First Music Chair
Dr. Glenda Dahle Bates is a multi-disciplinary artist blending genres, styles, and art forms. She plays modern and baroque oboes, English horn, ukulele, and is a jazz vocalist. She received her DMA in Oboe Performance from Stony Brook University, then enjoyed an active freelance career in San Francisco, performing with Mills Performance Group, California Bach Society, Roscoe Mitchell, Eldad Tarmu, Symphony Napa Valley, Classical Revolution Orchestra (with Evanescence and Lindsay Sterling), and Glenview Classical Series. A champion of new music, she has premiered dozens of new works for oboe, and she curated a two-year series at the Center for New Music. Since moving back to her hometown in the DMV, she has performed with Alfred Yun, Flowers for Palestine, and Abe Mamet.
As a vocalist, Glenda specialises in repertoire from the Great American Songbook. She currently sings with the Capitol Lab Band and was also a founding member of the Jazz Mafia Choral Syndicate. Glenda composes and arranges chamber music and writes multi-genre family music inspired by her early childhood teaching. Her newest love, the ukulele, has broadened her horizons even further into the realms of folk and pop music.
Education
In addition to her DMA, Glenda received her BA in Music from the University of South Carolina, her MM in Oboe Performance from the University of Maryland, and her DMA in Oboe Performance from Stony Brook University.
Teaching Experience
Glenda is an enthusiastic and creative teacher. She was a Core Artist at Performing Arts Workshop for five years, creating and teaching preschool music curriculum throughout San Francisco. She has also taught with Meadowlark Music, Oclef School, Music for Aardvarks, Notes Music Academy, Mid Peninsula Music Academy, and Bay Area Children’s Theater.
Glenda was the Jazz Ensemble Director at Pacific Union College for two years and has also been an instructor for Music Appreciation, Music After 1900, and Rock Music. She taught undergraduate oboists as a graduate assistant at the University of Maryland and was the Oboe Coach at Hayward-La Honda Music Camp for four years.
Teaching Philosophy
Glenda’s teaching philosophy centers around providing students with a solid foundation of music literacy and technique, allowing them to succeed in whatever musical path they choose. Guiding each student based on their natural curiosity and interests develops their sense of inquiry and self-efficacy around music-making, setting them up for a lifelong love of music and learning.
Favorite Part of Teaching at Levine
“Having an amazing team of artists, teachers, and music professionals to work with!”
Outside of Levine
When she’s not teaching or performing, Glenda writes poetry and scripts, creates handmade ceramics, and plants vegetables, flowers, and native plants in her home garden. She is a Fairfax Tree Steward.