Chaucer Wins House Singing Competition

Date: Sunday 2 November 2008

This popular inter-house competition took place on Friday 17th October, the day school broke up for half term. After three weeks of rehearsals each house performed a song from the 1960s. Chaucer went first with 'California Dreaming'; then came Marlowe, singing 'Lady Madonna'; Roper with 'Pretty Woman'; and Becket singing 'The Bear Necessities' (sic).

We were lucky enough to have Mr Mervyn Watling as our adjudicator - he is Head of Music at St Lawrence College in Ramsgate. He gave a clear explanation of the skills that he was looking for: from the moment that each house was announced he was looking for a clear purpose, diction, and enthusiasm as well as musicality. However, before he gave the results there was a 'musical' interlude given by Mr Austen and Mr Pearce, who sang 'Right Said Fred'. They were accompanied by Mr Lambert on piano but there was further 'accompaniment' from Mr McDade and Mr Payne, who played all manner of instruments from the percussion department.

Simple props were allowed (below).... ....

.... .... but we assure you only the singing affected the adjudicator's decision!

As for the final result, Mr Watling awarded the trophy to Chaucer, who had employed three part harmony as part of their performance. A close second were Marlowe, with Becket and Roper in 3rd and 4th place.

Whatever the overall result, the real winners were all the children, who gained so much from the experience. Bonding as a house at the start of the year, learning to work together for a common purpose and performing in front of an audience are life long skills, regardless of who won.

A huge thank you must go to Mr Watling for his adjudication and also to Mr Lambert for organizing the competition and to the music department for their support and encouragement throughout.

All photographs: copyright Thomas Hooley 2008