He scribbled a good deal in prose and verse, and was fond of devising fairy tales, which were written not without a hint of the imaginative faculty which seems always to have been his possession.
He continued his lessons with Mr.Buitrago for several years, when he was taken to a professional piano teacher, Paul Desvernine, with whom he studied until he was fifteen.

He received, too, at this time, occasional supplementary lessons from the brilliant Venezuelan, Teresa Carreno.

When he was in his fifteenth year it was determined that he should go abroad for a course in piano and theory at the Paris Conservatory, and in April, 1876, accompanied by his mother, he left America for France.

He passed the competitive examination for admission to the Conservatory, and began the Autumn term as a pupil of Marmontel in piano and of Savard in theory and composition--having for a fellow pupil, by the way, that most remarkable of contemporary music-makers, Claude Debussy, whom MacDowell described as having been, even then, a youth of erratic and non-conformist tendencies.
MacDowell's experiences at the Conservatory were not unmixed with perplexities and embarrassment.

His knowledge of French was far from secure, and he had considerable difficulty in following Savard's lectures.