Debbie Ankney: Music Director

Debbie Ankney is the Director of Instrumental Music and Chair of the Fine Arts department at St. Anne's-Belfield School, where she conducts six levels of orchestra.  In addition to her school music teaching responsibilities, she also maintains a private studio, coaches the middle school girls’ basketball team, is founder and director of the annual Arcata Summer Strings Camp, is the fiddle player for the “Toad Mamas” Contradance Band and the alternative blues/folk band “The Pones,” and is the former conductor of the Youth Orchestra of Charlottesville-Albemarle “Junior Strings.”

A specialist in the Bornoff approach to string education, Debbie attended the Hartt School of Music at the University of Hartford, and studied private violin and string pedagogy with Dr. George Bornoff.  Debbie has also studied private violin with Raphael Bronstein and Jennie Chan, cello with Brenda Chambers, and conducting with Jere Lanz.    

Formerly Chair of the Fine Arts Department and Orchestra Director at Shattuck-St. Mary’s School in Faribault, MN, Debbie's students have earned well over 150 "Superior" medals, including 40 "Perfect Score" and "Best in Site" awards in both classical and jazz performance at Regional and State Contests.  She founded the SSM Jazz String Festival, and took her group to participate as a “wire choir” to jazz band festivals in the Mid-West, coming away with honors such as one of the “Top Big Bands” at the University of Mary Jazz Festival in North Dakota. While in Minnesota, Debbie was the principal conductor for the Southeastern Minnesota Youth Orchestra and the Cannon Valley Youth Orchestras, Newsletter Editor for the American String Teachers Minnesota Chapter's quarterly magazine, and co-founder of the Minnesota Youth Orchestra Festivals. 

Debbie has presented student ensembles in performance and has been a clinician for many colleges and string education conferences and workshops, most notably:

  • Institute for Innovation in String Education: Sedona, AZ, 2001 – Teacher workshops in Bornoff Pedagogy and Jazz Strings
  • Interntional Association of Jazz Educators: World Conference in New Orleans, 2000 – Student Group Performance 
  • Music Educators National Conference: Bi-Annual National Conference in Washington, DC, 2000 – Presentation with Student Performance on Bornoff Pedagogy and Jazz Strings. 
  • Music Teachers National Association: Annual Conference in Los Angeles, 1999 – Presented article on “Teaching in Groups of Three or More.” 
  • International String Workshops: Biarritz, France 1998 – Teacher Workshops on Bornoff Pedagogy, Student Group performances.  
  • American String Teachers Association:  Minnesota and Missouri State Conventions, 1997  - Lecture/Workshop on Bornoff Pedagogy
  • Music Education Clinician: St. Olaf College, Augsburg College, Gustavus Adolphus College, and the University of Minnesota.
  • Debbie is the recipient of a 1998 DownBeat Magazine Director’s Award for “Best Classical Chamber Ensemble,” and the American String Teachers Association Minnesota Chapter’s “Meritorious Orchestra Program Award” 1999.   She has collaborated with both classical and jazz musicians on behalf of her students, and her groups have worked with top musicians such as Eiji Oue, Music Director of the Minnesota Orchestra, and the Ahn Trio.  Her ensembles have also performed and had pieces arranged and composed  for them by well-known musicians such as jazz bassist/vocalist Kristin Korb, jazz violinist Randy Sabien, and Mark Summer, cellist for the world-reknown Turtle Island String Quartet.