as a boy mcpherson played soprano cornet in the parkes town band, and by the age of 16 had won over 50 regional, state and australian titles before he changed to trumpet in the last two years of high school. he went on to complete a four-year diploma of music education at the new south wales state conservatorium of music, graduating in 1977. he obtained his licentiate and fellowship in trumpet performance from trinity college, london in 1975–76 and then undertook a master of music education at indiana university, graduating in 1982. he earned his phd at the university of sydney in 1993 with a dissertation entitled: ‘factors and abilities influencing the development of visual, aural and creative performance skills in music and their educational implications’ which investigated the acquisition of five types of musical performance skills: performing rehearsed music, sight-reading, playing from memory, playing by ear, and improvising.