Ava Della Pietra Interview
Ava Della Pietra at her childhood home on Round Frame Polaroid
Cassidy Rose: You have been a performer since you were incredibly young is there is a pivotal moment or performance that solidified this path for you?
Ava Della Pietra: Yea, so I’ve been performing professionally since I was seven and I kind of started out on a more Broadway path, I was in the National Tour of Les Mis when I was seven, I played Little Cosette and then when I was nine, I was in the Broadway National Tour of White Christmas and then when I was ten I was in the Original Cast off School of Rock on Broadway. So that started really early on, and I don’t remember a specific moment where I fell in love with that I’ve just always kind of loved performing but in terms of songwriting I have a really vivid memory of when I was thirteen or something and I was performing at Sundance Film Festival. It was my first experience performing multiple performances in one go. I performed at I think three different places at Sundance over a few days and it was kind of my first experience doing that. I’d performed at a bunch of smaller venues, but anyway! One of the venues was just a small cafe and I didn’t really think anything of it but when I got there, there was a really enthusiastic crowd even though it was such a small venue and there was this one lady who was just so into my performing and she was dancing along to all of my original songs and at some point, she yelled “Encore!” So that’s kind of the moment I realized I really love performing my own music to crowds.
CR: You are hailed as a multi-instrumentalist want to run down the lists of what you can play?
ADP: Sure! So: Violin, Piano, Guitar, Ukulele and then Electric Bass or Bass Guitar. So, five instruments.
CR: What instrument do you reach for when you are writing new songs?
ADP: Usually the Piano because it’s really easy to just play a few chords and then improvise to them. Ukulele is also a go-to I feel like. Mainly the Piano but it really varies.
CR: When you are writing a song do you tend to write lyrics first or does the music come first? What does your process look like?
ADP: I will usually sit down at the piano and play a few chords and then once I determine the chords I like I will improvise a melody and improv some lyrics based on what I am feeling at that moment and then once I decide exactly what I want to write about then maybe I will jot down a few lyrics and then improvise a melody to that. So that is the more systematic way that I would go about it. But a lot of the times my best songs just kind of come to me lyrics and melody at the same time and then I go to the piano and figure out the chords. So, yea, some are more spontaneous than others.
CR: So, you pen your own lyrics and have written way more songs than you’ve actually released how do you decide which songs to move forward with and which to leave on the pages?
ADP: A lot of the times it’s kind of just what I finish first *laughs* because a lot of the songs that I’ve written, usually the ones I end up releasing are the ones that I just kind of wrote in one go because they usually sound the most natural and are the most meaningful to me because they are the most honest since I write them just in kind of in like thirty minutes or something. But also, it’s trying to figure out, I guess what represents my life as a whole at a specific time. So, my EP that I recently released is kind of, I mean I don’t like to think about it like this, but it’s kind of a pandemic EP because I wrote a lot of the songs during the pandemic a time where I wasn’t able to do a lot of things. For example, “Long Way Home” is kind of me imagining going on a trip with my friends post-pandemic so that’s like a snapshot of my life at that point.
CR: Your new EP just dropped - how does it feel getting these songs out into the world?
ADP: Really great. I’m really excited about it because like you said I have a lot of songs and it took a while to just kind of get them out into the world. But now that they are out, I am really happy especially with how people are reacting to it. People seem to really like it which is very encouraging.
CR: Do you plan to continue work in the theatre as well or has the focus shifted more towards music?
ADP: I’d really like to return to Broadway at some point or possibly perform in a movie or a TV show or something like that but right now I think my focus is pretty much song writing especially since a lot of things shut down during Covid there really wasn’t any Broadway but yea I would like to return to it at some point!
CR: You have some experience co-producing your music is that something that interests you beyond your own music?
ADP: Yea I definitely would like to learn more about producing music. I haven’t produced one of my own songs by myself yet. I usually go to a producer, and they help me out, but I feel like I collaborate a lot with them, and I definitely have learned a lot about the producing methods and the producing tactics and stuff so yea at some point it would be great to produce my own music!
CR: And what about song writing for other artists, any interest in that?
ADP: Um *hm* I think collaborating. I’d like to collaborate more with other artists, I just recently had my first collaboration with one of my friends from School of Rock. But I don’t know, I think I kind of like singing my own music because it’s meaningful to me, but I don’t know what will come along. For now, probably I’ll stick to singing my own music.
CR: You are so young, what are some of your big picture goals for your career or maybe another artists’ career you’d like to mirror?
ADP: I’m not really sure right now. I’m just kind of, since I am still in school and everything, I’m just focusing on school and then also song writing. But in terms of like an artist I’m trying to mirror. Well, an artist that I really look up to is Alec Benjamin because he definitely got his start in an interesting way where he was just singing in the streets to various people here and there and then also, he’s an incredible songwriter, his lyrics are very meaningful and everything.
CR: You are of the generation that has been born and raised with social media. Do you feel that that gives you an edge over older artists who are being forced into that world to market their art?
ADP: It’s so funny because I only downloaded TikTok and Snapchat the day everything shut down. I’m pretty sure I downloaded them March 13th, 2020, which was when everything shut down at least for school and everything. But I think I definitely have a better idea maybe than older artists in terms of what my audience might find interesting. I try to post things that I would find interesting to watch. Like if I came across somebody who was singing their original song or they were doing this or that, like I would be interested to interact and comment or whatever. So definitely being in the younger generation it’s helpful to decide what people like or what people don’t like. And also, there is a big emphasis now about trying to be honest on social media, so I try to strive for that as well and in my songwriting with being very honest with the lyrics and everything as well.
CR: Can we expect a full-length album at some point in the near future?
ADP: Definitely! I have a lot of songs that I recorded over the summer and then also just in the past few months. So definitely a full-length album soon but I figured I would start with an EP, kind of like a mini album, and then decide on just like a lot of the technical things like “What is title of my album?” and stuff like that.
CR: And do you have any touring plans set?
ADP: Yes, yea, definitely. I’m really looking forward to performing again in person. I did a few Facebook Lives and stuff like that but it’s definitely a lot more meaningful and magical to see people in person and to perform at in person venues. So, yea, a tour is definitely in the works probably in the surrounding areas on the East Coast and stuff like that, but we’ll see what happens and how wide spread it gets!
Ava Della Pietra at her childhood home on Round Frame Polaroid
