Orchestra Listening Examples

Recordings

• Britten: Young Person’s Guide to the Orchestra – Amazon |  iTunes
• Instruments of the Orchestra: Jeremy Siepmann – Amazon
• Reich: The Four Sections – Amazon  |  iTunes
• Guess which instrument / family you hear – YouTube
• These books come with CDs with recordings of instruments:

        

I also use YouTube videos like these to show them how relevant the orchestra is to their lives. They hear it all the time in movies! Have students brainstorm where else they hear orchestra music.

Videos

• Recording the Soundtrack to Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Video Game
• The Lord of the Rings: Symphony – The Black Riders
• Klaus Badelt-Pirates of the Caribbean-RTS Symphony Orchestra
• Swedish royal philharmonic orchestra – STAR WARS
• The Remarkable Farkle McBride by John Lithgow

DVDs

See also

• Recordings / videos for each family can be found here:
  • brass
  • percussion
  • string
  • woodwind
• more orchestra resources
• interactive seating chart