Description:

Part of the Music Studies Global Distinguished Speakers Series

Gary E. McPherson is the Ormond Professor of Music at the Melbourne Conservatorium of Music and has served as national president of the Australian Society for Music Education and president of the International Society for Music Education. He was previously the Marilyn Pflederer Zimmerman Endowed Chair in Music Education at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and the Professor of Creative Arts at the Hong Kong Institute of Education. His research examines the acquisition and development of musical competence, and motivation to engage and participate in music from novice to expert levels. He is the author of Music in Our Lives: Rethinking Musical Development, Identity and Ability; The Oxford Handbook of Music Education; Musical Prodigies: Perspectives from Psychology, Education, Musicology and Ethnomusicology; and The Child as Musician. McPherson studied music education at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music before completing a Master of Music Education at Indiana University, a PhD at the University of Sydney, and a Licentiate and Fellowship in trumpet performance through Trinity College, London.