Dr. McQueen is a voice and piano teacher, specializing in Early Childhood Music Education. She is the owner and founder of SmARTSunlimited, a performing arts studio in Livermore, and worked in areas of management including grant writing, fundraising, program development, hiring, marketing and public relations. She is a member of the Music Teachers Association of California, (MTAC) and the director of the Blankenship foundation for MTAC Alameda East branch. A program that helps low income children receives private lessons and instruments. She has training in both vocal and piano pedagogy, including the Suzuki and Kodaly music methods. She has been performing and teaching children and adult beginners, for over twenty years. She has performed in a variety of venues, including opera, musical theater, choral, church, stage, dinner theater, revues, commercials, radio, TV, and film. She has trained for over forty years in vocals, acting, & dance.
Dr. McQueen holds an undergraduate degree in Music from the University of Massachusetts and a Master’s in Music from California State University East Bay. She recently completed a second masters in Christian Studies and a PhD in Leadership. Dr. McQueen is a caring and devoted teacher of children and young adults, and has substantial experience helping individuals with Dyslexia, and Spectrum traits access their musical talents. She has helped hundreds of children in the Tri-Valley gain a deeper understanding of piano, voice, acting, film, opera, and theater.
Dr. McQueen has experience directing and producing operas, workshops, small independent films, & large recitals. Her students have performed with the Tassajara Symphony and Opera Singer Frederica von Stade, The Heritage Estates Retirement Community, Rosewood Gardens, and she has helped produce fundraisers for Fremont Bank, Livermore Valley Opera, and Valley Concert Chorale. Her musical theater credits include Hope in “Anything Goes”, Alice in “Secret Garden”, Alaura/Carla in “City of Angels”, Lelume in “Kismet”, and Lucianna in “The Boys from Syracuse”. She has additionally performed as Giovanna in “Rigoletto”, and Andres, Cochenille, and Pitichinaccio in “Tales of Hoffman”, and chorus in (Tosca, Carmen, Lucia D’ Lammermoor, Madame Butterfly, Flying Dutchman, The Marriage of Figaro, Don Pasquale, & Un Ballo in Maschera) with Livermore Valley Opera. Some of her directing credits include Hansel and Gretel, Annie, The Magic Flute, Camelot, Into the Woods, Willy Wonka, Alice in Wonderland, Pirates of Penzance, Beauty and the Beast, and Aladdin. She has also directed numerous music theater workshops and revues over the past 20 years. In 2014 she downsized SmARTSunlimited and works privately from her home studio in Livermore.