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The Great Quiz of 2011

In 2011 we created a Music Theory Trivia Quiz and posted it question by question on the blog.

Eventually the full quiz was published on our TriviaPark site, where it is freely available for anyone who wants to try it. Here are the ten posts in their original form and order (so the first question is at the bottom of this page, and the last question is at the top.) As usual, the title of each post here is a link to the original of the same article on AhaCentral.

The Neapolitan

November 16, 2011 All good things must come to an end. So must all long and arduous ordeals, and it’s a good thing. Today’s question is the one that completes our new music theory quiz for TriviaPark.com and AheadWithMusic.com, and frankly it’s kind of a tough one. But if you don’t know the answer, what better way to hone your intuition than by forging blindly into:

Ice-cream is not the answer

To a classical musician, who or what is ‘The Neapolitan’?

A. A celebrated composer, Domenico Scarlatti, born in Naples
B. A concert hall in Vienna where Mozart’s greatest works were introduced
C. A distinctive-sounding chord, the ‘Neapolitan sixth’
D. An opera of Gioachino Rossini, his last, tragically incomplete

For the answer to this question, please visit the Music Theory Trivia Quiz on TriviaPark.com.

Rhythm fascination

November 13, 2011 Today we come to the second-last question in the music theory quiz we’re putting together for TriviaPark.com and AheadWithMusic.com. Looking at the meter — the rhythmic pulse — of some common musical forms, we ask:

Who’s got the time?

Which of the following musical forms typically uses six-eight rhythm?

A. A Baroque minuet
B. A Celtic jig
C. A Scott Joplin piano rag
D. A Sousa march

For the answer to this question, please visit the Music Theory Trivia Quiz on TriviaPark.com.

Guido

November 9, 2011 Today’s question is the eighth of the 10-question music theory quiz that’s currently under construction for TriviaPark.com and AheadWithMusic.com. We cast our minds back to the Italian city-state of Arezzo just about a millennium ago, and ask:

What did Guido do?

Guido d’Arezzo was an 11th-century Benedictine monk who is celebrated for an important contribution to the history of music. What did he do?

A. Invented the clarinet
B. Revolutionized musical notation
C. Was the first to combine voice and instruments in the same work
D. Wrote the melody that became the song Greensleeves

For the answer to this question, please visit the Music Theory Trivia Quiz on TriviaPark.com.

The microtone

November 9, 2011 Today’s question is the seventh in a 10-question music theory quiz for TriviaPark.com and AheadWithMusic.com. If you have a taste for slightly out-of-the-way musical jargon, you may already know the answer to:

What is a microtone?

Which of the following definitions most accurately captures the meaning of the word ‘microtone’?

A. A separation of pitch smaller than a semitone
B. A short musical work stating a single melodic idea
C. A sound too brief or too quiet to register fully with an audience
D. A special microphone for recording tones

For the answer to this question, please visit the Music Theory Trivia Quiz on TriviaPark.com.

An instrument for Erik

November 6, 2011 Carrying on today with question 6 of what will ultimately be a 10-question music theory quiz for TriviaPark.com and AheadWithMusic.com, we look at a delightful and enigmatic French composer, and ask:

What do you play Satie on?

The French composer Erik Satie (1866-1925) is well-known for the humorous and eccentric style of many of his compositions, which are chiefly for which instrument?

A. Clarinet
B. Oboe
C. Piano
D. Violin

For the answer to this question, please visit the Music Theory Trivia Quiz on TriviaPark.com.

The concertmaster

November 4, 2011 We finish the week half-way through our 10-question music theory quiz, now in preparation for TriviaPark.com and AheadWithMusic.com. Unlike some of the more technical questions in this quiz, today’s should fall within the general knowledge of many non-musicians, as we enquire about:

The concertmaster’s instrument

In every symphony orchestra there is one musician, second in rank only to the conductor, known as the concertmaster (or, in England, the leader). The concertmaster rank always belongs to the orchestra’s principal player of a particular instrument. Which one?

A. Glockenspiel
B. Piano
C. Violin
D. Voice

For the answer to this question, please visit the Music Theory Trivia Quiz on TriviaPark.com.

The beautiful tongue

November 2, 2011 Question 4 in our developing TriviaPark.com and AheadWithMusic.com music theory quiz concerns the use of the Italian language for expression markings and other musical terms. Fats Waller’s arrangement of the jazz standard Stardust is said to feature the tongue-in-cheek instruction tempo di sturb de neighbors, but our tone is a little more serious as we discuss:

Dying away

The Italian language has given us a widely-used lexicon for indicating expression in music. For example, the usual terms for ‘soft’ and ‘loud’ are the Italian words piano and forte. Sometimes Italian offers almost too much choice. The directions espirando, morendo and perdendosi all roughly mean ‘dying away’ — slowing down and fading out. Three of the words below also mean ‘dying away’. Which one is the exception?

A. Calando
B. Incalzando
C. Mancando
D. Smorzando

For the answer to this question, please visit the Music Theory Trivia Quiz on TriviaPark.com.

The grandest staff

November 1, 2011 After yesterday’s excursion to the 1950s and Big Blue, now we’re back to facing the music quiz that’s currently in preparation for TriviaPark.com and AheadWithMusic.com. Today’s question, the third in the set, also includes a little physics. Specifically, we want to know:

How many lines can you hear?

An ordinary 5-line musical staff covers a musical interval of one octave and two notes (counting from its bottom line to the space just above, inclusive). How many lines would be required if the staff were to cover the entire range of human hearing (roughly 20 through 20,000 vibrations per second)?

A. 36
B. 54
C. 80
D. 128

For the answer to this question, please visit the Music Theory Trivia Quiz on TriviaPark.com.

Good old Bach

October 31, 2011 Today we continue with the second question of our slowly ripening music quiz for TriviaPark.com, which is starting to look as though it will come out on the challenging side, particularly if you don’t happen to be some kind of music student. Don’t worry, however, because…

We’ve got your Bach

Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750), the composer one generally means when speaking of ‘Bach’ without qualification, was but the most outstanding member of an exceptionally musical family. Indeed, several of the other Bachs retain some renown as composers to this day. All four listed here are in that category. Three are J.S. Bach’s own sons. The fourth was a grandson. Which?

A. Johann Christian Bach
B. Johann Christoph Friedrich Bach
C. Wilhelm Friedemann Bach
D. Wilhelm Friedrich Ernst Bach

For the answer to this question, please visit the Music Theory Trivia Quiz on TriviaPark.com.

Listen to the mirlitons

October 27, 2011 Although AHA! has been doing both trivia and music software for some time now, it’s only in the Mozart Quiz on TriviaPark.com that they have significantly overlapped. As a result, the music quiz that we are now compiling could be regarded as somewhat overdue. Facing the choice of doing it late or doing it never, we have consulted a book of proverbs and decided that now is probably the right time, so here goes.

We begin with an instrument

Musical instruments, the tools of musical expression, have been around more or less as long as human culture. One venerable and widespread instrument type is the mirliton, although it is usually called by another name. Which?

A. Didgeridoo
B. Drum
C. Kazoo
D. Xylophone

For the answer to this question, please visit the Music Theory Trivia Quiz on TriviaPark.com.