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






2. A solo concert with or without accompaniment.






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






4. Originally an improvised cadence by a soloist. Later it became a written out passage to display performance skills of an instrumentalist or performer.






5. A string of chords played in succession.






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






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






8. Groups of tones that are harmonious when sounded together as in a chord.






9. Tones used to embellish the principal melodic tone.






10. Closing section of a movement.






11. Indicating speed.






12. Pertains to tone or tones.






13. Short detached notes - as opposed to legato.






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






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






16. A combination of two or more staves on which all the notes are vertically aligned and performed simultaneously in differing registers and instruments.






17. An extended cantata on a sacred subject.






18. The principal note of a triad.






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






20. A whole note is equal to 2 half notes - 4 quarter notes - 8 eighth notes - etc.






21. A repeating phrase that is played at the end of each verse in the song.






22. A piece of music written in triple time. Also an old French dance.






23. A direction in sheet music indicating the tempo is to be very fast.






24. A short or brief sonata.






25. The retuning of a stringed instrument in order to play notes below the ordinary range of the instrument or to produce an usual tone color.






26. The raising and lowering a pitch of an instrument to produce the correct tone of a note.






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






28. One of two or more parts in polyphonic music. Voice refers to instrumental parts as well as the singing voice.






29. The interval between two notes. Two whole tones and one semitone make up the distance between the two notes.






30. Slow and stately dance music written in triple time.






31. The first violin in an orchestra.






32. Unmusical - without tone.






33. Male singers who were castrated to preserve their alto and soprano vocal range.






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






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






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






37. 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.






38. The first tone of a scale also known as a keynote.






39. Arrangement of music for a combined number of instruments.






40. A quick 20th century dance written in double time.






41. A line in a contrapuntal work performed by an individual voice or instrument.






42. A rhythmic succession of musical tones - a melody for instruments and voices.






43. A quick 20th century dance written in double time.






44. The keyboard of a stringed instrument.






45. Indicating speed.






46. A period in history during the 18th and early 19th centuries where the focus shifted from the neoclassical style to an emotional - expressive - and imaginative style.






47. Sliding between two notes.






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






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






50. The structure of a piece of music.