Countdown to John McLellan DCM 150th birthday celebrations and another composition discovery

The countdown to the 150th birthday celebrations for the great John McLellan of Dunoon, Scotland, is in its final days until the opening of the Pipe-Major John McLellan DCM Photographic Exhibition at the Dunoon Burgh Hall on July 31st.

Highland Society of London Gold Medallist and Inveraray & District pipe-sergeant Alasdair Henderson will attend the launch and present McLellan’s pipes, which he has possessed for many years.

Another McLellan relative, Neil Henderson, former pipe-major of Wallacestone & District of Stirling, Scotland, will also attend the opening. Both Hendersons hope to perform several of McLellan’s compositions on the McLellan pipes.

Argyllshire piping legend Jim Henderson, pipe-major of Grade 1 Babcock-Renfrew for many years, will attend as a special guest.

In other Jock McLellan sesquicentennial news, Scott’s Highland Services has worked with McLellan’s grand-nephew Duncan “Duggy” McGregor to create a special 150th Anniversary Collection of Bagpipe Music of John McLellan 1875-1949, which will include two more previously unpublished tunes. Copies of the special edition will be presented to the winners of each category of this year’s Juvenile solo piping winners at this year’s Cowal Gathering in Dunoon.

In addition to the previously unknown McLellan tunes discovered and published exclusively by pipes|drums, one of his final manuscripts, penned before he died in 1949, has been discovered.

A 3/4 retreat march titled “Gaelic Air” was scored in 1948. Like all McLellan compositions, the beauty of the piece lies very much in the simplicity of its strong and original melody.

We’re pleased to have been granted permission to publish it now.

John “Jock” McLellan was born on August 8, 1875, in Dunoon. Considered one of Highland piping’s greatest composers, he created such classics as “The Road to the Isles,” “South Hall,” “The Highland Brigade at Magersfontein,” “The Dream Valley of Glendarual,” and, of course, “Lochanside,” the 3/4 march regarded as a masterpiece of melody and construction.

John McLellan was awarded the Distinguished Conduct Medal (DCM) for bravery while serving with the Highland Light Infantry in the Boer War. He succeeded James Wilson, who succeeded fellow renowned composer Willie Lawrie as pipe-major of the 8th Argyll & Sutherland Highlanders in 1919. “DCM” often deservedly accompanies McLellan’s name, differentiating him from other prominent John Mac/McLellans in piping.

McLellan never married and had no children, but his more distant relatives populate the piping world, and his legacy will continue indelibly through his music.