Test your basic knowledge |

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. Word to indicate that the movement or entire composition is to be played smoothly.






2. The flats and sharps at the beginning of each staff line indicating the key of music the piece is to be played.






3. A harmonic given off by a note when it is played.






4. Rapid alternation between notes that are a half tone or whole tone apart.






5. Word to indicate that the movement or entire composition is to be played grandly.






6. Short detached notes - as opposed to legato.






7. The performance of either all instruments of an orchestra or voices in a chorus.






8. The keyboard of a stringed instrument.






9. A musical theme given to a particular idea or main character of an opera.






10. A hymn sung by the choir and congregation often in unison.






11. Written for 2 to 10 solo parts featuring one instrument to a part. Each part bears the same importance.






12. A composition written for eight instruments.






13. A musical style characterized as excessive - ornamental - and trivial.






14. A hymn sung by the choir and congregation often in unison.






15. A composition written for a solo instrument. The soloist plays the melody while the orchestra plays the accompaniment.






16. When several strings are tuned to harmonically related pitches - all strings vibrate when only one of the strings is struck.






17. The element of music pertaining to time - played as a grouping of notes into accented and unaccented beats.






18. 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.






19. Refers to any great composer - conductor - or teacher of music.






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






21. A dirge - hymn - or musical service for the repose of the dead.






22. Music written to be sung or played in unison.






23. The piece of cane in wind instruments. The players cause vibrations by blowing through it in order to produce sound.






24. Tone color - quality of sound that distinguishes one verse or instrument to another. It is determined by the harmonies of sound.






25. Music written to be sung or played in unison.






26. First developed in the 8th century - methods of writing music.






27. A set of seven musicians who perform a composition written for seven parts.






28. A direction to play expressively.






29. Pertains to tone or tones.






30. A drama where the words are sung instead of spoken.






31. The major and minor keys that share the same notes in that key.For example: A minor shares the same note as C major.






32. Music of a particular form consisting of four movements. Each of the movements differ in tempo - rhythm - and melody; but are held together by subject and style.






33. Introduction to an opera or other large musical work.






34. Either of the two octave arrangements in modern music. The modes are either major or minor.






35. Curved line connecting notes to be sung or played as a phrase.






36. Elaborate polyphonic composition of the Boroque and Renaissance periods.






37. An extended cantata on a sacred subject.






38. A reprise.






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






40. Passage for the entire ensemble or orchestra without a soloist.






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






42. Elaborate polyphonic composition of the Boroque and Renaissance periods.






43. The movement of chords in succession.






44. When several strings are tuned to harmonically related pitches - all strings vibrate when only one of the strings is struck.






45. 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.






46. A form of music written for marching in two-step time. Originally the march was used for military processions.






47. Music that is written and performed without regard to any specific key.






48. A composition written for eight instruments.






49. A symbol used in musical notation indicating to gradually quicken tempo.






50. Initially an improvised cadence by a soloist; later becoming an elaborate and written out passage in an aria or concerto - featuring the skills of an instrumentalist or vocalist.