Born in Crestline, Ohio, McCoy grew up in California where he moved with his family at a young age. He started composing music at the age of 12, and later began his formal training as a composer with William Mason in New York City. He pursued further studies at the Leipzig Conservatory where he was a pupil of Carl Reinecke and Moritz Hauptmann. Reinecke conducted the premiere of his Symphony in F in Leipzig in 1872.[2][1]
In addition to his symphony, McCoy wrote chamber music, some pieces for orchestra, an opera, incidental music for plays, and choral works including a mass in D minor.[1] His opera Egyppt was given its premiere at the Berkley Music Festival in 1921; a work which was awarded the Bispham Medal by the American Opera Society of Chicago.[2] He was active for a time in San Francisco, California[3] and contributed music to events of the Bohemian Club.[2] He was head of the composition and harmony departments at Mills College in Oakland, California; resigning from that post in 1925.[3] He was the author of the music theory textbook Cumulative Harmony.[2]
McCoy died in Oakland, California on October 15, 1926.[2]
