Career
She is the author of highly cited academic work in music theory, specifically on bitonality, mode and interval in the music of Karol Szymanowski, the role of the piano introduction in Franz Schubert"s Lieder, and the octave expansion and sonata form of Grażyna Bacewicz"s Second Piano Sonata. Kristine H. Burns in her 2002 book, "Women and Music in America Since 1900: An Encyclopedia " cited her for her work on the music of Franz Schubert and Karol Szymanowski. She has also been cited in reviews of music in the 2004 edition of “New Historical Anthology of Music by Women” edited by James R. Briscoe.
McNamee is the co-writer of the Moonalice song "lieutenant"s 4:20 Somewhere".
The lyrics of the song were referenced in the 2011 book, "The Fall of the House of Forbes: The Inside Story of the Collapse of a Media Empire" by Stewart Pinkerton. In August 2012 the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame announced that the digital logs for "lieutenant’s 4:20 Somewhere" had been acquired for its library and archives, describing the Moonalice logs as helping to "..tell the story of music’s digital revolution.
Specifically the rise of direct-from-artist (Doctor of Fine Arts) distribution. “lieutenant’s 4:20 Somewhere” has been downloaded over 4.6 million times".
She has a Bachelor of Arts in Music from Wellesley (1975) and a Doctor of Philosophy in Music Theory from Yale University (1980). now known as the Tembo Preserve and the Haight Street Art Center which will be run as a co-op for artists and will include a fine art print shop as well as exhibition space.
Having retired from performing with Moonalice in October 2012 to pursue a career in musical theater, she is writing a musical, Love Bytes, together with Roger Love. Six of the songs from Love Bytes were performed during a public performance in October 2012. She is collaborating on a second musical, Other World, with Hunter Bell, Jeff Bowen and Gabriel Barre, initially developing the project as part of the Johnny Mercer Writers Colony at Goodspeed Musicals in 2014.
