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






2. A period in history dating from the 14th to 16th centuries. This period signified the rebirth of music - art - and literature.






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






4. A separate section of a larger composition.






5. Time in music history ranging from the middle of the 16th to the middle of the 17th centuries. Characterized by emotional - flowery music; written in strict form.






6. A separate section of a larger composition.






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






8. A single line of music played or sung. A musical sentence.






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






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






11. A composition written for eight instruments.






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






13. Time signature with three beats to the measure.






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






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






16. System of notes or tones based on and named after the key note.






17. Closing section of a movement.






18. A melodic or - sometimes a harmonic idea presented in a musical form.






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






20. A symbol indicating to play loud.






21. One or more vocalists performing without an accompaniment.






22. Time signature with three beats to the measure.






23. Unmusical - without tone.






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






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






26. A direction to play lively and fast.






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






28. 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.






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






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






31. 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.






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






33. An important characteristic of the Romantic period. It is a style where the strict tempo is temporarily abandoned for a more emotional tone.






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






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






36. The principal note of a triad.






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






38. Group of singers in a chorus.






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






40. Dull - monotonous tone such as a humming or buzzing sound. Also a bass note held under a melody.






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






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






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






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






45. 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.






46. Group of singers in a chorus.






47. A glissando or portamento. Also refers to the moving part of a trombone.






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






49. String instruments that are picked instead of bowed.






50. 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.