Born in Dingwall, Ross-shire in 1958, Colin MacLellan was raised in a household steeped in piping tradition. Shortly after his birth, the family moved to Edinburgh when his father, John A. MacLellan, took up the position of Chief Instructor at the Army School of Piping in Edinburgh Castle. This immersion in the highest levels of piping education from an early age would profoundly shape Colin’s musical development and future career.
Colin began learning the pipes at an early age from John D Crichton at George Heriot’s School, who served as his principal teacher until around 1973. At that point, the influence of his father, the renowned piper and composer John A. MacLellan, became predominant in his development. Between these two major influences, Colin benefited from short periods of instruction from several distinguished pipers: Hugh CR MacRae, Pipe Major Ronald MacCallum at consecutive summer schools in his native Dingwall, and Duncan Johnstone in Glasgow. Throughout his development, Colin was also highly influenced by the playing of Iain MacFadyen and the late J D Burgess, absorbing diverse approaches to the tradition.
Colin began his competitive career in Scotland and started playing in Open competitions in 1976. The following year, at just eighteen years of age, he moved to Canada where he would spend the next twenty-two years in the province of Ontario. His reputation as a teacher grew rapidly, and during his time in Canada he taught at seventeen different summer schools, sharing his expertise with aspiring pipers across the continent. He also established himself as a successful reedmaker, putting to use the skills he had learned as a youngster in Edinburgh.
In 1986, Colin moved to Glengarry County, Ontario, where he was appointed Piping Teacher for the Stormont Dundas and Glengarry County School Board. He also took on the role of Pipe Major of the Glengarry Pipe Band whilst serving as Director of the Glengarry School of Piping and Drumming. Teaching at three different high schools, Colin demonstrated exceptional leadership in developing the band’s capabilities. He successfully guided the Glengarry Pipe Band through the grades, from Grade 4 all the way to its eventual promotion as a Grade One band. Along this remarkable journey, the band won Canadian, US, and North American titles in Grades 4, 3, and 2, establishing itself as one of the continent’s premier pipe bands.
During the early 1990s, Colin pursued academic studies alongside his musical career. He studied Political Science at Carleton University in Ottawa, obtaining a Bachelor of Arts degree, and later attended Brock University in St Catharines, Ontario, where he achieved a Bachelor of Education degree. He holds Teaching and Graduate Certificates from the Institute of Piping as well as a Province of Ontario Teaching Certificate, reflecting his commitment to formal pedagogical excellence alongside his traditional musical training.
In 1992, Colin achieved significant recognition when he won first prize in the international composing competition for Piobaireachd held by Clan Donald Canada. His winning tune, entitled “The Salute to Sir John A Macdonald,” was performed for the Prime Minister of Canada, the Right Honourable Brian Mulroney PC QC, at a ceremony marking the 100th anniversary of John A. Macdonald’s death in Kingston, Ontario. Also in 1992, Colin recorded volume 11 in Lismor’s prestigious “World’s Greatest Pipers” series, cementing his reputation as one of the foremost pipers of his generation.
In 1999, Colin and his wife Jenny Hazzard returned to Scotland, where Colin took up a position as Head of Piping Studies at the National Piping Centre. In this role, he became responsible for educational initiatives and was instrumental in the creation of the BA Scottish Music – Piping degree, jointly offered by the Centre and the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama (now the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland). During this period, he also served as an external examiner for RSAMD, contributing his expertise to the assessment and development of the next generation of pipers.
In 1999, Colin was appointed Pipe Major of the Lothian and Borders Police Pipe Band, which had lost its Grade One status for the first time in the band’s distinguished history during the previous season. Colin faced the challenging task of rebuilding the band’s reputation and competitive standing. Within one season, he had secured the Champion of Champions title in the lesser grade, and the band once more took its place in the top flight of pipe band competition. Colin holds the distinction of being the last Pipe Major of the Lothian and Borders Police Pipe Band to have led the band to the finals of the World Pipe Band Championship.
In 2000, Colin was appointed President of Scotland’s Competing Pipers Association (CPA), and during his tenure the organisation became an active and influential force in the piping world. Under his leadership, CPA established a circuit of six Piobaireachd competitions at Scottish Highland games, providing crucial performance opportunities for competitive pipers. The Duncan Johnstone Memorial competition was founded during this period, an event run in partnership with the National Piping Centre that has become the pre-eminent competition for Scotland’s aspiring professional pipers. CPA also initiated significant reform of the Joint Committee for Judging under Colin’s leadership, with a new structure and reassessment of procedures being established that led to the return of Senior Adjudicators who had not judged for some years.
In 2001, Colin accepted a position as Piping Teacher at The Edinburgh Academy, a post he held until December 2007. Throughout this period and beyond, Colin has maintained an active schedule of international teaching and judging commitments, examining, and reedmaking. He was instrumental in the reformation of Edinburgh’s historic Eagle Pipers Society and serves as its Honorary President. Upon his retirement from competition in 2007, he was appointed a Senior Judge of Scotland’s Joint Committee for Judging, bringing his extensive experience to bear in assessing the next generation of competitive pipers.
Colin also served a term as Chairman of The Piping and Drumming Qualifications Board starting in 2014, contributing to the standardisation and recognition of piping qualifications. He is currently a member of the Spirit of Scotland Pipe Band and has recently produced a book and CD of his father’s complete piobaireachd compositions, ensuring that John A. MacLellan’s important compositional legacy remains accessible to future generations.
Colin presently serves as Chair of the Scottish Solo Piping Judges Association and for the past fifteen years has served as a Board Member of Glasgow’s renowned Piping Live International Festival, one of the world’s premier piping events. In 2021, he made a brief return to competitive piping, winning the online Piobaireachd event at the Fergus Highland Games some thirty-plus years after last winning the same competition. He was awarded the Lifetime Achievement Award and Honorary Life Membership of the Piper’s and Pipe Band Society of Ontario in the summer of 2022, recognising his profound impact on piping in Canada.
In 2025, at the age of 67, Colin made one more foray into competitive piping, winning the Glengarry Cup in Ottawa for the fifth time—thirty-five years after his first win—demonstrating that his musical abilities and competitive spirit remain undimmed.
A Canadian citizen as well as a UK national, Colin lives and works in Edinburgh with his wife Jenny Hazzard. He has a daughter, Emily Kate, who has played in the Grade One 78th Highlanders Halifax Citadel and the Grade One Toronto Police Pipe Band, and a son Iain, who plays with the Cameron Highlanders of Ottawa Pipes and Drums, ensuring that the MacLellan piping tradition continues into the next generation.
Colin MacLellan’s induction into the Scottish Traditional Music Hall of Fame recognises his exceptional contributions to piping across multiple continents and decades—as a world-class performer and competitor, as an influential teacher who has shaped countless pipers’ development, as an innovative administrator who has strengthened piping organisations and competitions, as a skilled reedmaker whose craft supports performers worldwide, and as a dedicated advocate for piping education and standards who has ensured that the tradition continues to evolve whilst maintaining its essential character and excellence.