Abingdonian 2018

7 www.abingdon.org.uk Michaelmas Term mention that the song deliberately had a chant towards the end), but I was so entranced by the engagement exhibited by all my House peers that I did not mind. Eventually, all the musical quality that was imbued into the arrangement was pretty much thrown out of the window, and what was left was sheer enthusiasm. And that’s what made our performance - and the entire process of preparing and rehearsing - so enjoyable. We all got a great laugh out of this performance, and though 2017 may not have been the best year - musically speaking - for House Singing, it was undeniably a memorable one for Austin House. Brooklyn Han, 7RP Border’s It is impossible to deny that the Border’s House singing process got off to a chaotic start. With a change of conductor after the first rehearsal followed by a series of song changes that ultimately resulted in us performing our original song, our prospects for the final performance looked bleak after the first few rehearsals. However, with continued enthusiasm for the song and the competition, our performance slowly developed in complexity and quality. Our final delivery of Seven Nation Army incorporated an acapella baseline as well as a brilliant solo from Oliver Dickson, which came together to form a well rounded song that the House threw themselves into. The performance on the day perfectly demonstrated the enthusiasm and dedication that Border’s House had for the competition this year. With the upcoming music talent in the younger years of our House, I am confident that the future has only positive things in sight. Ben Hall, 7DCB Lower School I was delighted to be chosen as conductor and to have such an opportunity to lead and sing to the rest of the school. I truly loved the experience and would do it again in a heartbeat. I am over the moon with the amazing result JOINT 3RD! This has been a great achievement for me. I am extremely grateful to the rest of the House for working with me and I think that everyone enjoyed themselves on the stage due to the fun song choice. Walking onto the stage I felt extremely nervous; I was a deer in headlights and I knew that if our House hadn’t done so well, I could sense that most of the responsibility lay on my shoulders but once we started singing all the stage- fright drained away. From the front I thought it sounded great but I knew our competition was tough and feared that we might not get placed, but it was a huge relief when our position was read out. I was elated! I am graced to have such an experience as this my passion . Archie Wood, 2HFCP Southwell-Sander’s I found the House Singing a very positive experience. There was a stark difference from the three years previously as we were directly in the driving seat of preparing our House song. In Southwell’s we worked as a team, Mohsen Ansari and I planned the song together beforehand so that when we went into the rehearsals we had a clear plan of what we were going to do. From the beginning Nicholas Lockett played the piano and Tom Woods played drums. Later on Mohsen played the the trumpet as this was a particular feature of our song - Sweet Caroline . In the first few rehearsals as a House we just tried to learn the lyrics and sing the song through. We then tried to add more harmonies as we went along and we found that certain harmonies worked better than others. I found conducting a really enjoyable experience because it was fun leading from the front and having a direct effect. It was also quite nice throwing in some different ideas that other conductors in our House had used in the past. Henry Muller, 6NSH