Musicians are often found “following the music,” and no student fits that idea better than senior Noah Levine as he embarks on a journey to further his musical passion.

“If I’m going to college for four years, I want to be doing all music,” Levine said. “And Berklee is one of the places that offers that.”

Senior Noah Levine committed to Berklee College of Music to continue his music career next fall, which has been his dream school for many years.

“I have Berklee sweatshirts that I got my freshman year,” Levine said. “And I still wear them today.”

Levine’s accomplishments as Noah in the Open, his stage name, weren’t always the productions they are today, it comes from years of passion and dedication to his craft. 

“I started off just playing guitar,” Levine said. “And when I turned 12 I got this little analog eight track recorder.”

This was when he began recording his own music. Inspired by musicians like John Mayer, Lizzy McAlpine and Eric Johnson.

“I made it my mission to learn his ‘Cliffs of Dover’ when I was 13,” Levine said. “Learning that solo was really influential to the rest of my playing.”

His interest went beyond the forefront of music, it went deeper into the production process as he explored new production softwares.

“I got really into producing and upgraded to a program called Logic Pro,” Levine said. “I found that producing has become as much of an art form as actually writing the music itself.”

Music production isn’t all about sound; when it comes to Levine’s song process, there’s a lot of work that goes into everything. 

“Typically it’s music first,” Levine said. “In terms of how important it is when I’m enjoying a song, then lyrics.”

Levine’s latest release, the single “House Arrest”, describes some of the emotions circulating in quarantine, and the possible results after the pandemic.

“It’s talking about what life is going to be like afterwards,” Levine said. “People have gotten used to living an introverted life, they’ve lost their friends just from lack of communication and everyone’s social skills have depleted.” 

Levine also hinted at a new release in late May. He continues to be inspired by everything around him which fuels his creativity, regardless of external doubts.

“[People] did tell me it sucked when I was younger,” Levine said. “You just have to make the choice not to take that and run with it, and keep honing your craft.”

Even in the future, Levine sees himself making music, no matter what.

“I do it because I love it,” Levine said. “And it’s the only thing I’m so good at naturally, so I’m going to stick to this.”