Adrienn Antal “AdryA”

One would ask who “AdryA” is. The true answer circles by a beautiful story after her birth in Budapest, Hungary by Lajos Antal and Éva (Dévényi) Antal. It was then that Adrienn Antal, known as “AdryA” would develop a "Voice of an Angel" delivering sound messages across the land and around the worldwide. Talented with many skills and noticed mostly for her special musical abilities at a young age.

It was after elementary school that “AdryA” began singing regularly creating complex songs with help of her synthesizer establishing light classical music.

She was gifted with excellent ears, a sense for music and a clean beautiful voice who now offers ideas and advice on songwriting.

Ms. Conte: What is the definition of a songwriter?

AdryA: “A songwriter can be someone who’s a composer of words or someone who writes lyrics to songs. A songwriter also writes musical compositions (melody & tunes) to songs. A singer-songwriter is a talent who writes, composers their own songs, lyrics, melodies and sings and performs their own songs.”

First, she learned piano and took Soleggio (music theory) lessons in elementary school and then her classical music talents grew.

Ms. Conte: What is soleggio music theory?

AdryA: “Solfeggo is a vocal exercise in solfa syllables used instead of text to note the tones of the scales called solmization.”

She says to understand and learn about Solfeggio lessons, for vocalists, solmization is a system in which syllables, such as, solfa syllables are used to designate the notes of a hexachord.

Ms. Conte: What is solfa syllables?

AdryA: “Solfa syllables are one of the names for notes and a hexachord is a sequence of six tones with a semitone in the middle with the other tones being whole,” she says, “The hexachord was used in medieval music.”

She also says that all music sounds have names because you can’t work with music elements without naming them. The base of music literacy is having the ability to connect names to music pitches, to read music, hear music in your mind by looking at a music score and reproduce it by singing or playing the composition.

Ms. Conte: How does one acquire music literacy?

AdryA: “For one to acquire this skill, the soft way to Mozart piano learning method is by using Solfeggio by singing melodies and by using names of music notes. Notes such as, Do-Re-Mi-Fa-Sol-La-Ti designed for singing.” It’s been accepted worldwide for music notation for the past 900 years."

According to "AdryA," solfeggio lessons developed skills in musicians and vocalists by connecting a pitch of a note with its name and tying their ears together with the voice and brain. Solfeggio lessons will not neglect the fact that music perception involves vocal apparatus along with the auditory senses whenever hearing or playing a melody.

“Solfeggio lessons help singers sing along with the melodies inside their minds,” she says.

Ms. Conte: What is your advice to others?

AdryA: “Always save your ideas, even if you have only two minutes left till you leave… Record them on a tape or on a hard disk drive (HDD). Do not care about the quality for the first time. Alternatively, write a score… You never know which idea can be the road to a hit song.”

Ms. Conte: What are your secrets to compose songs?

AdryA: “Writing a good song is a challenge. There are many different ways to do it, depending on the certain artist(s). After a long journey of experiences and skills, everyone will find the right method to use in the future.”

Songwriting advice by "AdryA:"

1. The seed, “the real seed of a song is the inspiration,” she says, “that’s where everything comes from, the deepest essence…” According to “AdryA” it is the key to the gate of creating. “Inspiration is something magical and mysterious that I can’t really describe, but if I tried, I would say it’s a kind of impulse that wants to be manifested by us. Inspiration always strikes us like a bolt from the blue, without counting on it, so never want it to come, it doesn’t work that way!”

2. The idea, “every song starts with an idea, which can be a short melody you suddenly hear inside, some words that will be a part of the future lyrics, a fine sequence of chords, a whole verse or refrain…”

Three special idea possibilities:

· You don’t necessary need an instrument in front of you. It may be enough just to croon or sing in the bathroom… But if you feel you have sung something really catchy, try to repeat it and then save it so you can work it out later!

· If you don’t have the opportunity to sing or croon, you can find some melodies on the brain… For example, the idea of my best song came while I was sitting on a boring lesson and didn’t have the energy to listen to the lecturer LOL! Once I heard a great refrain in my mind, played by a whole band. I managed to memorize it (at least something really similar to the original theme) and recorded the idea as soon as I got home.

· It’s always an advantage if you can play an instrument. Improvisation is one of the best ways to collect ideas. If you are a singer, it’s worth to sing along with some accompaniment. Never start to improvise on the purpose you want to write a song! Relax and abandon yourself to the music!

She describes it like an embryo that develops into a baby. The idea will develop becoming a complete song after going through a long and complex process. She says not to worry if your rehearsals are not successful, however, never give up! Sometimes it takes a lot of time and trials to get the right idea.

3. Working Out, maybe this is the most difficult session. It matters a lot how you complete the idea you already have. For example, it is not enough if a song starts in a catchy way; you must pay attention to the continuation and think with the mind of a listener.

She says, “if you write songs for the audience and not just for yourself… or, If you haven’t written the lyrics and don’t know exactly what the topic will be but your idea has a special atmosphere, it’s pretty enough!”

“Just follow your feelings and let the inner voice drive you! Words can come later - I think the instrumental version of a song may be a staff for writing lyrics.”

4. Lyrics, “I have heard about many different ways to write lyrics. Just like songwriting, it depends on the artist how to do it,” she says, “For me it’s always music that comes first, I like to feel the atmosphere of the song and hear the musical background because it inspires me.”

She says to let the vibes overrun your body and soul, start playing the music and sing along with it.

“I try to improvise with words… it’s the same process I do with melodies, she said.

She then said that when she finds out the main idea, she will then do it with words… If she has the first sentence or verse it is much easier to fill in the remaining gap.