September 2026 Student Spotlight: Emma McDonald

Congratulations to Emma McDonald for being featured as this year’s September Student Spotlight!

Emma was nominated by her instructor, Molly Garrett, who says:

“I nominated Emma for the student spotlight because of her genuine love for singing. She always practices, just because she enjoys it.

Her natural talent, combined with hard work, has created a voice beyond her years!”

We’re so proud of Emma’s accomplishments and can’t wait to see what she does next!

Read on to learn about Emma’s experience as a musician. For the full interview, visit our YouTube channel.

What instruments do you play?

I can play the clarinet, I can play the ukulele, and a little bit of the guitar. I mainly sing.

Who is your instructor and what is your favorite part of taking lessons with them?

My instructor is Molly Garrett. She teaches me the ukulele and singing. My favorite thing about Molly is probably that she is a very understanding person and she listens a lot. She will just let me talk for so long and just sit there and take it all in and she won’t interrupt me.

I think what makes her a really great music teacher is that she kind of lets me be an adult in the situation. She always asks what I think and lets me give my opinions, like, “what do you think?”, “how do you think you did?” and I love that.

How did you get started playing music?

Since I was a really small child, I had a small guitar, it wasn’t even a ukulele, and I would always play that, and I had a small piano and all the things. I was just so interested in them and I always loved to listen to music and music was such a big part of my life.

I started with singing when I was really young and took lessons. I very recently started to play the guitar. I learned clarinet a few years ago in a band at my school.

What kind of music do you like to listen to or play?

I think my favorite music to listen to would be alternative music, show tunes, alternative rock, Radiohead, Mitski.

I think my favorite music to play would be more classic stuff like Hallelujah or The Beatles. To sing would be show tunes, mostly.

What is your favorite Stages memory?

My favorite memory at Stages is performing my first recital. I’ve been on stage a lot; I do musicals and I don’t think I’ve ever just sang one song, I’m always just in a show. I’ve only been in the spotlight like one time in a show, so having my own moment is a really big thing for me because I don’t get that a lot.

Tell us a fun fact about yourself.

Something interesting about me is that if you give me something like a craft or a riff that you want me to do, or a talent that you want me to pick up, if I feel motivated to do it (which I usually do), I can pick it up in at least two days. 

What is your favorite thing about being a part of the Stages community?

My favorite thing about Stages is probably that everyone is just awesome. They’re great people. Kind of like my teacher, they don’t treat you like a little kid. They’re just amazing, nice, sweet, kind, all the great things.

Having those types of people around me has increased my mental health and my physical abilities and all the things. They encourage me to be myself and to do things outside of my comfort zone (which is not something I like to do a lot). Doing that helps me feel better about doing more and being better at not sticking with the same thing every time and being able to do something different once in awhile.

Watch the full interview on our YouTube channel!