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

Orange County, CA
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.