This is an annual event that takes place in November and involves all the children in the School.
All four Divisions (Houses), encouraged by their Division Heads, compete to win the ultimate prize. We invite a guest adjudicator to come and judge.
There are three categories:
Solo Section
Each Division chooses a soloist to perform on their behalf.
Ensemble Section
Each Division puts forward a selection of musicians to form an ensemble.
Tim Bennett arranges music specifically for each group, helped by individual instrumental teachers. The ensembles practise on their own to perfect their performances.
Division Part Song
This category involves every child in the Division. Following the announcement of an appropriate theme, they choose a song together and then perform and dance this music, often to a backing track. The song must contain an element of Part Singing.
Once they have agreed on the repertoire, the children really enjoy preparing this material and sing with real gusto.
There is always great debate as to whether the songs should have choreography or not. This is very much a subjective choice.
We try to make this competition as child-led as possible with senior members of each Division forming a committee to oversee matters and arrange rehearsals. They do need encouragement to get going and tend to leave things to the last moment! This is all part of the learning curve.