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






2. A composition written for a solo instrument. The soloist plays the melody while the orchestra plays the accompaniment.






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






4. A set of four musicians who perform a composition written for four parts.






5. Originally an improvised cadence by a soloist. Later it became a written out passage to display performance skills of an instrumentalist or performer.






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






7. The tonal characteristics determined by the relationship of the notes to the tone.






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






9. A group singing in unison.






10. A musical scale having five notes.For example: the five black keys of a keyboard make up a pentatonic scale.






11. Tones used to embellish the principal melodic tone.






12. 3 or 4 notes played simultaneously in harmony.






13. Unmusical - without tone.






14. Time signature with three beats to the measure.






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






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






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






18. A repeated phrase.






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






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






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






22. A direction to play expressively.






23. A style of singing which is characterized by the easy and flowing tone of the composition.






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






25. A tempo having slow movement; restful at ease.






26. Indicating speed.






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






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






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






30. A short or brief sonata.






31. A musical scale having five notes.For example: the five black keys of a keyboard make up a pentatonic scale.






32. To shift to another key.






33. String instruments that are picked instead of bowed.






34. One of the two modes of the tonal system. The minor mode can be identified by the dark - melancholic mood.






35. A canon where the melody is sung in two or more voices. After the first voice begins - the next voice starts singing after a couple of measures are played in the preceding voice. All parts repeat continuously.






36. Combination of two or more keys being played at the same time.






37. Creating variation pitch in a note by quickly alternating between notes.






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






39. 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.






40. A Boroque dance with a drone-bass.






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






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






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






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






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






46. Word to indicate that the movement or entire composition is to be played smoothly.






47. 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.






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






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






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