Chris McGarry and Holly Spencer announce with great pride the graduation of their daughter, Megan Rae McGarry, from Berklee College of Music in Boston, Mass.
In Berklee’s Commencement Concert on May 11, held to celebrate the 2018 graduates and honorary doctorate recipients, she had the honor of being selected to perform with honorary doctorate recipient, Rosanne Cash, during Cash’s song, “When the Master Calls the Roll.”
On May 12, McGarry received a Bachelor’s degree in music education with a minor in American Roots Music. On the Dean’s List every semester, she graduated with high honors.
While at Berklee, she performed regularly and participated in many extracurricular activities. She worked with the chair of Berklee’s Strings Department, David Wallace, to establish an ASTA (American Strings Teacher Association) Chapter at Berklee.
McGarry also created an extra-curricular ensemble for herself and other music education students to gain experience teaching in the methodology of composer and music educator, Carl Orff.
In recognition of these endeavors, she received awards such as the Sam Eisenson Award for Country Music, Berklee’s Achievement-based Scholarship, and the String Magazine Edith Eisler Scholarship, which led to a featured article in String Magazine September 2017 issue.
She was also featured in the July 2018 issue of Berklee Today Magazine with Rosanne Cash.
Post-graduation, McGarry has spent the summer touring with her band and teaching private lessons. She will be returning to Boston for her student teaching this fall, and then plans to continue teaching private lessons and performing in 2019.
She is also planning to record and release a second album in 2019.
She is the granddaughter of Carol Spencer and the late Edward Spencer of Grampian and Marianne McGarry and the late Fred McGarry of Curwensville. She is a 2014 graduate of Curwensville Area High School.
