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. A separate section of a larger composition.






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






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






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






5. Pertains to tone or tones.






6. A solo concert with or without accompaniment.






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






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






9. 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.






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






11. A portion of the range of the instrument or voice.






12. 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.






13. 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.






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






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






16. Indicating speed.






17. A lighthearted piece - written in several movements - usually as background music for a social function.






18. A numeric symbol in sheet music determining the number of beats to a measure.






19. A contrapuntal song written for at least three voices - usually without accompaniment.






20. 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.






21. Time signature with three beats to the measure.






22. A repeated phrase.






23. Pertaining to the sonata form - a fast movement in triple time.






24. Movement or passage that concludes the musical composition.






25. A form of Italian opera beginning at the end of the 19th century. The setting is contemporary to the composer's own time - and the characters are modeled after every day life.






26. A direction to play lively and fast.






27. Successive notes of a key or mode either ascending or descending.






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






29. Indicating speed.






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






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






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






33. Group of singers in a chorus.






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






35. Word to indicate the movement or entire composition is to be played gracefully.






36. 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.






37. A song of praise and glorification. Most often to honor God.






38. The manner in which tones are produced with regard to pitch.






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






40. The unit of measure where the beats on the lines of the staff are divided up into two - three - four beats to a measure.






41. A group singing in unison.






42. The principal note of a triad.






43. A large group of instrumentalists playing together.






44. To shift to another key.






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






46. The playing or singing the upper half of the vocal range. Also the highest voice in choral singing.






47. The frequency of a note determining how high or low it sounds.






48. An extended cantata on a sacred subject.






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






50. A portion of the range of the instrument or voice.