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Worship Leader and Billboard-Charting Songwriter Melody Noel Launches Awaken Music Academy

February 24, 2026

Christian worship leader and songwriter Melody Noel has officially launched Awaken Music Academy, a nationwide faith-based online music school designed to cultivate both musical excellence and spiritual formation for families and local churches.

A seventh-generation musician with roots tracing back to an eight-generation mariachi lineage, Noel began her professional career in mainstream pop before dedicating her gifts fully to Christian worship. After studying at New York University’s Clive Davis Institute of Recorded Music, she built a successful songwriting career and co-wrote a Billboard Hot 100–charting single recorded by Jennifer Lopez and Lin-Manuel Miranda — a pivotal moment that reshaped her understanding of music as a vehicle for healing and purpose.

In 2017, Noel co-founded Influence Music, helping lead worship projects that charted on Billboard and reached a global audience. To date, her work as a writer and artist has surpassed 228 million streams worldwide.

Now based in Orange County, California, Noel is expanding her ministry through Awaken Music Academy.

“Over the last three years, becoming a mother has deepened my conviction about the desperate need for the next generation to have solid, faith-filled role models,” says Noel. “Music training has a unique way of opening the hearts and minds of students. It creates trust, discipline, and vulnerability — and in that space, you have the opportunity to shape not just skill, but character and identity.”

Awaken Music Academy offers private 50-minute online lessons in voice, piano, guitar, bass, worship leading, and songwriting. Each session begins with prayer and integrates strong musical foundations, including music theory and fluency in the Nashville Number System. Coaches are carefully vetted for both excellence and spiritual maturity.

With the tagline, “Awaken your sound. Release His Spirit.” the academy serves individual students as well as churches seeking to strengthen their worship culture from within.

Through customized church partnerships, Noel works alongside pastoral leadership to create tailored development plans that may include vocal training, music direction, leadership development, and technical systems training such as Ableton and Planning Center integration. Each monthly partnership includes eight private sessions and a leadership strategy call.

Church leaders may book a $1 introductory 15-minute strategy session, and new students can schedule a $1 15-minute introductory lesson.

Enrollment is now open nationwide at awakenmusicacademy.com.

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Weekend Top 20 Chart

Week of 10/3/26

01

It Really Is Amazing Grace  -  Phil Wickham & Crowder

02

Perfectly  -  Micah Tyler

03

Holding On (Praise God)  -  Jon Reddick

04

Gonna Be Alright  -  Matt Maher

05

Lord It Feels Good  -  TobyMac

06

God I'm Just Grateful  -  Chandler Moore

07

Demons  -  Josiah Queen

08

How Good God Is  -  Brandon Lake

09

Breathe On It  -  Tauren Wells

10

Ain't No Way  -  Jamie MacDonald

11

Okay!  -  Forrest Frank

12

Revival  -  Jeremy Camp

13

What Grace Can Do  -  Cochren & Co

14

What If I Told You  -  For King & Country

15

Meet Me In The Valley  -  Tasha Layton

16

Thank God  -  Leanna Crawford

17

The Author  -  Brandon Lake & Nick Jonas

18

This I Know  -  Ryan Stevenson

19

Holy  -  Stars Go Dim

20

Heaven Down Here  -  Megan Woods

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Kurt Wallace
I think I was born with a pair of headphones attached to my head!

I have always loved radio and was introduced to Contemporary Christian Music when I was a lowly freshman in high school, way back in 1977! "Praise the Lord" by The Imperials, "Your Love Broke Through" by Keith Green and others were the first songs I heard and played over and over again!

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