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Trivia: Musical Terms

Subject : trivia
Instructions:
  • Answer 50 questions in 15 minutes.
  • If you are not ready to take this test, you can study here.
  • Match each statement with the correct term.
  • Don't refresh. All questions and answers are randomly picked and ordered every time you load a test.

This is a study tool. The 3 wrong answers for each question are randomly chosen from answers to other questions. So, you might find at times the answers obvious, but you will see it re-enforces your understanding as you take the test each time.
1. Originally an improvised cadence by a soloist. Later it became a written out passage to display performance skills of an instrumentalist or performer.






2. An instruction in sheet music to play softly. Abbreviated by a 'p'.






3. A symbol indicating to play loud.






4. A musical composition that has a romantic or dreamy character with nocturnal associations.






5. A solo concert with or without accompaniment.






6. A person with notable technical skill in the performance of music.






7. Pleasing combination of two or three tones played together in the background while a melody is being played. Harmony also refers to the study of chord progressions.






8. Three notes played in the same amount of time as one or two beats.






9. Short movement or interlude connecting the main parts of the composition.






10. Pertaining to the fugue - the overlapping of the same theme or motif by two or more voices a few beats apart.






11. The period of music history which dates from the mid 1800's and lasted about sixty years. There was a strong regard for order and balance.






12. To hold a tone or rest held beyond the written value at the discretion of the performer.






13. Music written for chorus and orchestra. Most often religious in nature.






14. A musical form where the melody or tune is imitated by individual parts at regular intervals. The individual parts may enter at different measures and pitches. The tune may also be played at different speeds - backwards - or inverted.






15. A composition written for nine instruments.






16. A composition written for three voices and instruments performed by three people






17. A set of four musicians who perform a composition written for four parts.






18. A symbol indicating the note is to be raised by one semitone.






19. The structure of a piece of music.






20. Eight full tones above the key note where the scale begins and ends.






21. An instrumental lament with praise for the dead.






22. Singing in unison - texts in a free rhythm. Similar to the rhythm of speech.






23. In sheet music - an instruction to repeat the beginning of the piece before stopping on the final chord.






24. A style of male singing where by partial use of the vocal chords - the voice is able to reach the pitch of a female.






25. A 17th century dance written in Quadruple time - always beginning on the third beat of the measure.






26. The distance in pitch between two notes.






27. Vocal composition written for three or more solo parts - usually without instrumental accompaniment.






28. Music that is easy to listen to and understand.






29. An extended cantata on a sacred subject.






30. Two or three melodic lines played at the same time.






31. Convenient method of numbering a composer's works where a number follows the word 'opus'.For example - Opus 28 - No. 4.






32. A sequence of songs - perhaps on a single theme - or with texts by one poet - or having continuos narrative.






33. A system of notation for stringed instruments. The notes are indicated by the finger positions.






34. An extended solo - often accompanying the vocal part of an aria.






35. The technique of altering the tone color of a single note or musical line by changing from one instrument to another in the middle of a note or line.






36. Pertains to tone or tones.






37. In sheet music - a symbol at the beginning of the staff defining the pitch of the notes found in that particular staff.






38. 3 or 4 notes played simultaneously in harmony.






39. A complex piece of music. Usually the first movement of the piece serving as the exposition - a development - or recapitulation.






40. A mild glissando between two notes for an expressive effect.






41. The range of an instrumental or a vocal part.






42. Quick repetition of the same note or the rapid alternation between two notes.






43. Three note chords consisting of a root - third - and fifth.






44. The technique of altering the tone color of a single note or musical line by changing from one instrument to another in the middle of a note or line.






45. A scale consisting of only whole-tone notes. Such a scale consists of only 6 notes.






46. A set of five musicians who perform a composition written for five parts.






47. A composition based on previous work. A common technique used in Medieval and Renaissance music.






48. A large group of instrumentalists playing together.






49. System of notes or tones based on and named after the key note.






50. The period of music history which dates from the mid 1700's to mid 1800's. The music was spare and emotionally reserved - especially when compared to Romantic and Boroque music.







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