The annual House Singing Competition returned on Wednesday with all 10 houses competing in this first house competition of the year. Following a week of rehearsals, there were a huge range of songs on the programme ranging from Disney classics to the funk of Stevie Wonder and it was a pleasure to invite Alex Tester, Assistant Head Co-Curricular at St. Edward’s School in Oxford, to judge our competition.
Following the House Singing draw earlier in term, it was Franklin’s who chose to perform first, singing a musically impressive arrangement of ‘Circle of Life’. With sections of four part harmony and a cappella moments alongside a rhythmically dynamic band, this was a wonderful way to start the afternoon. Lower School were next to the stage with a typically dynamic and upbeat rendition of ‘Reach’, showing a nice use of descant harmonies supported with great diction in the words. Border’s showed their instrumental prowess in their performance with an orchestra rather than ensemble supporting their singing and the coordination between ensemble and singing was excellent throughout. Their performance of ‘How far I’ll go’ from Moana was sensitive, musically inventive and throughout a warm and strong tone was produced. Austin immediately upped the energy in the room with their performance of ‘Treasure’ by Bruno Mars and again, there was time for some sensitive a cappella moments in their performance. The final item of the first half was sung by School House with energetic direction, their rendition of Maroon 5’s ‘Maps’ revealed strong whole house singing coupled with nice dialogue between two different sections.
Donnelly’s kicked off the second half with ‘Footloose’, another dynamic song which was very well supported by a strong band. The funk idiom of Stevie Wonder was the next genre on show as Stockdale’s performed this difficult song with style, singing the difficult riffs with vigour and precision. Ley’s returned the Amey to the scene of the musical earlier in the year, singing ‘I’m a believer’ and with both powerful whole house singing but musical nuance including a key change and clever use of dynamics, produced an entertaining and musically successful performance. Mariah Carey is not often associated with October, but Crescent delivered an uplifting rendition of ‘All I want for Christmas is you’ supported by a rhythmic band often playing complex syncopated riffs and improvisations. The final item was delivered by Pygott’s, performing a mashup of ‘Stand by Me’ and ‘Beautiful Girls’, an arrangement which was musically effective, particularly with quite a sparse ensemble. Combination of the two songs worked nicely with interlocking harmonies from two sections of the house.
In the end, a special mention was given to Lower School whilst Pygott’s were awarded third place. Last year’s winners, O’Doherty’s now Ley’s, nearly defended their crown and were placed second. However, it was the turn of Franklin’s with their carefully crafted performance, directed very musically and astutely, who took the cup for 2025!
