From school halls to concert halls

Before the hits, the millions of streams, and the concerts, singer-songwriters Rob Deniel, Earl Agustin, Amiel Sol, and the boys of the P-pop band GAT turned their school classrooms into personal stages, with their teachers and classmates as their first audiences.

Rob Deniel was that guy in class who staked his luck on his guitar, hoping a well-played song would earn him a second look from his crush. “I’d whip out my guitar… papansin! But sometimes, the whole class would end up singing with me,” the “Miss Miss” and “Ulap” hitmaker told Lifestyle in a recent interview.

“That’s one of my happiest school memories, and I still miss it today,” added Rob Deniel, who attended high school at Malayan Colleges Laguna.

Sol was especially “in demand” during Valentine’s season, he recalled, with classmates constantly asking him to play guitar while they serenaded their crushes. And if they wished, Sol—now known for his hit “Sa Bawat Sandali”—could do the serenading himself.

“Ako ang taga-tugtog. Or sometimes, they would ask me to learn a particular song, so I could sing it,” said Sol, a Makati Science High School and University of the Philippines Diliman alumnus. “We would camp by the lockers and surprise their crushes.”

During recess and lunchtime at Ozamiz City National High School, Agustin probably did more singing than eating. “Music talaga ang ginagawa namin. That’s what my friends and I loved doing,” he recalled.

He never passed up any opportunity to showcase his talents. If there was a stage, he was on it—and when tryouts came up, he’d be first in line. “When there’s an event, unahan kami… so we could perform. We did intermission numbers during events. Pasikat, eh! But we really enjoyed it,” said Agustin, who continued his studies at La Salle University Ozamiz.

Class reps

That’s an experience members of GAT (Gawang Atin ‘To)—the rising group behind the hit “Daleng Dale”—also know very well. Hans Paronda and Ethan David, for instance, were perennial talent competition bets and class representatives.

“Ako ang manok when there’s a school showdown. If I win, my classmates also get bonus points. Pressure!” Paronda recalled.

David has lost count of how many times he sang the national anthem at various ceremonies and events. “I was always asked to do it in programs. My teachers signed me up for competitions, too,” he said.

They must also admit that, on rare occasions, music came to their rescue and got them out of sticky academic situations. “If I lacked a requirement, they’d be like, ‘O sige, kanta ka na lang dito.’ Of course, I did it!” Paronda said.

“Any break I could get, I turned to music to calm my mind and my heart,” said Agustin, whose song “Tibok” peaked at No. 1 and currently sits at No. 2 on the Billboard Philippines Hot 100 chart after 13 weeks.

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Finding their stride

While they’re still emerging artists finding their stride in the industry, Agustin, Sol, Rob Deniel, and GAT aren’t easily intimidated by big stages and crowds—like the one they’ll face at “Mutya OST: Live in Concert” at the New Frontier Theater on June 20—thanks to their experiences in school, their unwitting training grounds.

“I used to have stage fright; that was my biggest worry back then,” said GAT member Charles Law. “But all the freestyling and beatboxing my friends and I did in school really helped my confidence. It’s a memorable experience for me.”

His bandmate Derick Ong—whose love for performing began and was nurtured in school—agreed: “It helped shape us into the artists we are today. It’s essential. If it weren’t for those experiences, we’d probably still be the same shy kids.”

Rob Deniel added, “Joining battle-of-the-bands type contests prepared me to sing and play the guitar in front of big crowds.”

But beyond the honed skills, stage presence, and growing self-assurance, it’s the connections they’ve formed with people who love music as much as they do that will always stay with them.

“My friends and I also used to compete in band battles. Now, I’m the only one still pursuing music, but I feel like the bond we shared led to lifelong friendships,” Sol said. “I won’t trade those precious memories for anything else.”