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






2. Often used in overtures - a composition that uses passages from other movements of the composition in its entirety.






3. Direction to performer to play a composition in a brisk - lively - and spirited manner.






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. Repetition of a single tone.






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






7. A piece of music played at the end of a recital responding to the audiences enthusiastic reaction to the performance - shown by continuous applause.






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






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






10. To shift to another key.






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






12. Direction to performer to play a composition in a brisk - lively - and spirited manner.






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






14. The keyboard of a stringed instrument.






15. A successive transposition and repetition of a phrase at different pitches.






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






17. Short detached notes - as opposed to legato.






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






19. Primary theme or subject that is developed.






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






21. Closing section of a movement.






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






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






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






25. Pertains to tone or tones.






26. Includes all twelve notes of an octave.






27. A symbol indicating that the note is to be diminished by one semitone.






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






29. String instruments that are picked instead of bowed.






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






31. A dance written in triple time - where the accent falls on the first beat of each measure.






32. Ability to determine the pitch of a note as it relates to the notes that precede and follow it.






33. A group singing in unison.






34. 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.






35. To shift to another key.






36. A symbol indicating to play loud.






37. The distance in pitch between two notes.






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






39. Two or more voices or instruments playing the same note simultaneously.






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






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






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






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






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






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






46. Where the musical themes and melodies are developed - written in sonata form.






47. The unit of musical rhythm.






48. 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.






49. The first section of a movement written in sonata form - introducing the melodies and themes.






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