(Charles) Stewart Macpherson (29 March 1865 – 27 March 1941) was an English musician of Scottish descent. He was born in Liverpool, and studied at the

Royal Academy of Music The Royal Academy of Music (RAM) in London, England, is one of the oldest music schools in the UK, founded in 1822 by John Fane and Nicolas-Charles Bochsa. It received its royal charter in 1830 from King George IV with the support of the firs ...

in London with both

George Alexander Macfarren Sir George Alexander Macfarren (2 March 181331 October 1887) was an English composer and musicologist. Life George Alexander Macfarren was born in London on 2 March 1813 to George Macfarren, a dancing-master, dramatic author and journalist, wh ...

and

Walter Cecil Macfarren Walter Cecil Macfarren (28 August 1826 – 20 September 1905) was an English pianist, composer and conductor, and a teacher at the Royal Academy of Music. His students included Stewart Macpherson, Tobias Matthay and Henry Wood. Early life Macfar ...

. Macpherson was the organist at Immanuel and St Andrew Chirch in

Streatham Streatham ( ) is a district in south London, England. Centred south of Charing Cross, it lies mostly within the London Borough of Lambeth, with some parts extending into the neighbouring London Borough of Wandsworth. Streatham was in Surrey ...

, and a conductor of various choral and orchestral societies, including (from 1885 until 1902) the Westminster Orchestral Society. Watkins Shaw
'Macpherson, (Charles) Stewart', in ''Grove Music Online''
(2001) In 1887 he joined the RAM staff, teaching harmony and composition. He was professor of composition at the Royal Normal College for the Blind from 1903 until 1921. With help from

Ernest Read Ernest Read CBE (22 February 1879 – 9 October 1965) was an English conductor, organist, and music educator. He had a profound impact on the development of music education within England during the first half of the 20th century, and publishe ...

and

Percy Scholes Percy Alfred Scholes (pronounced ''skolz''; 24 July 1877 – 31 July 1958) was an English musician, journalist, vegetarianism activist and prolific writer, whose best-known achievement was his compilation of the first edition of the '' Oxford Co ...

he founded the Music Teachers' Association in 1908, and was its chairman until 1923. From 1924 to 1927, he was dean of the Faculty of Music in the

University of London The University of London (UoL; abbreviated as Lond or more rarely Londin in Post-nominal letters, post-nominals) is a collegiate university, federal Public university, public research university located in London, England, United Kingdom. The ...

. His notable students included violinist John Waterhouse, pianist Winifred Christie and violinist and composer Susan Spain-Dunk. Macpherson was primarily a music educator, and is remembered for such textbooks as ''Practical Harmony'' (1894), ''Form in Music'' (1908), and ''Melody and Harmony'' (1920). He was a pioneer of

music appreciation Music appreciation is a division of musicology that is designed to teach students how to understand and describe the contexts and creative processes involved in music composition. The concept of music appreciation is often taught as a subset of ...

as a broader element of technical training. His book ''Music and its Appreciation'' (1910) was the first on the subject to be published. Macpherson was also an Associated Board examiner, travelling to Canada, Australia, New Zealand and South Africa.Arthur Englefield Hull. ''A Dictionary of Modern Music and Musicians'' (1924), pp. 311-12 A composer in his earlier years, Macpherson wrote a Symphony in C (1889), a ''Concertstück'' for pianoforte and orchestra (1893), a Mass in D (1898), and a ''Concerto alla fantasia'' for violin and orchestra (first performed at the Proms on 4 August 1904 with Spencer Dyke, soloist). Other works include a ''Ballade'' and ''Notturno'' (both for orchestra), a ''Romance'' for oboe and piano, the ''Suite de Valses'' for piano, and various songs, part songs and church music. Macpherson won the Charles Lucas Medal for composition in 1884. Macpherson lived at Burley Cottage, Burkes Road in

Beaconsfield Beaconsfield ( ) is a market town and Civil parishes in England, civil parish in Buckinghamshire, England, northwest of central London and southeast of Aylesbury. Three other towns are within : Gerrards Cross, Amersham and High Wycombe. The ...

, Buckinghamshire. He retired from the Royal Academy in 1931.Sir Landon Ronald (ed.): ''Who's Who in Music'' (1935), pp. 183-4 He died in London on 27 March 1941, aged 75.

Writings

*''Practical Harmony'' (1894) *''Practical Counterpoint'' (1900) *''The Rudiments of Music'' (1903) *''Questions and Exercises upon the Rudiments of Music'' (1907) *''Form in Music'' (1908) *''Music and its Appreciation: Or the Foundations of True Listening'' (1910) *''The Appreciative Aspects of Music-Study'' (1910) *''Studies in Phrasing and Form'' (1911) *''Modern Ideas in the Teaching of Harmony'' (1912) *''Aural Culture based upon Musical Appreciation'' (1912–1921, with

) * ''Analytical Edition: Beethoven's Piano Sonatas'' (1913, pub. Joseph Williams) *''Ear-Training and the Teaching of the Minor Mode'' (1913) *''The Musical Education of the Child'' (1915) *''Melody and Harmony'' (1920) *''The Appreciation Class'' (1923) *''Studies in the Art of Counterpoint'' (1928) *''A Simple Introduction to the Principles of Tonality'' (1929) * ''First Steps in Musicianship'' (1934, with Hilda Collens) *''A Commentary on ... the Forty-Eight Preludes and Fugues of Johann Sebastian Bach'' (1934–1937) *''Cameos of Musical History'' (1937)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Macpherson, Stewart 1865 births 1941 deaths British music educators English composers Alumni of the Royal Academy of Music Musicians from Liverpool