Congratulations to Wilberforce House, overall winners of Bloxham School House Shout 2016
With a blisteringly funky Stevie Wonder number from Wilson, House Music 2016 began.
The number of instrumentalists on stage this year and the variety of music on offer was impressive. Coldplay from Exham, Pachelbel’s Canon in D from Wilberforce via Crakes Harder Than You Think and Raymond’s imaginative arrangement of David Guetta’s Dangerous. On the judging table, Sheridan Coldstream thought it was a done deal until Roland Swift burst into a drum solo in the middle of Seymour’s arrangement of Wiz Kalefa’s See You Again. The band re-entered like a wall of sound, George Nicholson, centre stage, his guitar wizardry soaring over his Housemates, smiles suppressed.
In the Part Song category Egerton had a three man barber shop arrangement of Barbara Ann, Exham’s entry included Leah and Delphine showing us their cup skills for The Cup Song, Wilson had nothing to worry about with their arrangement of Don’t Worry, Be Happy. Crake played the smiles, chuckles and laughs card with their arrangement of When I Was Your Man and after Seymour had their Eyes Shut, Raymond brought this section to a close with Mika’s Happy Ending. It was creative use of the voices, great ensemble performance and range of dynamics in a compelling arrangement of Send My Love, Adele, which won it for Wilberforce.
After the break, an augmented Exham opened the second half with an energetic rendition of Mr Brightside, complete with actions. A good choice of song for Edgerton (Don’t You Want Me, Human League) had the audience imagining the boys as waitresses in a cocktail bar and Wilson had a texturally interesting arrangement of I Know What You Did Last Summer, Shaun Mendez. Crake submitted two entries of the same song after a false start and Seymour showed not only dance moves but impressive air guitarists amongst them in ELO’s Mr Blue Sky. Wilberforce had heartbeats skipping and a pain in the arm but it was Raymond’s Spice Girls classic Wanna Be that won this category.
Special mention to ARB (Adam’s Room Band), who provided the in house entertainment. Who knew that there was such vocal and instrumental talent amongst the staff. Chemistry, PE, Drama, English, Music and DT lessons will never be the same!
Thank you to everyone involved from the house band Bloxstars and their band leader Dr Ruck and to all the musical leaders out there who ran rehearsals and arranged the music. Watching all Bloxhamists unite around music was a great tonic to the end of a busy half term.
Winners:
Instrumental Seymour
Part Song Wilberforce
Unison Raymond
Overall Wilberforce
A gallery of photos from the event can be found here.