House Music 2023

photo Gallery

The lights, the costumes, the build up of all those rehearsals… the annual House Music competition delivered its blast of energy, enthusiasm and fun in full measure.

The House Captains’ organisation (and more involvement from House staff members) paid off; the standard of the performances was certainly up a notch or two – or “fierce”, as Head of Music Mr Castell described it.

This year House Captains selected songs from a staged musical and a genre for their whole-House and ensemble performances, the line up as follows:

The winners – once again – were Down, Caitlin in Year 12 having adapted much of the music for their own band. Musicians featured in nearly all the House offerings: French horns, trumpets, guitars, drums, piano, cellos and violins were all in evidence.

There were some jolly cameos from staff: from the Maths Department we saw Mr Needham in a ginger wig opening Knole’s Annie sequence and Mr Dakin as Miss Trunchbull for Montreal. The Drama Department’s Miss Harris stole the opening scene for Chartwell’s The Lion King as Rafiki and the wonderfully theatrical performance ended with the flourish of a massive papier-mâché elephant parading down the hall.

Down’s musicianship and direction won the day however; there was a nice deployment of Year 7s singing in trios in Aladdin and their multi-instrument band – in costume – supported the tight choreography and performance of the R&B numbers.

Many thanks to our guest judge Anna Whittall, a recent graduate from the Guildford School of Acting, who with Mr Castell and Miss Ferro decided on the following: