Part 1: The Classical Era
1. Which of the following about the double-exposition concerto form is true?
A. The development avoids the tonic.
B. There's no cadenza.
C. The exposition modulates from the tonic.
D. There's one exposition, which is repeated literally.
2. While a string quartet is a collaborative enterprise, which musician usually takes the lead in a performance?
A. The first violinist
B. The cellist
C. The violist
D. The second violinist
3. Which of the following forms is most common during the second movement of a string quartet?
A. ABC
B. ABB
C. ABA
D. AAB
4. The last "act" of a sonata is known as the
A. secondary key area.
B. recapitulation.
C. rondo.
D. cadenza.
5. The double exposition concerto form differs from the standard sonata form in that
A. it's played by two pianos.
B. it includes a single refrain.
C. the exposition stays in the same key.
D. it has a cadenza.
6. Which mid-eighteenth century composer is credited with having the greatest impact on the significance of the string quartet?
A. Haydn
B. Beethoven
C. Chopin
D. Mozart
7. Beethoven was one of the last composition pupils of which of the following composers?
A. Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
B. William Billings
C. Joseph Haydn
D. Christoph Willibald Gluck
8. A soloist can display his virtuosity to the fullest during the
A. cadenza.
B. concerto.
C. coda.
D. capo.
9. A sonata closes with a/an
A. antecedent.
B. coda.
C. recapitulation.
D. exposition.
10. Singing the alphabet song to the tune of Mozart's "Ah, vous dirai-je, maman" is an example of
A. plagiarism.
B. musical appropriation.
C. musical duplication.
D. thematic variation.
11. The opening section of a minuet is known as the
A. opening idea.
B. minuet proper.
C. minuet exposition.
D. opening theme.
12. In a sonata, the theme(s) presented in the new key area in the exposition are repeated in the recapitulation in the
A. tutti.
B. exposition.
C. coda.
D. tonic.
13. The Japanese koto is what type of instrument?
A. Brass
B. String
C. Percussion
D. Wind
14. The music of the Classical era reflects the principles of
A. ornamentation and extremes.
B. extravagance and unpredictability.
C. the splendor of the church.
D. clarity and balance.
15. Throughout the centuries, koto masters have often been
A. women.
B. slaves.
C. priests.
D. invitees to the king's court.
16. The dialogue in an opera is translated for the audience in the
A. paggio.
B. perdonate.
C. score.
D. libretto.
17. Which of the following does opera buffa portray?
A. Historical characters and situations
B. Real-life characters and situations
C. Religious characters and stories
D. Mythological characters and stories
18. Which of the following instruments in a chamber orchestra typically provides the harmonic underpinning for other melodic instruments but can carry the principal melody on their own as well?
A. Viola
B. Cello
C. Violin
D. Timpani
19. The scene in which Dorothy returns to Kansas in the movie The Wizard of Oz can be likened to which part of a sonata's form?
A. Tonic
B. Exposition
C. Recapitulation
D. Development
20. Opera _______ is a light, frequently comic style of opera.
A. hysteria
B. seria
C. buffa
D. canonica
Part 2: The Baroque Era
1. Which type of music features a vocal quartet in which each voice has its own role, and the bass singer handles the repeated foundation part, often in the form of a short phrase of nonsense syllables?
A. Program music
B. Doo wop
C. Fugue
D. Opera
2. The first opera to win widespread acclaim was
A. Handel's Messiah.
B. Handel's Rinaldo.
C. Purcell's Dido and Aeneas.
D. Monteverdi's Orpheus.
3. Which of the following represents the form of call-and-response?
A. ABBB
B. ABBA
C. AAAB
D. ABAB
4. A da capo aria opens with two contrasting sections, A and B. What will the singer do after singing the B section?
A. End the aria
B. Go to the C section
C. Repeat the B section
D. Sing the A section again
5. Which part on a violin supports the strings?
A. The tailpiece
B. The chin rest
C. The fingerboard
D. The bridge
6. Very few of compositions written by _______ were published during his lifetime.
A. Vivaldi
B. Bach
C. Purcell
D. Handel
7. When instruments double the voices by playing the same notes sung by a chorus, the music is considered to have
A. contrasting timbre.
B. paired movement.
C. syncopation.
D. unified timbre.
8. The group of instruments accompanying a solo singer in an opera is known collectively as the
A. chorus.
B. basso continuo.
C. harmonic ensemble.
D. orchestra.
9. All of the following instruments would be likely to play the basso continuo in a Baroque musical piece, except the
A. violin.
B. lute.
C. harpsichord.
D. cello.
10. A trio-sonata texture features which three main voices?
A. Two in the alto and one in the bass
B. Two in the soprano and one in the bass
C. Two in the bass and one in the soprano
D. One in the alto, one in the soprano, and one in the bass
11. A _______ performance usually requires the musicians to embellish the part written for them.
A. virtuoso
B. passacaglia
C. transcripted
D. canzona
12. Which of the following type of polyphony is used in a fugue?
A. Imitative counterpoint
B. Middle entry
C. Episodic
D. Fugal exposition
13. Which of the following pieces features multiple soloists, including a trumpet, oboe, violin, and recorder?
A. Orpheus, selection from Act II
B. Fugue in G Minor
C. Dido and Aeneas, Overture and Act I, nos. 1-14
D. Brandenburg Concerto no. 2
14. Which of the following means "that which is sung"?
A. Oratorio
B. Basso continuo
C. Cantata
D. Ritornello
15. A style of vocal music that's a cross between singing and speaking is commonly referred to as
A. polychoral.
B. pavane.
C. recitative.
D. gigue.
16. The musical instrument referred to as the "King of Instruments" is the
A. tuba.
B. human voice.
C. violin.
D. organ.
17. Throughout the Baroque Era, the _______ remained deeply ambivalent toward opera.
A. king
B. church
C. majority of composers
D. public
18. Another word for "round" is
A. gigue.
B. sarabande.
C. canon.
D. rhapsody.
19. The Baroque period began around the year
A. 1600.
B. 1750.
C. 1500.
D. 1050.
20. Which composer was nicknamed the Red Priest?
A. Vivaldi
B. Handel
C. Strozzi
D. Bach
Part 3: The Middle Ages and the Renaissance
1. Until about the _______ century, music was transmitted orally, not in written form.
A. twelfth
B. eleventh
C. tenth
D. thirteenth
2. During the course of the sixteenth century, for the underpaid musician, _______ provided a good source of supplementary income.
A. spying
B. proofreading
C. printing
D. word painting
3. Which song exemplifies four-voice Renaissance polyphony, with each voice playing an equally important role?
A. "The Cricket"
B. "Sing Joyfully"
C. "Since Robin Hood"
D. "My Lord Help Me to Pray"
4. Von Bingen's Play of Virtues is set to which of the following types of music?
A. Liturgical plainchant
B. Harmonic
C. Orchestral
D. Madrigal
5. The original version of _______ is for voices, with a text to be sung, but the common medieval practice
of performing music involves using whatever instruments were at hand.
A. "He Who Gladly Serves"
B. "Eagle Dance"
C. "Behold, Spring"
D. "I Can All Too Well Compare My Lady"
6. The volume of sound is known as
A. amplitude.
B. frequencies.
C. pitch.
D. dynamics.
7. Which instrument's parts were never notated in the Middle Ages?
A. Bagpipe
B. Lute
C. Trumpet
D. Drums
8. More compositions are attributed to _______ than to any other musician who worked before the early fourteenth century.
A. Hildegard von Bingen
B. Alfonso el Sabio
C. Josquin des Prez
D. Francesco Landini
9. If you're studying the science of sound, you're studying which of the following?
A. Pitch
B. Acoustics
C. Wavelength
D. Frequency
10. What does it mean when cadences are elided?
A. A single syllable of text is sung to many notes.
B. The notes run against the regular pulse of the musical meter, with accents on beats other than "1" and "3."
C. A new line of text and music begins before the previous one has come to a complete stop.
D. The melodic lines are sung by three singers.
11. The highest range of notes is sung by the
A. tenor.
B. soprano.
C. alto.
D. bass.
12. Roy will play a melody in triple meter and place the pulse of the meter on the first beat. Chuck will play the triple meter melody and place the pulse of the meter on the third beat. Who is playing the melody with the correct pulse?
A. Chuck
B. Both are playing the melody correctly.
C. Roy
D. Neither is playing the melody correctly.
13. The basic framework for ordering music through time is the
A. meter.
B. value.
C. syllable.
D. phrase.
14. A measured performance that adheres consistently to the duple meter would be read as
A. 1-2-3.
B. 1-2-3-4.
C. 1-2-3-4.
D. 1-2-3-4.
15. Harmony is used to support the melody by using
A. meter.
B. tonic.
C. chords.
D. monophonic chant.
16. An example of a percussion instrument is the
A. shawm.
B. violin.
C. drum.
D. lute.
17. A/An _______ is the interval between two pitches of the same name.
A. octave
B. interval
C. melody
D. whole step
18. Which one of the following was one of the most popular instruments in Medieval and Renaissance times and occasionally involved the use of plectrum to play it?
A. Vielle
B. Shawm
C. Lute
D. Organ portative
19. The early forms of notes in the Middle Ages are called
A. melismas.
B. neumes.
C. plainchants.
D. cadences.
20. Who of the following wrote a morality play that could be likened to Star Wars and Lord of the Rings?
A. William Byrd
B. Thomas Weelkes
C. Guillaume de Machaut
D. Hildegard von Bingen