Clarinettist, researcher, and pedagogue, member of Three's Company.

Deborah De Graaff has competed internationally (London and Munich) winning numerous prizes (National and Commonwealth ABC Instrumental and Vocal Competitions -1983), scholarships and awards. For over thirty years she performed as a chamber musician, (with her mother Lauris Elms, soprano Rita Hunter, pianists Geoffrey Parsons, John Winther and Len Vorster), concerto soloist within Australia (Richard Bonynge, Paul Dyer and Australian Brandenburg Orchestra) and overseas (Fine Arts Orchestra at St Martin in the Fields, London and Vietnam). She broadcasts regularly for the ABC and has recorded over 12 CDs. She has been on the casual staff at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music from 1998 to the present day where she teaches at the Conservatorium High School, the Open Academy, is a Casual Lecturer in Clarinet, a Research Affiliate and undertakes research. Deborah also teaches Clarinet at UNSW and at her private Sydney Town Hall city studio. Awarded her PhD from UNSW in 2014 (Practice Strategies of Elite Instrumental Musicians) her recent research applied a USYD Large Innovative Grant (2015) at the Conservatorium of Music where her PhD Model of Elite Practice (MEP) was applied towards student motivation. The powerful positive results of this study were presented in December 2015 at the Australian Music Psychology Conference at University of Western Sydney. Her 2016 publications include a Pitch Error Coding Protocol paper co-authored with Emery Schubert and published in the journal, Music Perception (December 2016 issue).