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






2. Lowest female singing voice.






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






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






5. An extended solo - often accompanying the vocal part of an aria.






6. A composition written for nine instruments.






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






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






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






10. A large group of instrumentalists playing together.






11. A reprise.






12. Music written for a lively French dance for two performers written in triple time.






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






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






15. A musical composition written solely to improve technique. Often performed for artistic interest.






16. The expression the performer brings when playing his instrument.






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






18. A piece of music written for two vocalists or instrumentalists.






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






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






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






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






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






24. 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.






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






26. A Boroque dance with a drone-bass.






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






28. Convenient method of numbering a composer's works where a number follows the word 'opus'.For example - Opus 28 - No. 4.






29. A composition whose style is simple and idyllic; suggestive of rural scenes.






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






31. A sequence of songs - perhaps on a single theme - or with texts by one poet - or having continuos narrative.






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






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






34. An extended cantata on a sacred subject.






35. A short and simple melody performed by a soloist that is part of a larger piece.






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






37. Lowest female singing voice.






38. A composition written for eight instruments.






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






40. The interval between two notes. Three whole tones and one semitone make up the distance between the two notes.






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






42. 3 or 4 notes played simultaneously in harmony.






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






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






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






46. A short piece originally preceded by a more substantial work - also an orchestral introduction to opera - however not lengthy enough to be considered an overture.






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






48. A string of chords played in succession.






49. A song or hymn celebrating Christmas.






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