Debbie Gillette has been part of the adjunct music faculty at Trinity International University since 1998. Debbie graduated from Michigan State University with a B.M. in Piano Performance and Pedagogy with high honors, as well as completing further graduate studies at MSU in Piano Performance as a student of Joseph Evans and Edith Kraft. Her teaching at Trinity has included teaching piano, organ, keyboard skills, piano pedagogy/literature and handbell choir.

Performing as a frequent collaborative pianist, Debbie is also the Director of Music at Antioch United Methodist Church where her duties include worship service performance at piano and organ, service planning, children’s choir, assisting with adult choir and developing musical talent, both instrumental and vocal. During the 2020-21 pandemic, Debbie developed an online virtual worship service that she also produces weekly. A saxophonist, Debbie has performed in both symphonic and swing bands.



Debbie is the past President of the North Shore Music Teachers Association, and current Scholarship Chairman, affiliated with the Illinois State Music Teachers Association and MTNA. She has been a frequent presenter at both state conferences and local chapters. In 2012 she was chosen as North Shore Music Teachers’ Association’s Teacher of the Year. Currently she is the ISMTA AIM Coordinator of Piano, leading an ongoing revisions committee and coordinating the annual conference AIM session. Debbie was instrumental in the revising and publishing of the 2014 AIM Syllabus, a leveled curriculum encompassing piano theory, technique and performance. Judging regularly for the National Piano Guild, ISMTA, and several regional piano festivals and competitions in both Illinois and Wisconsin, Debbie is committed to encouraging the pianist. Maintaining a private studio of both adults and children, many of her students have become successful teachers.