Objects of Substance- Interhouse Choral Competition Award

Other than Miss Jefferies’ letter to the Trustees, there are no copies of the original written rules for the competition. For many years, the competition was based on the performance of two set hymns sung by each choir, initially in Form groups and, after 1964, as House choirs. Miss Jefferies did stipulate that the adjudicator select a hymn and a part song for two voices. Mr. Hugh Brandon, a well-known music examiner of the time, was adjudicator, and the first competition, keenly contested, was won by Form VA. Miss Anne Jefferies herself presented the prize of a Picasso print, “Child with a Dove”.

1956 Letter from Anne Etheldreda Jefferies.

With the passage of time, the rules concerning conducting technique, song choice, and presentation were relaxed. In the original choral competition, not only the choral precision of the choir was adjudicated, but also the conducting. Then, as now, it was a student who conducted, although in contemporary practice, there may be more than one conductor. Now, the House choir captains choose their song, only one, which is approved by the Head of House, and personnel in the