From Her Lips to God’s Ears: Christian Singer Hails from USC

Once upon a time, Upper St. Clair native Emily Summers sat with her mother, Becky, wrapping Christmas presents. A PBS special called Christmas at Belmont played in the background. With starry eyes, Emily gazed at the performing artists from Belmont University.

“That’s where I’m going to go to college,” she told her mom.

That fateful night was two years ago. So where is Emily now?

While Emily still comes home for holiday and summer visits, she is no longer a permanent Upper St. Clair resident. These days, she spends her time in Nashville, Tennessee—majoring in songwriting at Belmont University.

And, this year, she didn’t watch the Christmas at Belmont special on PBS. She performed in it.

But these accomplishments fall somewhere in the middle of Emily’s musical career. She was belting out tunes and writing songs long before she made her way to Nashville.

Emily’s love of music started at a very young age, when she sang in the children’s choir at the church her family frequented during their residency in Florida from 1999 to 2003.

She kept singing for her Lord, and his followers, when her family moved to Pennsylvania. At the age of 12, she was asked by Tara Park of the to sing harmony with the Praise Band. The first youth to sing with the all-adult band, Emily went on to perform with Praise Band regularly, singing leads and being groomed for what lay ahead.

Around that same time, Emily picked up her brother’s guitar. The guitar had been a gift to her brother, but he wasn’t particularly interested in it—so, it ended up being an even greater gift to Emily. She taught herself how to play the guitar, going online and getting the chord sheets for songs she wanted to learn.

Just as she was learning to play the music of others, she also began playing her own original music, writing songs by ear as she continued to hone her understanding of technical musical theory.

Emily continued to explore her musical talents at , where she was very involved with the marching band, concert band and choir. While in high school, she was involved with Pennsylvania Music Educators Association, and sang second chair in regionals.

Also while at USCHS, she sang the national anthem at the Quad-A football WPIALs at Heinz Field and received the Ellie Batz Memorial Scholarship in Performing Arts.

When it came time to apply to colleges, Emily said that it was a no-brainer that she applied to Belmont University, as it is one of the top two schools for study in the music industry and has reared the likes of Brad Paisley, Vince Gill, Steven Curtis Chapman and Trisha Yearwood.

“It’s the place to go if you want ‘in’ in Christian or country music,” Emily said.

And that’s just where Emily wants in. She is an aspiring Christian singer and songwriter, who started her songwriting major this year, after studying music business for one year.

As per her songwriting major, Emily explained that the songwriting program at Belmont is very competitive. Each year, it accepts only 15 to 20 students and is application-based. After submitting lyric sheets for three songs and undergoing a rigorous series of interviews, Emily was accepted into the major.

She said she is excited to embark upon this new area of study, because there are numerous performance opportunities and a mentoring program which pairs students with industry greats, such as those mentioned above. And, she noted, she’ll still be getting a “healthy dose of education in music business.”

When Emily isn’t studying songwriting and music business at school, she’s performing. She is a member of the Belmont University Songwriters’ Association, which holds writers’ nights at various venues around Nashville, including the well-known Curb Café.

As a freshman, she performed as a featured soloist between acts at Belmont’s annual showcase series sponsored by BMI, which is a very high honor for a freshman to receive.

Emily’s receipt of high honors didn’t stop there. Outside of her work and performances at Belmont, she climbed the ranks of the Christian Festival Association’s 2011 new artist talent search. She made it to the national finals as the winner from the Alive Festival regional venue and got to perform a 30-minute set in front of a national audience.

Though Emily didn’t win the national competition, her high rank in the talent search warranted her invitation back to perform in the 2012 Alive festival, where she’ll be featured as a main performer and will get to perform a full set and be publicized in the event’s literature.

Emily’s fairytale has only just begun, and she looks forward to what lies ahead on the horizon. She attributes her success thus far to her commitment to being true to herself and being secure in her own niche and talent. She said she doesn’t want to sound like anybody else, and that she’s found her own originality and rolled with it.

If you’d like to hear some of that originality, check out Emily’s song on iTunes—and make sure to check back often. Emily hopes to have an entire album up on iTunes by the end of the school year.

Congratulate Emily on her success! Tell her in the comments.