Meet the 2026 Adjudicators

Debra Wanless has had a successful career as a piano adjudicator, studio teacher, editor,
examiner, music retailer and publisher, arranger and composer. She has travelled across
Canada and the United States as a pedagogy clinician. Debra’s studies have resulted in a
Junior Fellowship (2009) and Licentiate (2003) Diplomas in piano pedagogy with Northern
Lights Canadian National Conservatory of Music; an Associate of Music Diploma (1979) in
piano pedagogy with Western Ontario Conservatory of Music (Conservatory Canada); and post
graduate studies in piano performance, theory and piano ensemble.

Debra is a piano pedagogy specialist whose students have earned the Cora B. Arhens Award
for pedagogy excellence. She was the principal (2002-2023) and founding member of Northern
Lights Canadian National Conservatory of Music and the three-day Piano Pedagogy workshop
and Keyboard Kamp for children, Summer Sizzle. Debra has served at the local and provincial
levels of the Ontario Registered Music Teachers’ Association, is the founder of the North
Wellington Camerata Canada Music Week Festival (1984 -1998) and worked for many years on
music festival committees in South Western Ontario.

As a publisher and editor, Debra was instrumental in creating the Canadian Contemporary
Repertoire series (for Conservatory Canada), Northern Lights, Making Tracks, Canadian
Folksongs and O Canada Series (for Northern Lights Canadian National Conservatory Canada)
and the former Pianozzazz series (now Poppin’ Piano) by Canadian composers. She was also
an active editor in the New Millennium series (Conservatory Canada elementary levels).
Her piano solos and ensembles have been selected for performance at festivals across
Canada; for inclusion in the New Millennium, Canadian Contemporary Repertoire, Northern
Lights and Making Tracks Series; the RCM Popular Piano Repertoire Syllabus; and the recently
produced Mosaic Series and reviewed in Clavier Magazine. Debra has edited, revised and
written new material for the Leila Fletcher Piano Course and the (James) Lawless Theory
Course (now known as Total Theory). During her career as a publisher (1994 – current), Debra
promotes and publishes for many Canadian composers and writers, and has arranged
numerous popular works for the PMI (Hal Leonard Music) (2006-2007) publishing company.

Debra’s passion for research and teaching has lead her to develop piano pedagogy workshops
on a broad range of topics such as Audio Development, Rhythm, Learning Styles in the Piano
Studio, Modes, Theory and Harmony, Canadian Music and more. This same passion has also
resulted in 100’s of piano compositions/ arrangements (solos and ensembles) for a wide range
of levels from beginner to advanced in a broad range of styles. As well as educational materials
for keyboard harmony, written theory and harmony, and pedagogy texts.

She is the recipient of the ORMTA Special Teacher Award (1999), the Commemorative Medal
for the 125th Anniversary of the Confederation of Canada (1992) and a finalist for the 2011
Louis Applebaum Award for Music for Young People.