Malcolm was born in Halifax, England and immigrated to Canada in 1967. He is a graduate of Sheffield College of Education (UK), Trinity College of Music, London, the University of Lethbridge, the University of Montana and has done further graduate work at the University of Northern Colorado. He taught music in junior and senior high school for twelve years in southern Alberta before joining the University of Calgary in 1980. He was a Professor of Music at the University of Calgary where he directed the University Chorus and was a former Head of the Department. He has been affiliated with Youth Singers of Calgary since 1989 and retired as the director of the ACT 3 Division in August 2011. He has held leadership positions within the Alberta Choral Federation, the Association of Canadian Choral Conductors, served on the Alberta Foundation for the Arts and is active as a choral adjudicator and workshop leader in schools and churches. He is the recipient of two awards from the Provincial Federation – one in recognition of advocacy in arts education and the second in acknowledgment of exemplary service to choral music within the Province of Alberta. In 2004 he received recognition from the national body (ACCC) for twenty-five years of service to the Canadian choral community.