House Song

The eagerly awaited House Song Competition took place in Chapel on Thursday, 14th February and certainly the theme of St. Valentine was not forgotten, especially in the introduction of the Crosse interpretation of ‘I want it that way’. We were delighted to welcome back former Assistant Director of Music, Mr Max Kenworthy, currently Director of Music at the Leys School in Cambridge. Hilton House opened the show with their precise rendition of Country Roads before Rhodes took to the stage with Lionel Ritchie’s ‘Easy’. With a strong smaller group of singers that produced some nice harmonies, this was musical effort that set an early benchmark in the competition. Aberdeen were the first of the girls’ houses and certainly entertained with their interpretation of ‘No Scrubs’. Mertens, winners of the House Ensemble competition, produced a very rhythmic performance with great variety in their band. Next it was the turn of Toynbee who produced a very strong sound with great energy in their performance of Mika’s ‘Lollipop’. The classic sound world of Abba featured with Neal singing ‘Why did it have to be me?’ and this was a very inventive performance with multiple moments of successful harmony, all the time featuring great energy and enthusiasm. Woodard Girls were the penultimate house and with Amy Winehouse’s ‘Valerie’ delivered a nice vocal performance before last year’s victors, Woodard Boys, completed the show with Billy Ocean’s ‘Love really hurts without you’. In a change from recent years, it was the boys houses of Rhodes and Mertens who finished in second and third place respectively, but in his witty, lively and detailed adjudication, Mr Kenworthy would give the competition to the well-organised and tuneful massed voices of Neal House. A great afternoon of house spirit and singing – roll on 2020!