Thursday 14 February saw the annual House Music Competition take place, as hundreds of pupils sang their hearts out in our Valentine’s Day Special. The competition was split into three categories; the solos, ensembles and whole house rounds. Judged by Headmaster Mr Davies, Music Teacher and Administrator Mr Slade and Drama Teacher Mr Miller, the competition saw every single pupil sing for the chance to win big for their House.
The House Music Competition was hosted by Director of Music Mr Curran, who provided the below report:
The eagerly awaited and fiercely contested House Music competition took place on Thursday 14 February in the annual battle to be crowned House champion. As the only College event in which every pupil takes part, it is a sight to behold! This special Valentine's edition, based on the theme of love, opened with a lunchtime solo round in a jam-packed Lecture Theatre, with pupils and staff taking up every available space to listen to their house's carefully selected secret vocal weapon. As each of the soloists awaited the start of their accompaniment you could hear a pin drop; let the battle commence.
Patrick Kenny of Everett House took first place in this round ahead of (in no particular order) Sophia Hahn, Louis Holland, Grace Lucas and Ben Atkin, who all performed beautifully. For me, this was easily the highest standard put forward for a solo round in the three years I have been Director of Music.
The atmosphere in the Sports Hall, where the ensemble and whole house rounds were held, was electric. Not just because Mr Slade was full of bling and sporting the most resplendent aviators and fur coat, but also because each of the performances was outstanding. Picks of the Pops for me were the whole school performances by Burr and Orchard who would not have looked out of place in one of our end-of-term concerts.
Before the results were announced, we had two surprise items that were simply stunning: Lower School treated us to a well-choreographed performance of Shake It Off by Taylor Swift followed by a haunting performance of Eva Cassidy's Fields of Gold sung by Burr matron, Mrs Kean. Both performances took the competition to new heights and received explosive applause and standing ovations.
Now on to the results. The panel of judges, comprising the Headmaster, Mr Miller and Mr Slade, deliberated for some time before placing Skipwith in first place in the whole house round and Welsh taking first place in the ensemble round. With scores from all three rounds tallied up, it was Welsh who were crowned House Music Champions of 2019. It truly was a fantastic event which, quite literally, brought the whole College together to end another successful half-term. Patrick Kenny will perform his piece as a soloist at our Spring Concert, which will take place on Thursday 4 April.
