He initially studied clarinet at the Royal Academy of Music with Jack Brymer, Reginald Kell, and Gervase de Peyer, but then switched to composition with Sir Lennox Berkeley.

[1] The National Youth Orchestra of Scotland has regularly featured his work in over 20 concerts, including the Piano Concerto (1988) in 2015, when it was conducted by the composer with James Willshire as soloist in Glasgow and Dundee.

[2] His Clarinet Concerto (2005) was premiered at the Queen's Hall in Edinburgh on 13 May 2007 by the Meadows Chamber Orchestra with soloist Jean Johnson.

It includes the five piano sonatas (1978–2013), the Four Impromptus (1960), Five Hebridean Dances (1981), Two Balinese Rituals (written for Ananda Sukarlan) and the 12 Preludes (1984).

[8] John McLeod died in Edinburgh on 24 March 2022 aged 88, six months after the death of his wife Margaret (1936–2021), who was a respected piano adjudicator and examiner.