House Music Competition showcases creativity and camaraderie

More than 230 Tonbridge pupils took to the stage before a capacity audience for this year’s House Music Competition, showcasing musical talent, creativity, House spirit and camaraderie.

Each of the School’s twelve Houses was challenged to arrange and perform two contrasting pieces: one acoustic and one amplified. Boys also played a key role in stage management, sound and lighting, filming and production, enabling the competition to be livestreamed to audiences around the world. This year’s Staff Band was composed of Head of Maths, Owen Elton; teacher of English, Richard Evans; teacher of classics, Rob Stephens and Housemaster of Manor House, Stefan Hargreaves. The band entertained the audience with a trio of catchy classics during the deliberation of the main competition.

Many thanks to this year’s adjudicator, Dan Jordan, Director of Music at Eastbourne College. Dan was a choral scholar at St John’s College, Cambridge, before gaining a distinction from the Royal Academy of Music where he specialised in opera.

Dan evaluated the performances on the standard of execution, musical innovation, programme balance and the level of pupil involvement, as well as his good humour in noting the warmth of the audience’s reaction.
Following a closely contested competition, Park House was awarded the House Music Cup, ahead of Hill Side, Parkside and Ferox Hall.

Individual awards were also presented on the evening. Ferox Hall received the Cullen Award for Best Acoustic Performance for their rendition of Fly Me to the Moon. The Paul Gamblin Award for Best Amplified Performance went to Hill Side for Careless Whisper, while Oscar (OH4) won the award for Best Arrangement for Everybody’s Changing.

Photos taken by Matron of Judde, Clair Miller