Chalmers Rocks the House!

Whether held in Elliot Hall, at the Auckland Town Hall, the Aotea Centre or Manukau’s Vodafone Events Centre, the annual House Music competition has become a veritable gladiatorial occasion! It exemplifies the highly competitive nature of our Year 13 student leaders, the choirs they muster and the talented musicians they call on to form bands to battle for rock supremacy – and, of course, for the all-important House points! Alongside the six College House Choirs, our boarders from Bruce House also compete. 

Instigated back in the 1980’s, House Music has evolved over the years. Originally, it was a formal event where each choir was required to sing the School Song, along with a song of choice.  All dressed the same, in formal school uniform, there was a certain ‘uniformity’ and ‘formality’ to the event. 

That has long flown out the window! With the change to House shirts, adding colour to the occasion; the choirs growing from four to six (with the addition of two new Houses in 2017); and the choirs themselves swelling in number to be in excess of 200 students, along with the addition of a rock band section, this has become a true spectacle! Last night, there were more students on stage than the entire school roll in the 80’s! 

The 2018 edition of House Music was more spectacular than ever, with increased involvement, especially from the Middle College. 

Chosen by Head of Music, Mr Ross Gerritsen, the theme for the choirs this year was ‘Winning Songs from previous House Music Competitions;’ a move which hoped to guarantee a great song choice and an almost ‘Champion of Champions’ feel! 

Past Song Winners
2005                     Sloop John B from the Forrest Gump Soundtrack
2006                     Bohemian Rhapsody
2007                     Crocodile Rock
2008                     Man in the Mirror
2009                     Don’t Go Breaking My Heart
2010                     I Want to Rock ‘n’ Roll (Kiss)
                             Ain’t No Mountain High Enough
2011                     Don’t Stop (Fleetwood Mac)
2012                     Don’t Stop Believing (Journey)
2013                     Why Does Love Do This To Me? 

The 2018 choices were:
Cargill                   Man in the Mirror
Chalmers             Don't Stop Believing
Hamilton             Why Does Love Do This To Me?
Wishart                Ain't No Mountain High Enough
Stark                     Bohemian Rhapsody
Wilson                  Don’t Go Breaking My Heart
Bruce House       Don’t Stop

After many lunchtimes trying to coach their choirs to tunefulness, the prefects led their choirs to the stage. In a riot of colour, movement and song, each House gave it their best, followed by the House Bands – the latter half of the evening truly showcasing some spectacular musical talent and stage presence amongst our students! 

The judges for the evening were the ‘Grandfather of New Zealand Music,’ Mike Chunn and Old Collegian, Alex Ferrier. Together, they had the difficult task of picking the winners according to set criteria which marked tone, tunefulness, diction, presentation, originality of ideas and overall effectiveness for each choral contribution, with similar criteria for the bands. 

As the judges retired to deliberate, the evening ended with performances of ‘Living on a Prayer’ and ‘We are the Champions’ by the staff rock band, led once again by Mr Gerritsen - bringing the student audience to their feet in loud appreciation! 

Judging is never an easy task and the first moment of silence all evening came when Middle College and Senior College Principals, Mr Duncan McQueen and Mrs Suzanne Winthrop came forward to announce the winners and award the cups. 

Excited cheers from Chalmers at winning the House Choir section became absolutely thunderous when they discovered they had placed second in the Band section giving them an unassailable lead to win this year’s House Cup!  Hamilton took top honours for the Bands. As one of the smaller, new Houses, Stark deserves a mention for their overall second placing, a well-deserved outcome. 

What a fantastic evening. Students, you rocked!

(And Mr Gerritsen and fellow staff, you were pretty cool too!) 

THE JUDGES

Mike Chunn
Mike Chunn, the ‘Grandfather of New Zealand Music,’ was a former member of the New Zealand bands Split Enz and Citizen Band. Mr Chunn spent eleven years as Director of New Zealand operations for the Australasian Performing Right Association (APRA), retiring from the role at the end of October 2003. He is currently CEO of Play It Strange Trust which he founded in April 2004 and is primarily focussed on propagating songwriting and other aspects of popular music throughout New Zealand’s education system. 

Alex Ferrier
Old Collegian, Alex Ferrier (Class of 2007), has forged a career as a well-followed member of the New Zealand Music fraternity through his role in a number of bands including Save Tom’s Dog (which will be known to some in the Saint Kentigern community) and most recently his collaboration with Sam 'Texas' Holdom in the band Skinny Hobos which has been gigging exclusively around NZ.  Alex graced the stages of House Music when it was still staged in Elliot Hall and the College was delighted that he returned to judge in 2018.

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