Electric on Stage, Acoustic for the Exam - Dustin's RSL Grade 1 Distinction
Dustin is thirteen and plays guitar at Trill Route in Indiranagar, Bangalore: electric on stage with the Band Camp band E-Lightning, acoustic for the one graded exam he has sat so far. That exam was RSL Grade 1, passed with a Distinction at 95 per cent. The songs came first, by a long way, and the grade was taken as part of the learning rather than as the point of it.
Away from the guitar he plays football and listens to music. Asked what he enjoys most about the instrument, his answer is a list of things still to be got right: difficult chords, rhythm, and new songs. His lessons began online, during Covid by his own account, and our records have him with us since September 2022. He started with Sounak Chatterjee and took the exam with Glenn Mark Abreo.
On stage with E-Lightning
In last winter’s Band Camp he played electric guitar in E-Lightning, the camp’s seven-piece kids’ band, on Bon Jovi’s Livin’ on a Prayer. The band was recorded at Trill Route Studio and the video went out on the school’s channel in December. He is in the current round as well, working on music a good deal more complex than that, which will be released when it is ready.
Tapes, and the songs in between
He has also recorded for Tapes, the school’s music-video series of solo student performances, playing a piece by the British guitarist Andy James - fast, technical music, and a long way from a Grade 1 syllabus. That is due out soon. In between sit the songs his lesson notes are made of. House of the Rising Sun and Barefoot Girl came in the first year; then Is This Love, Smoke on the Water, Sweet Child O’ Mine, and Back in Black, taken as far as the solo. This spring’s notes have him on Rockschool Grade 3 repertoire.
The grade, and why he sat it
The exam was his teacher’s suggestion. What Dustin says he wanted from it was to challenge his own discipline and focus, which is a different reason from wanting a certificate. He took it on acoustic guitar with three songs from the Rockschool Grade 1 book: Seven Nation Army by The White Stripes, Titanium by David Guetta and Sia, and Perfect by Ed Sheeran. Alongside them came the technical work - scales, open chords and an acoustic riff, all played to a click.
How he prepared
Two things, both his own. He practised the transitions between sections - the join from a verse into a chorus, and the others like it - rather than the sections themselves. And because the exam is a recorded video, he rehearsed the way it would be marked: full mock performances in single, continuous takes, without pausing. The concentrated run at the exam started the summer before it; the pieces had been in his hands for a long while by then.
The result
It came back as a Distinction at 95 per cent. The examiner’s report picks out tight timing against the backing track and strong projection throughout, and closes with the line: upper Distinction level, very well done indeed. Dustin’s own account came with the thanks attached: “I am absolutely thrilled to have passed with a distinction, a huge thank you to my teacher and Trill Route School of Contemporary Music for their incredible guidance!”
Congratulations, Dustin.
Guitar lessons at Trill Route in Indiranagar, Bangalore run one to one and in duos at our centre, and one to one online, for complete beginners through to students preparing RSL and Trinity grade exams. You can see how they work on our guitar lessons page.
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