Ernest May studied with Nadia Boulanger and Andre Marchal in Paris, and holds a B.A. from Harvard University; and an M.F.A. and Ph.D., Princeton University. Former Director of Music, South Congregational Church, Springfield, MA , he was a member of the Commission on Accreditation for the National Association of Schools of Music. May performed recitals in New York City, New England and Germany and was President of the New England Chapter of the American Musicological Society from 1988 to 1990. He received research grants from the Martha Baird Rockefeller Foundation and National Endowment for the Humanities. He was the editor of articles and papers on Bach organ music for the New Bach Edition; co-editor of J.S. Bach as Organist for Indiana University Press, 1986; and a contributor to the New Harvard Dictionary of Music. May recorded on the AFKA label and was a faculty member at Amherst College.