THE ARTS Innovation is the key to House Music Competition success More than 100 boys demonstrated their musical innovation and creativity during the School’s latest House Music Competition. Boys from all 12 Houses played their own arrangements of classic songs spanning the decades, which ranged from Journey’s Don’t Stop Believing, Radiohead’s High And Dry and When The Sun Goes Down by the Arctic Monkeys to ingenious acoustic arrangements of Michael Jackson’s Smooth Criminal and Bridge Over Troubled Water by Simon and Garfunkel. Members from each House arranged and performed one amplified and one acoustic song at the School’s EM Forster Theatre. The competition was judged on criteria including standard and variety of performance, musical innovation and age range of performers. Due to Covid restrictions, the contest had a few differences. Instead of one large evening event, each House performed its music in the theatre at different times over the course of a week, with a maximum of eight boys on stage at any time. Performances were filmed, with a special show for boys and parents streamed on YouTube and also viewed by the competition adjudicator.
Winners of the House Music Cup: Smythe House Runners Up: Ferox Hall; Welldon House Cullen Shield for Best Acoustic Item: Ferox Hall for High and Dry The Paul Gamblin Award for Best Amplified Item: Hill Side for the Piña Colada Song Best Arrangement: Marcus Siu (Sc4) for Shape of My Heart
