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  Match Game | Ella's Singing Class | Teacher Lesson Plan

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Paragraph 1: During the 1930s, most jazz bands were playing a style of music called swing because it generated high spirits, emphasized lively rhythms, and kept a steady beat to encourage dancing. Ella Fitzgerald was barely 18 years old when she was invited to sing professionally with Chick Webb's Orchestra - one of New York City's most popular swing bands, and the house band at the swinging Savoy Ballroom. The Savoy Ballroom was known for its "battle of the bands." During these battles, dueling orchestras would play alternate sets, getting increasingly intense as the night progressed.

The dancers, joining in the growing excitement, would decide which band "won" at the end of the night. As a member of the Chick Webb Orchestra, Ella encouraged dancers to vote for her own "Mr. Rhythm."

Paragraph 2: Ella Fitzgerald constantly searched for new musical challenges. "A lot of singers think all they have to do is exercise their tonsils to get ahead," she said, " They refuse to look for new ideas and new outlets, so they fall by the wayside. . . I'm going to try to find out the new ideas before the others do." In the 1940s she was one of the first singers to tackle the emerging and difficult jazz style called bebop. Bebop was almost the complete opposite of swing, designed for l listening and not dancing. Ella's voice found its place in this new bebop style. Instead of singing the words to songs, she sang scat - nonsense vocal sounds - imitating the swoops and soars of different instruments. In this piece, she imitates a trumpet solo.

Paragraph 3: Ella Fitzgerald, a classic American singer, had a wide appeal and chose her musical repertoire from a variety of sources, including jazz, pop and Broadway show tunes. Other singers considered Broadway tunes to be too light, but Ella's interpretations showed the public that they were great pieces of music. Ella recorded complete songbooks of classic American songwriters including Cole Porter, Duke Ellington, Irving Berlin, and the Gershwins. In this recording of a Cole Porter song, feel the excitement of Ella's interpretation - how she starts out with light repeated notes before bursting into the full melody.

Paragraph 4: Ella performed almost her entire life, starting when she was a teenager and continuing into her 70s. Throughout her career, Ella Fitzgerald sang in concert halls, opera houses, and all types of jazz clubs, all across the world. She won thirteen Grammy Awards, and was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom at the White House, our nation's highest honor. Throughout her career she performed with some of the greatest artists of the 20th century, including Louis Armstrong, whose warm, gruff voice is as legendary as Ella's.

Paragraph 5: Imagine. . . You are in the middle of a school performance. You are onstage in front of a large audience performing from memory. You have no pages or notes to help you remember your part. Suddenly you forget the words!! What would you do?

Ella Fitzgerald was performing in Berlin, Germany when this happened - she suddenly forgot the words to her song. What did she do? She used her creativity to get herself out of this tough situation, and turned what could have been a disaster into a huge success. Audiences around the world were inspired by Ella's ability to keep singing, change the words, and turn her "mistake" around!

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