Music Education, and then moving to serve as treasurer (1996–2000), executive committee and member of the ISME board of directors, president-elect (2002–2004), president (2004–2006), past president (2006–2008), chair of the ISME Constitution, Bylaws and Policy Manual Review Committee (2014–2018), and ISME Parliamentarian (2020-2024). He has also served as an executive board member of UNESCO International Music Council (2011–2013), and board member of the Music Council of Asia and Oceania (2011–2013). Largely informed by his corpus of work looking at attitudes of musicians toward their own practice, and broader community perceptions of music learning, he has worked extensively to promote the value of music training and exposure in people of all ages, particularly in childhood, having given hundreds of teacher workshops and presentations across all parts of Australia, Europe, the UK and the USA. McPherson was chair of the scientific committee convening the International Symposium of Performance Science hosted by the University of Melbourne in July 2019. He has consulted for the Music Sector Development Plan for UNESCO's International Music Council from 2008. He also serves on the Federal Board of the Australian Music Examinations Board. As chair of the International Society for Music Education Constitution, Bylaws and Policy Manual Review Committee from 2012 to 2018, he oversaw a complete overhaul of the governance and workings of the society. McPherson was a co-founder, along with Hong Soo Lee (Korea) and Tadahiro Murao (Japan), of Asia-Pacific Symposium on Music Education Research (APSMER), to provide a forum for Asia-Pacific researchers, graduate students and teachers in music education to meet every two years. He served on its board of directors 1997–2009, and 2013–2017. McPherson was a leading contributor in the planning of the new multimillion-dollar Melbourne Conservatorium of Music and Victorian College of the Arts Precinct in Southbank, Melbourne. The opening of the Ian Potter Southbank Centre in 2019 allowed the MCM's specialist music degrees to be relocated from the Parkville to Southbank campus, where it had been operating for over 100 years. Music performance As trumpeter and conductor, McPherson has worked with many classical and contemporary music organisations throughout his career, including the Western Australian Symphony Orchestra, Canberra Symphony Orchestra and the Australian Opera Company. He has also performed and recorded extensively with smaller ensembles, and for the Australian Broadcasting Corporation, and served as an adjudicator for competitions and eisteddfods throughout Australia. Honours and awards McPherson was awarded an Artium Doctorem Honoris Causa,