Her heart starts to race as she steps onto the stage with her guitar slung around her neck. She looks out at the sea of faces staring back at her as she begins to play. The white noise of the room fades until only her voice and guitar can be heard.

Everyone in the audience watches with rapt attention as sophomore Noa Zimmerman performs her original songs.

Zimmerman has been playing guitar for seven years––she learned it from her brother and father, and also took an occasional lesson.

Zimmerman began playing during open mic nights at The Sleeping Lady, a restaurant in Fairfax that hosts live music every night.

She now plays at other gigs, including the Fairfax Streets for People Festival, which happens every August. Her favorite venue is the First Friday Festival in Oakland, where she has performed twice.

Zimmerman attempts to play as many gigs as possible and spends her Friday nights emailing venues. If she gets one response, she considers it a success.

“I’ve been talking to people and trying to make connections,” Zimmerman said. “I’m just trying to play gigs and meet people.”

Zimmerman released her second album, titled “The Logic in Your Flaw,” on Oct. 1. She produced the album entirely by herself, writing the songs, playing the guitar, bass, and drums, and recording the album.

The album contains 14 songs, including a bonus track. Her first album, describing her eighth grade year, was published in November of 2013 and has 11 songs.

After Zimmerman recorded “The Logic in Your Flaw,” she sent it to a middleman website that could distribute her music anywhere. Currently, her songs are available on iTunes and Spotify.

“I’ve got a bunch of good responses on it,” Zimmerman said about her album, “so I’m excited to see how it keeps going. So far it’s done pretty well.”

Zimmerman has a Facebook page called “Noa Z.”

Zimmerman credits John Mayer, Elliott Smith, and Jimi Hendrix for inspiring her to begin to record and compile her music.

In particular, Mayer’s first album, “Room for Squares,” was a large source of inspiration.

“His album is from before he was famous, so it’s about an artist who tries to make it,” Zimmerman said. “You hear a lot of that holding pattern where he doesn’t know where he is or where he’s going, and I relate a lot to that.”

Zimmerman has been playing guitar and bass since she was eight years old, but didn’t begin singing until she was twelve because she was timid about performing in public.

“I had to get up the guts to sing them so that I could show people my songs,” Zimmerman said.

Zimmerman acknowledges that success in the music industry is largely based on luck.

“My outlook is that I will do everything I can possibly do and then leave the rest to fate. But if I don’t give everything that I have, then it’s not going to happen,” Zimmerman said. “My goal this year is to get a bigger following for my music, and I want to expose it to more people to see if it connects with them.”

Zimmerman’s song ideas stem from a range of emotions and occurrences in her life, and she doesn’t always have a clear focus until she begins writing.

“Normally I’ll find it’s something that happened or a thought that I’ve been having that didn’t really come up in my brain, but I just know it’s there,” Zimmerman said. “That will come out in my writing. They’re not always even about music. Sometimes I just think of a story or a situation that I like the feeling of and I’ll write about that.”

She said that while playing live is nerveracking, it can also be exceptionally rewarding.

“When people are listening and you start playing and they go quiet, it’s the best feeling because you really feel connected,” Zimmerman said. “You can tell in people’s faces when they’re feeling connected to the words or the music and it’s just an amazing feeling.”