scot/hall-of-fame/pipe-major-donald-macleod-mbe/ |title=Pipe Major Donald MacLeod MBE – Scottish Traditional Music Hall of Fame |date=16 September 2013 |publisher=handsupfortrad.scot |accessdate=22 June 2017}}
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.{{cite web|url=http://pipingpress.com/inverness-gold-medallists/ |title=Inverness Gold Medallists |publisher=pipingpress.com |date= 7 October 2014|accessdate=22 June 2017}}{{cite web|url=http://pipingpress.com/piobaireachd/double-gold-medallists/ |title=Oban Gold Medallists |date=2 October 2014 |publisher=pipingpress.com |accessdate=22 June 2017}}
After leaving the British Army in 1963, MacLeod became a partner in Grainger and Campbell, a Glasgow bagpipe-manufacturing firm.{{cite book|title=The Cabar Feidh Collection: Pipe Music of the Queen's Own Highlanders|date=1983|publisher=Paterson's Publications Ltd|location=London|page=292}}{{cite web |url=https://www.pipesdrums.com/article/the-pipemakers-duncan-macrae-set-a-high-standard-for-tone-and-innovation/ |title=The Pipemakers – Duncan MacRae set a high standard for tone and innovation |date=10 September 2018 |accessdate=13 October 2018 |publisher=pipesdrums.com}}
He was made Member of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire (MBE) in 1978. With his wife Winnie he had two daughters, Susan and Fiona.{{cite news|url=https://www.pipesdrums.com/article/Winifred-Winnie-MacLeod/ |title=Winifred "Winnie" MacLeod |publisher=pipesdrums.com |date=30 November 2010 |accessdate=22 June 2017}}
Musical influence
MacLeod tutored several top players, including John Wilson, Iain MacDonald, and P/M Iain M Morrison. He regularly taught at summer schools in North America.{{cite AV media|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=63N0_wD4G3M |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211212/63N0_wD4G3M| archive-date=2021-12-12 |url-status=live|title=Talk about the Life of Donald MacLeod (2) |publisher=YouTube |accessdate=22 June 2017}}{{cbignore}}{{cite web |url=http://www.piobaireachd.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/Musical-Legacy-of-Donald-Macleod.pdf |title=The Piobaireachd Legacy of PM Donald Macleod |author=Andrew Wright |website=piobaireachd.co.uk |accessdate=13 October 2018}}
MacLeod's tutorial on pibroch contains 220 recordings in 21 volumes.{{cite web |url=https://www.musicinscotland.com/acatalog/Donald_Macleod_Piobaireachd_Tutorial_Vol_1_CD.html |title=Donald Macleod - Piobaireachd Tutorial Vol 1 |website=musicinscotland.com |accessdate=13 October 2018}}
The [http://www.piobdm.com P/M Donald MacLeod MBE Memorial Competition], instituted by Iain M Morrison, is an invitational piping competition held in his memory on the Isle of Lewis since 1994.
Discography
- A Puckle Pipers
- Positively Piobaireachd
- Piper in the Nave
Compositions
He published six volumes of light music and one of pibroch, and after his death Iain Macdonald compiled a further volume.{{cite web|url=https://www.pipesdrums.com/article/New-collection-featuring-Donald-MacLeod-tunes-now-out/ |title=New collection featuring Donald MacLeod tunes now out |publisher=pipesdrums.com |date=31 July 2008 |accessdate=22 June 2017}}
Among his light music compositions were tunes such as:
- Susan MacLeod
- Fiona MacLeod
- Glasgow City Police Pipers
- Crossing the Minch
- The Blackberry Bush
Some piobaireachd compositions tunes include:
- Cabar Feidh Gu Brath
- Queen Elizabeth the Second's Salute
- The Field of Gold
- Lament for the Iolaire
References
{{Reflist}}
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Category:People from Stornoway
Category:Great Highland bagpipe players
Category:Gold Medal winners (bagpipes)
Category:Members of the Order of the British Empire
Category:British Army personnel of World War II
Category:Seaforth Highlanders officers
Category:British World War II prisoners of war
Category:World War II prisoners of war held by Germany