Instruments & Theory

42 questions · Answers revealed below each question · Print this set

1.Which instrument family does the marimba belong to?
- A. Brass
- B. Strings
- C. Percussion
- D. Woodwinds
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Percussion
Did you know? Marimba players strike wooden bars with yarn mallets.
2.What is the Italian term for a gradual increase in loudness?
- A. Staccato
- B. Fermata
- C. Crescendo
- D. Diminuendo
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Crescendo
Did you know? The opposite of crescendo is decrescendo.
3.Which musical instrument is played seated with the instrument resting between the player's knees?
- A. trombone
- B. cello
- C. didgeridoo
- D. saxophone
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cello
Did you know? The cello's range sits close to the human speaking voice.
4.Which family of instruments includes the cello and viola?
- A. The percussion family
- B. The brass family
- C. The woodwind family
- D. The string family
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The string family
Did you know? The string section usually sits at the front of an orchestra.
5.How many lines does a standard musical staff have?
- A. Seven
- B. Four
- C. Six
- D. Five
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Five
Did you know? The staff's lines and spaces each carry one note.
6.Which musical instrument reached its perfected form in the workshops of Cremona, Italy?
- A. flute
- B. bagpipes
- C. sitar
- D. violin
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violin
Did you know? Antonio Stradivari's violins are among the most valuable instruments on earth.
7.Which musical instrument is a percussion instrument sounded by striking a stretched membrane?
- A. theremin
- B. drum
- C. oboe
- D. viola
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drum
Did you know? Drums have been used to send signals across long distances in many cultures.
8.Which musical instrument standard instruments use six strings tuned E-A-D-G-B-E?
- A. double bass
- B. trombone
- C. mandolin
- D. guitar
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guitar
Did you know? The guitar's ancestor is the ancient lute family of instruments.
9.Which musical instrument was invented around 1700 in Florence by instrument maker Bartolomeo Cristofori?
- A. piano
- B. didgeridoo
- C. harpsichord
- D. mandolin
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piano
Did you know? The piano's name comes from the Italian for soft, forte being the opposite.
10.Which musical instrument uses a single reed to produce its sound?
- A. clarinet
- B. tambourine
- C. cello
- D. marimba
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clarinet
Did you know? Mozart was among the first major composers to feature the clarinet prominently.
11.Which musical instrument produces sound from plucked strings running across an open frame?
- A. harpsichord
- B. bassoon
- C. mandolin
- D. harp
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harp
Did you know? The harp appears in artwork from ancient Egypt and Mesopotamia.
12.Which musical instrument is the violin family's middle-voiced member, slightly larger than the violin?
- A. viola
- B. cello
- C. banjo
- D. guitar
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viola
Did you know? The viola reads music in the alto clef.
13.Which musical instrument was patented in the 1840s by Belgian maker Adolphe Sax?
- A. clarinet
- B. saxophone
- C. harpsichord
- D. xylophone
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saxophone
Did you know? The saxophone is made of brass but classified as a woodwind.
14.Which musical instrument changes pitch by moving a slide rather than pressing valves?
- A. trombone
- B. didgeridoo
- C. sitar
- D. drum
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trombone
Did you know? The trombone's name comes from the Italian for large trumpet.
15.Which musical instrument is the highest-pitched instrument of the standard brass family?
- A. accordion
- B. piano
- C. violin
- D. trumpet
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trumpet
Did you know? Trumpet-like instruments announced battles and ceremonies in ancient civilizations.
16.Which musical instrument belongs to the woodwind family although modern examples are usually metal?
- A. flute
- B. clarinet
- C. piano
- D. cello
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flute
Did you know? Bone flutes tens of thousands of years old are among the oldest known instruments.
17.Which woodwind was patented by Adolphe Sax?
- A. The oboe
- B. The flute
- C. The bassoon
- D. The saxophone
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The saxophone
Did you know? Adolphe Sax was a Belgian instrument maker living in Paris.
18.What is the term for the speed of a piece of music?
- A. Key
- B. Timbre
- C. Meter
- D. Tempo
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Tempo
Did you know? Tempo markings are traditionally written in Italian.
19.Which musical instrument developed in Hawaii from the Portuguese machete instrument?
- A. organ
- B. ukulele
- C. xylophone
- D. piano
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ukulele
Did you know? The name ukulele is often translated as jumping flea in Hawaiian.
20.Which standard violin-family instrument fills the middle voice, tuned a fifth below the violin?
- A. The viola
- B. The violin
- C. The cello
- D. The mandolin
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The viola
Did you know? The viola usually reads in the alto clef, shared with almost no other instrument.
21.Which Italian term means played loudly?
- A. Forte
- B. Lento
- C. Piano
- D. Dolce
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Forte
Did you know? Forte and piano gave the piano its name.
22.Which musical instrument pushes air across reeds with a hand-operated bellows?
- A. organ
- B. trumpet
- C. accordion
- D. trombone
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accordion
Did you know? The accordion is central to tango, polka and zydeco traditions.
23.How many different notes are in a chromatic octave?
- A. Twelve
- B. Eight
- C. Ten
- D. Seven
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Twelve
Did you know? The chromatic scale divides the octave into twelve equal semitones.
24.Which musical instrument descends from string instruments made by enslaved Africans in the Americas?
- A. accordion
- B. double bass
- C. cello
- D. banjo
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banjo
Did you know? The banjo's skin head and bright twang define bluegrass and old-time music.
25.Which musical instrument free-reed instrument small enough to fit in a pocket?
- A. clarinet
- B. harpsichord
- C. banjo
- D. harmonica
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harmonica
Did you know? Germany's Hohner company made the harmonica a global mass product.
26.Which musical instrument sounds tuned wooden bars struck with mallets?
- A. xylophone
- B. violin
- C. tambourine
- D. sitar
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xylophone
Did you know? Orchestral xylophones often have resonating tubes below each bar.
27.Which musical instrument is the largest and lowest-pitched instrument of the standard violin family?
- A. sitar
- B. xylophone
- C. ukulele
- D. double bass
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double bass
Did you know? Double bass players usually stand or sit on a tall stool.
28.Which musical instrument produces sound by pushing air through ranks of pipes?
- A. flute
- B. oboe
- C. organ
- D. trumpet
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organ
Did you know? Bach's employer, the Leipzig Thomaskirche, commissioned a famous organ in his era.
29.Which musical instrument sounds the tuning note A for most orchestras?
- A. oboe
- B. harp
- C. cello
- D. bassoon
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oboe
Did you know? The oboe uses a double reed, like the bassoon.
30.Which musical instrument has eight strings in four paired courses and a teardrop-shaped body?
- A. saxophone
- B. mandolin
- C. harpsichord
- D. viola
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mandolin
Did you know? Mandolins became central to Italian folk serenades and American bluegrass.
31.Which musical instrument mounts small metal jingles called zills in a wooden frame?
- A. violin
- B. tambourine
- C. didgeridoo
- D. organ
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tambourine
Did you know? The tambourine appears in musical traditions from Europe to the Middle East.
32.Which musical instrument produces notes by plucking its strings with quills?
- A. harpsichord
- B. guitar
- C. clarinet
- D. didgeridoo
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harpsichord
Did you know? The harpsichord was the keyboard star of the Baroque era before the piano.
33.Which musical instrument is the deep-voiced double-reed woodwind of the orchestra?
- A. trumpet
- B. bassoon
- C. organ
- D. bagpipes
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bassoon
Did you know? The bassoon's tubing is more than two and a half meters long when unfolded.
34.Which instrument is central to Hindustani classical music?
- A. The oud
- B. The sitar
- C. The koto
- D. The erhu
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The sitar
Did you know? Ravi Shankar carried the sitar to global audiences.
35.What is a group of four musicians called?
- A. A quartet
- B. A septet
- C. A trio
- D. A quintet
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A quartet
Did you know? String quartets pair two violins with a viola and a cello.
36.Which musical instrument are paired shell clappers held in the dancer's fingers?
- A. guitar
- B. flute
- C. castanets
- D. sitar
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castanets
Did you know? Castanets are essential to Spanish flamenco dance.
37.Which instrument is traditionally played with circular breathing?
- A. The harmonica
- B. The trumpet
- C. The didgeridoo
- D. The oboe
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The didgeridoo
Did you know? Circular breathing lets players hold a drone without pausing for air.
38.Which musical instrument sustain sound from a bag of air squeezed by the player's arm?
- A. bagpipes
- B. trumpet
- C. theremin
- D. harmonica
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bagpipes
Did you know? Scotland's Great Highland bagpipe is the world's most famous type.
39.Which musical instrument has movable frets, sympathetic strings and a resonating gourd?
- A. sitar
- B. guitar
- C. tambourine
- D. banjo
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sitar
Did you know? The sitar is central to Hindustani classical music of northern India.
40.Which musical instrument is played without being touched, moving hands between two antennas?
- A. marimba
- B. theremin
- C. castanets
- D. trombone
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theremin
Did you know? The theremin was invented by Leon Theremin in Soviet Russia in 1920.
41.Which musical instrument is a wooden-bar percussion instrument central to Central American music?
- A. xylophone
- B. organ
- C. marimba
- D. trumpet
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marimba
Did you know? The marimba is Guatemala's national instrument.
42.Which musical instrument is a long wooden tube played with circular breathing?
- A. castanets
- B. guitar
- C. viola
- D. didgeridoo
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didgeridoo
Did you know? The didgeridoo originates with the Aboriginal peoples of northern Australia.

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