Dennis Wilson started learning to play the bagpipe in his native New Zealand (NZ) in mid-1964 and his first performance with a pipe band came in November 1965.  Competing in solo piping events with some success in his early years Dennis’ main passion in piping has always been pipe band related, with the competition arena a very important part of his piping life. Two NZ National Grade 3 Mini-band championships in 1967 and 1971 were followed by a NZ National Grade 3 Pipe Band Championship win in 1972. In October 1985, Dennis joined the Grade 2 Wellington Police Pipe Band which won the 1986 NZ National Grade 2 Pipe Band Championship, a win that promoted the band to Grade 1. Through a name change in 1995, the band became the New Zealand Police Pipe Band and Dennis remained a member of the band until December 2003. Over those 18 years in the band Dennis won: the 1988 Australian Grade 1 Pipe Band Championship;  two NZ National Grade 1 Mini-band Championships; six NZ National Grade 1 Pipe Band Championships; the Grade 1 contest at Pleasanton, CA in 1997 and the band finished in ninth place in the 1998 Grade 1 Worlds Pipe Band Championship.  Dennis moved to Colorado in December 2003 and in September 2004 became Pipe Major of the Fort Collins Pipe Band, which he held until June 2014. The Band was the WUSPBA Grade 4 Champion Band in 2011. For the 2007 WUSPBA competition season, Dennis competed as a member of the Grade 1 Los Angeles Scots Pipe Band.  Over his time in Colorado Dennis has taught the bagpipe, with a number of his students now working their way up the WUSPBA solo piping grades. In 2017, Dennis gained accreditation as a WUSPBA Piping Adjudicator for both solo piping and bands.