Glenda Bates is a Jazz vocalist, Classical oboist, composer, songwriter, and writer. As an oboist, Glenda has performed with orchestras, chamber ensembles, and new music groups including Symphony Napa Valley, New Opera New York, Festival Opera Oakland, Glenview Classical Series, and Mills Performance Group. She even performed with Evanescence and Lindsey Sterling as part of the Classical Revolution Orchestra. Dr. Glenda has a D.M.A. in Oboe Performance from Stony Brook University in New York. As a vocalist, Glenda currently sings with the Capitol Lab Band and is a founding member of the Jazz Mafia Choral Syndicate.

Glenda began writing children's songs when she first started teaching preschool music classes in 2013. She picked up the ukulele to accompany herself singing, and it struck a chord in her heart! She’s been playing ukulele ever since, and loves spreading the joy that ukuleles bring to children and adults alike. She taught and developed curriculum in preschools all over San Francisco as a Core Artist at Performing Arts Workshop for six years. She also taught baby & me classes with Music for Aardvarks before moving on to teach her own early childhood music classes at preschools and music academies in Oakland, California. She currently sings and strums to lead baby and toddler music classes for Meadowlark Music in DC, and is the Ukulele Teaching Artist with Sound Impact.