His petite fingers struggled to wrap themselves around the neck of the guitar to form his first chord of many. With big dreams to pursue, this was the first step to discovering his unforeseen love for creating music. At the age of 17, junior Noah Levine is preparing to release the third album of his career.

“My parents had sort of immersed me in the music world from the time I was a little kid,” Levine said. “When I was nine, my dad pulled out these two custom electric guitars from his closet to show them to me and I asked him to teach me. As I got better over time, things just became easier and easier to pick up. Eventually, it had become more of a thing I looked forward to doing rather than a practice chore.”

Levine learned from a young age the value of a musical education. He has gone on to teach himself multiple other instruments including, guitar, bass, mandolin, ukulele, drums, piano and saxophone. By the age of twelve, he had incorporated his singing skills into his work and composed the first song of his career in his small but growing home studio.

“I saved enough money to buy myself an 8-track recorder and wrote a song about me and my dad called ‘Special Place,’” he said. “Looking back now, I can’t stand listening to the majority of the songs on [my first] album, just because of the amount of growth I’ve had with music production in comparison to my greasy, chubby, middle school version of myself who thought he was so much better than he was. I keep it up on those sites though, as a reminder and motivator to keep getting better at what I’m doing.”

Now, he has self-released one album, “Feel” that was released in 2018 as well as an EP titled “Sounds from within” from 2017. He composes and records his music in a home studio and they available on all global streaming platforms. Levine has joined and thrived in many programs such as band and varsity chamber choir at Vandegrift to advance his abilities, connect with others similar to him and become a more holistic musician.

“Becoming involved with many different musical programs has its benefits for someone like me who wants a future of music,” Levine said. “I feel like I’ve been able to make lots of connections with people who also share a love for music.”

Within his first year of joining VHS choir, Levine auditioned and made the highest level choir, chamber. He then went on to make the prestigious Texas All-State Choir as a sophomore.

“Noah is a very talented musician but also has the motivation and drive,” choir director Micheal Zook said. “I have no doubt that Noah will find success as a musician in the future because he loves music enough to dedicate the time it takes to master his skills.”

Utilizing the skills and connections he has gained throughout the years, Levine pulled together musicians from all around Austin to form his band, “Noah in the Open” in 2017. The band also features many musicians such as Riley Wingo (drums), Paris Foster (guitar), Armando Tomlinson (keyboard) and Anna Grace (bass). Together they have performed at many different venues, notably a TEDx Conference. After only two years of working together, the group was invited to play in front of their biggest crowd yet.

“We had a lot of fun playing this event! It was one of our bigger crowds we’ve had but definitely a different vibe.” Levine said. “The process leading up to it has been stressful just because they’re a very well working oiled machine that has a lot of time constraints, but we were able to manage well and we ultimately made it work.”

Noah does not plan on this being the peak of his career, he is strong-willed in growing and expanding into the music industry. With the release of his third album coming in November, he is excited to share with the world his newest compositions.

“This is what I want to be doing with my life,” Levine said. “I’m well aware that the lack of pay in some situations may hypothetically leave me sleeping on a futon for a good chunk of my life, but whether or not that happens, doesn’t matter a great deal to me. It’s what I love to do and I’d rather be doing that than live in a massive house wishing I had followed my original musical path.”