McPhedran, Donald (? – 1888?)
Donald was one of the prominent Glasgow pipers of his era being P/M of a local volunteer Band, a successful solo competitor, composer and then pipe maker for a short time before his death. He also served as an occasional piper to the Duke of Argyll.
His son, John, published a book in 1906 entitled “Donald McPhedran’s Collection of Bagpipe Music – Part 1.” Unfortunately there was a lot of “claiming” of tunes about the mid-1800s period and it is difficult, without possession of all the books published at the time to get a clear picture of who actually wrote what. As an example his tune “Stumpie’s Quick March from the Strathspey by D. McPhedran” is generally accepted as being by Angus MacKay who used the strathspey Stumpie as the basis for his 2/4 march “The Highland Wedding” which was then improved over the years by a few different hands – Uilliam Ross, John MacDonald and G.S. McLennan almost certainly.
Compositions attributed to John McLachlan (for example “The Abercairney Highlanders” (again regarded as an Angus MacKay composition) J.M. Lachlan, C McLachlan, Archibald Campbell, John McPhedran, N McLachlan and Marjory McLachlan also appear in the book.
His son, John, published a book in 1906 entitled “Donald McPhedran’s Collection of Bagpipe Music – Part 1.” Unfortunately there was a lot of “claiming” of tunes about the mid-1800s period and it is difficult, without possession of all the books published at the time to get a clear picture of who actually wrote what. As an example his tune “Stumpie’s Quick March from the Strathspey by D. McPhedran” is generally accepted as being by Angus MacKay who used the strathspey Stumpie as the basis for his 2/4 march “The Highland Wedding” which was then improved over the years by a few different hands – Uilliam Ross, John MacDonald and G.S. McLennan almost certainly.
Compositions attributed to John McLachlan (for example “The Abercairney Highlanders” (again regarded as an Angus MacKay composition) J.M. Lachlan, C McLachlan, Archibald Campbell, John McPhedran, N McLachlan and Marjory McLachlan also appear in the book.