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






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






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






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






5. A short light musical drama.






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






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






8. Lowest female singing voice.






9. A 19th century square dance written for 4 couples.






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






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






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






13. When several strings are tuned to harmonically related pitches - all strings vibrate when only one of the strings is struck.






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






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






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






17. 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.






18. Suite of Baroque dances.






19. A string of chords played in succession.






20. A Boroque dance with a drone-bass.






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






22. Quick repetition of the same note or the rapid alternation between two notes.






23. A quick 20th century dance written in double time.






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






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






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






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






28. Either of the two octave arrangements in modern music. The modes are either major or minor.






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






30. In sheet music - a symbol at the beginning of the staff defining the pitch of the notes found in that particular staff.






31. An instrumental lament with praise for the dead.






32. A group of 4 instruments - two violins - a viola - and cello.






33. Lowest female singing voice.






34. A short light musical drama.






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






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






37. The keyboard of a stringed instrument.






38. Refers to the tuning of an instrument.






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






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






41. 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.






42. A musical form where the principal theme is repeated several times. The rondo was often used for the final movements of classical sonata form works.






43. Pleasing combination of two or three tones played together in the background while a melody is being played. Harmony also refers to the study of chord progressions.






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






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. A short or brief sonata.






47. To shift to another key.






48. The first violin in an orchestra.






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






50. Refers to any great composer - conductor - or teacher of music.






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