He was born in Liverpool, and studied at the Royal Academy of Music in London.
In 1887, he joined the RAM staff, and taught harmony and composition.
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)[2] Also a composer, pianist and choral and orchestral conductor in his earlier years, Macpherson wrote a Symphony in C (1880), a Mass in D (1898), and a Concerto alla fantasia for violin and orchestra (1904).
Macpherson won the Charles Lucas Medal for composition in 1884.
He was appointed conductor of the Westminster Orchestral Society in 1885, a post he remained in for several years.