Gerald F. McGee
Organist and Music
Director
Jerry’s involvement with music and his passion
for learning began at an early age. A native of western
Pennsylvania,
he began piano studies at age 7 and organ at 12. He was active in musical
activities through high school, including student conducting with the
marching and concert bands. At Westminster College, New Wilmington, PA, he
majored in organ and studied voice as a minor. After graduating he was
accepted to Union Theological Seminary’s
School
of Sacred Music in New York City, where he earned a Master of Sacred Music
Degree, majoring in Organ and Choral Conducting.
His career has been both exciting and varied. He was Head of the Music
Department at Mary Institute, a preparatory school in Ladue, MO, a western
suburb of St. Louis. During this period he completed residency in the PhD
program at Washington University. He later was the Organist and Choirmaster
of St. John’s Episcopal Parish and Day School in Tampa, also teaching at the
University of Tampa. For nearly 10 years he was the Cathedral Musician at
St. Luke’s Episcopal Cathedral in Portland, Maine. Also in Maine he was
appointed the Municipal Organist at
Portland’s
City Hall Auditorium, where he gave frequent recitals on the Kotzschmar
Memorial Organ. He was also on the music faculty of
Bowdoin
College in Brunswick, Maine. He has performed in many churches, cathedrals
and concert halls, including the National Cathedral, Trinity Church, Boston,
St. Thomas Church, New York City and the Cathedral of Notre Dame,
Paris. Shortly after moving back to
Deep Creek Lake
full-time in 1998, his family’s summer home, he was invited to attend a
practice of the Garrett College Pipes and Drums. Consequently he began
studying bagpipes with Pipe Major Fred Thayer. Jerry was asked to assume the
duties as Pipe Major in 2001. Under his direction the Pipes and Drums have
continued to flourish, performing numerous concerts and marching in parades
yearly. As a solo piper and keyboardist, he maintains a busy schedule of
weddings, memorial services, and other private events.
