Mitchell Guido

Listening Lesson Plan

The Big Band
Goal: students will be able to identify the collective sound of the big band in addition to
hearing each individual section.
Materials:
1. Recordings of Count Bubbas Revenge, High Maintenance. Swinging for the
Fences and Hit the Ground Running performed by Gordon Goodwins Big Phat
Band
2. Good speakers to play the music from.
3. A score of both of these pieces.
4. Pictures/video of Big band.
5. Projector/screen to show students material.
Prior Knowledge:
Students have gone over different families of instruments to some extent previously. They
can hear the difference and know that there are multiple instruments in each family
(trombones and trumpets, different saxes, etc).
National Standards addressed:
5. Reading and notating music.
6. Listening to, analyzing, and describing music.
9. Understanding music in relation to history and culture.
Events:
1. Do Now: what are three main types of different types of instruments? (Think large
groups of instruments)
2. Ask students if they have ever heard of a big band before. Have them watch a
short clip of a big band perform.
a. Play short clips of big band music from a variety of genres.
b. Go over the seating/arrangement of the big band.
c. Go over the different sections/types of instruments, and how they
generally function.

3. Play the beginning to Swingin for the Fences for the students.
a. Which section is playing right now? (Rhythm section)
b. They generally behind the other sections. But sometimes they dont
4. Now play Count Bubbas Revenge starting at 1:30
a. What section do you hear first? (Saxophone)
b. What is the next section? (Trombone)
c. What is the last section? (Trumpet)
d. Do the sections mix at all? (Yes)
5. Have the students listen again, this time to the full excerpt no breaks.
a. Put the score up on the projector so the students can see it. Show them
where each section is. Have them follow the music as they listen.
i. Raise first finger if you hear the sax section, your second finger
if you hear the trombone section and your third finger if you
hear the trumpet section. If you hear two sections, put two
numbers up. If you hear all the sections, put up both hands
(open palm) and wave them!
ii. When you hear the rhythm section come in snap your fingers
to the beat
6. Final test:
a. Play the opening part. Present the theme to them. Ask them to raise their
hand when they hear the theme and say which group/section is playing.
If there is time left over:
7. There is a solo section, where one player is featured or showed off, generally
because he or she is really, really good.
a. Listen to the solo section.
b. Ask students to perform the same activity as before, with the same
numbers for the background (1 = sax, 2 = trombone, 3 = trumpet, snap
when everyone is playing).