Don Bartlett is of English, Irish and Scottish heritage.  He is a fourth generation Canadian, and has lived his entire life in Ontario, Canada.  When he was 12 years old, his mother made him join a children’s Scottish country dancing class taught by Hughina Wilson.  He enjoyed the dancing, the music, and the sociability.  His favourite records were by Stan Hamilton and The Clansmen, later The Flying Scotsmen.
Although Don had not progressed very far with piano lessons, he wanted to learn to play the SCD tunes.  Jean Anderson, one of Bobby Brown’s sisters, advised Don to play a rhythmic accompaniment with his left hand instead of using the accompaniment written in the RSCDS books.  He followed Jean’s advice and became adept at playing the dance tunes on the piano.  He continued dancing and playing with much encouragement from many kind dancers in the Toronto area, and in 1968 at the age of 20 played for the first of several times for Miss Milligan when the venerable Stan Hamilton was not available.  He must have done not-too-badly because, in 1970, when Don was attending Summer School for one week as a dancer, Miss Milligan asked him to fill in for a missing musician.