HOUSE MUSIC GOES VIRTUAL Long before the stage was set for the 2020 House Music Competition, the challenge of how to coordinate the event while adhering to social distancing requirements became apparent. The Head of Digital Innovation, Mr Matt Purcell, met with the Director of Music, Mr Craig Woodland, to develop a solution. The result was to pre-record the performances and then stream the event while hosted live by the Director of Community Development, Mr Sandy Goddard; the House Music Captain, Sam Jenkins; and the Vice-Captain, Andrew Miller. Further changes were also implemented such as reducing the number of performers in each section to ten, adapting 4–20 Voices to 4–10 Voices and replacing the House Shout with a video prepared by each House’s Year 12 cohort. While the finished product looked polished and professional, the production was not without its challenges. There were hours of work creating the custom graphics, transitions, programming the production, bringing in live video conference calls and even the computer overheating and freezing on the first day (which took Mr Purcell’s team 15 minutes to bring back up) going on behind the scenes! ‘We did a lot of technical things which we had never done before, and this provided a really interesting opportunity to extend and enhance our capabilities and knowledge’ reflected Mr Purcell. Edwards House won the overall competition, and Mr Goddard said he could hear their excitement when the call for first place was made. ‘The excitement was palpable… it was different from hosting any previous House Music performances as there was no “vibe” to draw upon. I didn’t have to sing, but I used a couple of “call outs” to the younger staff, knowing it would stir up some atmosphere in the House areas and tutor rooms where students were watching’ reflected Mr Goddard.
20 | CGS OUTLOOK | Semester One 2020
