NATCHEZ — Most teenagers love music, but for one Natchez High School senior listening to music is his past, present and future.

“I love music,” Edwin Green II said. “Music is everything to me.”

Green, 17, first became interested in music approximately seven years ago. Green said he used to think when he was younger he was never going to be interested in music because his older sister was in band.

But he came around as he got older and became interested in different instruments. Now, Green even composes music, with pop coming in as his favorite genre.

Green said he appreciates all genres though and when it comes to instruments, Green also enjoys variety. He can play the trumpet, baritone and, to some extent, the tuba. Green plays French horn for the Natchez High Band.

Green is a former member of Pilgrim Missionary Baptist Church where his father, Edwin Green Sr., is a member. The Rev. Melvin White said Green is very humble, but it doesn’t stop him from taking charge NHS Director of Bands Marcus Washington said. Green, Washington said, is able to lead his peers as first chair without being frustrated or raising his voice.

But Green’s abilities go beyond remaining collected. Green helps other students take care of their instruments and has gone without music so someone else can have it in the past.

“He’s willing to do what he has to do in order for his section to look good and sound good,” Washington said.

Green is known for his performances with members from his school band around the community, such as at Pilgrim’s End of Year Youth Brunch in December.

“They did an outstanding job,” White said.

But Green’s musical talents were put to the test this year when he took on composing music for the Living Word Worship Center’s Performing Arts Ministry’s “The Haves and Have Nots Christmas” in December. Green also took on doing sound effects.

“It was a great performance, a great project that he worked on,” the Rev. Dwight Greene of Living Word Worship Center said. “And I was extremely impressed with the level of work he was able to do.”

The show is about the wealthy and picture-perfect Vanderwolf family, who was nominated to bring an underprivileged mother and daughter into their house for Christmas. But the Vanderwolfs’ pristine image is a lie, and they find themselves learning from the mother and daughter.

It was Green’s first time composing music for a show and doing something with a slow beat. His mother, Vickie Green, directed the performance and asked him to put together a slow version of “Mary Did You Know?”

Although the composition included several firsts for him, Green said he felt like he could do more with his music afterward.

“It gave me more confidence and more excitement for other things in the future,” Green said.

And Green intends to have music play a big part in his future, as he hopes to go into music production.

But, if anyone asks him about his future plans, Green has a simpler and more direct answer.

“I tell them I love music,” Green said.

And music, for Green, is everything.