Roddy (R.S.) MacDonald

Roddy (R. S.) MacDonald is a Pipe Major, the ‘The Governor’s Piper’ of Queensland, Australia, and a renown composer of tunes for the bagpipes.

Roddy MacDonald originally hails from the Scottish town of Inverness. His father is the renowned player, judge and composer of music, William MacDonald (of Benbecula) and his grandfather, Donald MacDonald, was Pipe Major of the 1st Battalion the Highland Light Infantry. [http://www.musicscotland.com/acatalog/Roddy_MacDonald.html]

Roddy’s music has been recorded by a variety of artists and bands, including The Vale of Atholl Pipe Band, The Black Watch, The 78th Fraser Highlanders Pipe Band, The Royal Scots Dragoon Guards, The Scots Guards, Simon Fraser University Pipe Band, Shooglenifty, The Tannahill Weavers, MacUmba, Ceolbeg, Slainte Mhath, Martyn Bennett, Gordon Duncan and many more.

He was originally taught by the late John Hunter, tutor with the Inverness Boys Brigade Pipe Band, an ex-Cameron Highlander and veteran of the Somme. After the Boys Brigade, Roddy played with the Inverness British Legion, Invergordon Distillers and British Caledonian Airways Pipe Bands. He also played for many years with the Balmoral Highlanders showband in London and toured extensively with them under the direction of his lifelong friend Pipe Major Willie Cochrane.

Roddy has had outstanding success as a composer of music with inclusions in over 50 recordings to date. In 1986 he published the Clanranald Collection of bagpipe music and in 2003 released his debut album ("Good Drying") which has received a considerable number of rave reviews in the international music press.

In 2001 Roddy left London after a 26 year stopover and currently resides in Australia and Japan where he is employed as a professional musician.

In 2001 Roddy was commissioned by the Piper and Drummer Magazine and GHB Communications of Toronto to compose a modern Piobaireachd. The piece was entitled Lament for Kenneth Alexander MacLennan of Connon Bridge and was published later that year.

On the 15th March 2006 at Government House, the Governor of Queensland appointed Roddy MacDonald as ‘The Governor’s Piper’ and presented him with her personal standard, to be flown from his bagpipes during Vice-Regal occasions. [http://www.clandonald.org.uk/cdm00/cdm00a13.htm]

References

# Music Catalog Notes from Music Scotland, Retrieved on December_31, 2007.
# Clan Donald Magazine Online Edition. " [http://www.clandonald.org.uk/cdm00/cdm00a13.htm] ", Retrieved on December_31, 2007.