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Jim McGillivray began piping at age 11 in 1966 in Kitchener, Ontario, Canada. He has enjoyed a long and varied piping career since he retired from competing in 1991, having captured both Highland Society of London Gold Medals, the Clasp at Inverness, and the M/S/R at the Glenfiddich Piping Championship. He was Director of the piping and drumming program at St. Andrew’s College in Aurora, Ontario, an independent school for boys, from 1998 until 2019 and still teaches part-time at the school. He has published two seminal piping tutors, Rhythmic Fingerwork (1998) and Piobaireachd Fingerwork (2013), as well as two best-selling DVDs, Pipes Ready! and Pipes Up!, on maintenance and tuning of the bagpipe. In 2007, his groundbreaking website, pipetunes.ca, became the first major provider of individual pieces of sheet music to pipers. He played with the Guelph Pipe Band in the 1970s, the 78 th Fraser Highlanders after that, and more recently the Spirit of Scotland Pipe Band. Jim is a regular on the judging circuit on both sides of the ocean, publishes frequently on pipesdrums.com, and runs McGillivray Piping, an internet-based piping supply business, which is also the world’s leading dealer in vintage bagpipes. He is currently a member of the grade 2 St. Andrew’s College Association Pipe Band.

Prior to retiring from competition Robert Wallace had a career in top level performance stretching back over 45 years. He had great success as a solo competitor including winning the Gold Medals at Oban and Inverness, the Former Winners MSR at Oban, the Clasp at the Northern Meeting and a notable double in 1989 when he won both the Bratach Gorm and Gillies Cup in London. Another notable double came in 1997 when he won the Dunvegan Medal and Clasp on the same day at the Skye Gathering. As a band player he competed with the illustrious Muirhead & Sons under Pipe Major Robert Hardie, and as a folk artist with the band the Whistlebinkies where he pioneered the use of bellows blown pipes. For 15 years he was the Editor of the Piping Times magazine and Principal of the College of Piping. Robert is currently editor of Piping Press web magazine and President of the Piobaireachd Society. He is a professional journalist and writer and has used this and his musical skill to produce many books and recordings.