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






2. Combining a number of individual but harmonizing melodies. Also known as counterpoint.






3. Movement in music where the characteristics are crisp and direct.






4. Singing or chanting in unison without strict rhythm. Collected during the Reign of Pope Gregory VIII for psalms and other other parts of the church service.






5. Unmusical - without tone.






6. Repetition of a single tone.






7. The distance in pitch between two notes.






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






9. 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.






10. Closing section of a movement.






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






12. 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.






13. A composition written for three to six voices. Beginning with the exposition - each voice enters at different times - creating counterpoint with one another.






14. One who directs a group of performers. The conductor indicates the tempo - phrasing - dynamics - and style by gestures and facial expressions.






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






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






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






18. A short piano piece - often improvisational and intimate in character.






19. A quick - improvisational - spirited piece of music.






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






21. A direction to play lively and fast.






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






23. A Boroque dance with a drone-bass.






24. A book of text containing the words of an opera.






25. A song or hymn celebrating Christmas.






26. The voice between soprano and alto. Also - in sheet music - a direction for the tempo to be played at medium speed.






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






28. The intonation - pitch - and modulation of a composition expressing the meaning - feeling - or attitude of the music.






29. Sliding between two notes.






30. The movement of chords in succession.






31. Tones used to embellish the principal melodic tone.






32. The seventh note of the scale where there is a strong desire to resolve on the tonic.






33. One of the two modes of the tonal system. Music written in major keys have a positive affirming character.






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






35. Three to four movement orchestral piece - generally in sonata form.






36. The highest female voice.






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






38. Music composed such that each note is used the same number of times.






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






40. An extended cantata on a sacred subject.






41. Movement in music where the characteristics are crisp and direct.






42. A song or hymn celebrating Christmas.






43. The first violin in an orchestra.






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






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






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






47. A sequence of chords that brings an end to a phrase - either in the middle or the end of a composition.






48. A chord comprised of three whole tones resulting in an augmented fourth or diminished fifth.






49. Made up of five horizontal parallel lines and the spaces between them on which musical notation is written.






50. 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.