Brian, from Cardenden in Fife, was taught to play the pipes by his father, Pipe Major Andrew Donaldson, himself a renowned piper and teacher. After leaving school, Brian served his apprenticeship as a bagpipe maker at Inveran House under the guidance of Jimmy Tweedie.

At a young age, Brian played with the world-famous Dysart & Dundonald Pipe Band, winning all the major championships in Grade 1. In 1978, Brian enlisted in the Scots Guards and served with the regiment all over the world. He passed the Pipe Majors’ course at the Army School of Piping, Edinburgh Castle, in 1982. After serving in the Falklands War, he was posted to the Army School of Piping as an instructor for three years.

On his return to the 2nd Battalion, he was promoted to Pipe Sergeant and, shortly after the amalgamation of both battalions, Brian was promoted to the rank of Pipe Major in 1995. In 1998, he became Pipe Major of the Army Training Regiment. Eventually, the Military centralized all army piping and drumming, and Brian served out his 22 years at the Army School of Bagpipe & Highland Drumming in Edinburgh.

Brian has achieved an amazing list of prizes, including but not limited to:

• Gold Medal – Oban
• Gold Medal and two Clasps – Skye
• Bratach Gorm – London
• 2nd Gold Medal – Northern Meeting (twice)
• MSR – Argyllshire Gathering (twice)
• MSR – Northern Meeting (three times)
• MSR – Oban and Inverness (double win in the same year)
• MSR – London
• MSR – Grant’s
• Numerous invitations to The Glenfiddich

In 2012, Brian was appointed as Piping Instructor at St. John’s Northwestern Military Academy in Delafield, Wisconsin. In 2020, he joined the staff at Missouri Military Academy in Mexico, Missouri, to establish the Academy’s first-class Pipes and Drums program. He is a founding member of the Davidson Scottish Arts Academy and serves as its director of piping.

A native of Campbeltown, Kintyre, Willie received his main tuition from his uncles Ronald McCallum and Hugh A. McCallum and also came under the guidance of Ronald McCallum, MBE, Piper to The Duke of Argyll. The McCallum family can trace their piping back to John McAlister (Willie’s 4-times great-grandfather) who won the prize pipe in 1782 at the Falkirk Tryst.

Willie’s development as a youngster included not only these formal family influences but the less tangible, equally important impressions made by countless visits to the Kintyre Piping Society. Here he heard all the experts of the era, including legends such as Donald MacLeod, Donald MacPherson, and John Burgess.

Willie McCallum is one of the foremost competing pipers in the world today. He is in demand as a recitalist, adjudicator, and teacher. He has five solo recordings to his credit, in addition to his appearance on a number of compilation albums recorded live at recitals and competitions.

In recent years, several of his students have gained high placings at the major piping gatherings at Oban, Inverness, and London.

He also has long and successful pipe band experience and was a member of the Scottish Power Pipe Band winning three major championships.

Willie runs a piping business (Willie McCallum Piping) launched in 2007 selling bagpipes, as well as his own McCallum Solo Pipe Chanter. He is also an agent and product development consultant for McCallum Bagpipes Ltd, the world’s largest pipe maker. In addition to this, he is a consultant to the pipe bag makers Bannatyne Ltd., adding his expertise to bag design and moisture control development.

In September 2016, he was appointed Lead Tutor at the National Piping Centre for the Bachelor in Music Education (Honours) Piping Degree, run by the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland. Part of his contract also entails teaching at a number of foreign piping schools, including the USA.

Willie has won almost every prize in solo piping and several times over. His list of achievements in the competitive field is extensive and include the following highlights:

• Glenfiddich World Championship (8 times)
• Gold Medal – Northern Meeting, Inverness
• Gold Medal – Argyllshire Gathering, Oban
• Former Winners MSR – Northern Meeting, Inverness (3 times)
• Former Winners MSR – Argyllshire Gathering (Oban 5 times)
• The Bratach Gorm – London (3 times)
• The Silver Chanter – Dunvegan (3 times)
• Donald Macleod Memorial – Stornoway (7 times)
• Dr Dan Reid Memorial – San Francisco (7 times)
• The Cowal Championship (with ScottishPower)
• Scottish Pipe Band Championship (with ScottishPower – twice)
• Runner-up World Pipe Band Championship (with ScottishPower – twice)

John Scullion, a four-time winner of the World Solo Drumming Championship, and Champion of Champions, is recognized today as a premier master of the Scottish snare drum. He played for a number of years in Shotts and Dykehead Caledonia Pipe Band under his mentor, Alex Duthart, the father of the modern Scottish drum corps music. Scullion led the Shotts corps to its first top finish at the World Pipe Band Championships. 

Mahrla Manning has played the bagpipes for more than twenty years. A life-long resident of El Paso, Texas, she graduated from Bel Air High School, where she was first introduced to the instrument. Upon graduation from the University of Texas at El Paso (BS, Elementary Education), Mahrla initially went to work for White Sands Missile Range; however, realizing that music was her passion, she resigned from her job to pursue music (especially the bagpipes).

Mahrla has performed hundreds of solo bagpiping functions for weddings, funerals, special events, etc. She founded the city community pipe band, Empyre Pipes & Drums in 2002, which performs several times a year for military and city social functions.

Mahrla has also performed with the UTEP Symphony Orchestra in El Paso and Juarez and Las Cruces, New Mexico. She seized upon a rare opportunity to pipe-in actor James Doohan (Scotty of the Star Trek TV & movie series) at the Star Trek Conventions in El Paso and in Los Angeles. Mahrla has also been on-site administrator for various piping and drumming schools since 2005.

Currently, she is a consultant for the Bel Air High School pipe band. This is her fourth year with Davidson. She is passionate about teaching beginners and making sure the school runs smoothly.

Born in Renfrew, Scotland, Jimmy Black was introduced to the bagpipes as a Boy Scout when he was 11 years old and went on to play with the Grade One Renfrew Pipe Band, giving him his first taste of the international scene.

After graduation from high school, Jimmy apprenticed in the Glasgow shipyards while attending the University of Glasgow to obtain his degree in marine engineering. Not long after, he joined the British Merchant Navy, serving as an engineer officer.

Jimmy’s stint with the Merchant Navy eventually brought him to Jamaica, where an unlikely encounter in a barber shop would fast-track his career into sales and marketing for the Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania-based Koppers Corporation, a global chemical company that specializes in wood-preserving products. Jimmy would go onto spend 40+ years with the company and its successors, traveling the world and forging lifelong connections with clients and business partners. Jimmy eventually settled in Pittsburgh, PA, and became a US citizen in 1992.

Even with millions of miles under his belt, Jimmy has never forgotten the pipes and is deeply proud of his Scottish heritage. Over the years, he has formed, coached, and played with a number of pipe bands in the UK, Jamaica, Atlanta, GA, and Pittsburgh, PA. He also plays the shuttle pipes.

Jimmy’s distinctly warm and easygoing manner makes him popular among Davidson students. He will confess, however, that he is a frustrated drummer, and can be seen pounding out rhythms on tables or chairs throughout the week.

Jimmy is a founding member of Davidson Scottish Arts Academy and serves as its director of business. Additionally, he offers tutoring at our sessions.

Despite the fact she doesn’t play the pipes or drums, Christine Johns has no trouble sharing her love for the bagpipes, which started when she was eight-years-old watching the Edinburgh Military Tattoo for the first time on her aunt and uncle’s console television. She’ll tell you even then she was moved to tears by the sound and has nurtured a lifelong love affair with the pipes, their history, and Scottish music in general.

A native of Ligonier, Pennsylvania, the site of a former French and Indian War garrison located approximately 60 miles southeast of Pittsburgh, Christine is no stranger to Scottish culture and heritage. Immensely proud of her Scottish roots, she is a frequenter of the popular Ligonier Highland Games each year, and over the years has helped to plan, coordinate, and promote piping events in the Pittsburgh area.

Christine has a passion for Scottish waulking songs and sean nos (old style), the traditional style of Gaelic singing, as made popular by artists such as Margaret Stewart, Julie Fowlis, Karen Matheson, Kathleen MacInnes, etc. She is also a foundation board member of the Colaisde na Gaidhlig (The Gaelic College) in Cape Breton, Nova Scotia.

With a background in communications and graphic design, Christine earned a bachelor of arts in Communications from Saint Vincent College in Latrobe, PA. She has extensive experience working with nonprofits and is currently employed as a digital communications coordinator with a marketing agency near Pittsburgh, PA, where she works with high-profile ministries, organizations, and international clientele.

Christine is a founding member of the Davidson Scottish Arts Academy and serves as its director of community and marketing.